'Lunch and Learn' events planned with Kaddish composer

composer Lawrence Siegel
credit: Jonah Siegel

In advance of the RPO's performance of Kaddish: I Am Here at Eastman Theatre on Thursday, January 15, the RPO has teamed up with community partners to host two free “lunch and learn” events with Kaddish composer Lawrence Siegel. Siegel will discuss the process for creating Kaddish, and a question and answer session will follow. Kaddish, commissioned in 2005 by the by the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College (N.H.), draws its libretto from the actual words of Holocaust survivors, mostly primary interviews conducted by the composer himself. The RPO is honored to present this moving work to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Allied Forces liberation of the World War II Nazi concentration camps.

Schedule of Lunch and Learn events
Monday, January 12 from 12-1 p.m. in the Senior Adult Lounge at the JCC of Greater Rochester
(1200 Edgewood Ave., Rochester, 14618)
A kosher lunch will be provided, please RSVP to Barbara Brown, Director of Education by Sunday, January 11 at 5 p.m. (bbrown@rpo.org or 585-399-3635). This event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, January 15 from 12:10-1:05 p.m. in room A-14 in the Nazareth College Arts Center
(4245 East Avenue, Rochester, 14618)
Attendees are asked to bring their own lunch; water, coffee, and cookies will be provided.
No RSVP is necessary. This event is free and open to the public.

Kaddish (KAH-dish), named for the Jewish prayer for the dead, is a one-hour cycle of 15 original songs for orchestra, chorus, and vocal soloists. Dividing the work into three sections – The World Before, The Holocaust, and Tikkun Olam (“Repair the World”) – composer Lawrence Siegel also created the libretto, drawn primarily from his first-hand interviews with Holocaust survivors and sung in Hebrew, English, and German.

For tickets to the performance of Kaddish on Thursday, January 15, visit rpo.org/kaddish
For more information on Kaddish, visit kaddishproject.org