“Eight pounding hearts, footsteps on the stairs, a rattling on the bookcase.” James Whitbourn’s Annelies opens on a harrowing scene, as Anne Frank and her companions-in-hiding come perilously close to being discovered. The hauntingly beautiful 21st-century oratorio of Annelies details their experience, with lyrics adapted from The Diary of a Young Girl.
“Anne Frank still serves as an abounding inspiration all of these years after the Holocaust,” says Rabbi Benjamin David of Adath Emanu-el. “She embodied hope and hopefulness even as she witnessed the darkest and most horrifying chapter in our people’s history. Her tragic tale reminds us that never again can we allow for such atrocities nor sit idly by as others are degraded or denied basic human rights. May her memory move us to greater empathy, greater compassion, and greater faith.”
The Greater South Jersey Chorus has contributed to the musical landscape of the South Jersey area for more than 25 years. This season, GSJC is proud to perform a piece that speaks to the power of the human spirit in the face of oppression.
“Engaging our organization in a profoundly meaningful project such as Annelies gives us an opportunity to go beyond entertainment, to remind our world of the past and its meaning for the future,” says Dr. Christopher Thomas, artistic director of GSJC. “Anne Frank’s reflections combine with the ability of music to evoke the unspoken and to deliver a message more piercingly true than ever.”
GSJC invites you to experience the powerful and moving Annelies. Performances will take place on Sunday, May 6 at 4:00 PM at Temple Adath Emanu-El, 205 Elbo Lane, Mount Laurel, NJ and on Saturday, May 12 at 8:00 PM at Unitarian Universalist Church of Cherry Hill, 401 Kings Highway North, Cherry Hill, NJ. The cost is $20. Tickets for both concerts are available online now and will also be sold at the door.