Dear Friends and Supporters:
2022 marked the twentieth anniversary of the first performance of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín , and it also marked the year that we returned the hallmark concert drama to the concert hall with two special performances. The first, which fully benefited the Foundation, was held at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland, on April 20. The second performance was held in Amsterdam on June 19. We also performed Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer in Prague as part of the Terezín II multi-national conference on Holocaust reparations in November. In addition to these concerts, we held a University Residency Project performance of Hours of Freedom at Sonoma State; a performance of Defiant Requiem in Cincinnati with a young conductor training under Murry; and the Foundation co-hosted a performance of Brundibár and The Emperor of Atlantis with UJA-Federation of New York and Eric Einhorn’s On Site Opera. It was quite a busy season! We topped off the year with a very powerful performance of East West Street: A Song of Good & Evil based on the book East West Street by Board Member Philippe Sands. We were honored to have the Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova attend this performance. Again, more can be read about all of the aforementioned performances in this Report. We are very pleased to note that we surpassed our fundraising goal for 2022 thanks to all of you who supported the Foundation. We are deeply grateful for your generosity. While this is good news, we still look forward to engaging new sources of funding from foundations and individuals with whom we have not yet connected. It is with great regret that we say good-bye to General Manager Mark Rulison who has worked with Murry for over twenty years, since the first performance of Defiant Requiem in 2002. Mark has been an invaluable member of the Foundation staff – managing the artistic and technical aspects of all of our productions with Murry, spearheading new projects, and providing essential services to the management of the office and all of the Foundation’s initiatives. We wish Mark the very best in his next endeavor. The three of us continue to be honored to lead The Defiant Requiem Foundation. As we have noted for the past few years, the unfortunate rise in global antisemitism and violence only increases the urgency to promote the Foundation’s mission to educate the next generation using its artistic performances and original curriculum materials. Engaging students and teachers to use our programs as a catalyst to confront all forms of hate is a critical component of the work we do. At this time, with eyewitnesses passing away, antisemitism on the rise, and sobering statistics confirming the lack of worldwide Holocaust education and knowledge, the Foundation’s mission is more important than ever. We are deeply grateful to all of our donors for their generosity and commitment.
STUART E. EIZENSTAT BOARD CHAIR
MURRY SIDLIN PRESIDENT AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
LOUISA HOLLMAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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