"I Believe"

Tonight we attended the World Premiere of "I Believe". For us, it was a very special evening as our grand daughter(10) (in the photo) was in the children's chorus. It meant many hours of practices for her, but it was a great experience. We were very moved by the performance, and there was a prolonged standing ovation at the end.
This is an excerpt of an article from our newspaper today...

"IT'S an unlikely story.

A part-time composer with an ambitious dream writes a 90-minute musical work and manages to get a professional orchestra to present it.

Even more unlikely, it sells out the Centennial Concert Hall.

Tonight, Winnipeg high school teacher Zane Zalis will hear the world premiere of his Holocaust-themed oratorio, I Believe.

The full 65-member Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Mickelthwate will be joined by a narrator, three vocal soloists, a 140-voice chorus made up of high school, university and community singers, and a 50-voice children's chorus.

They will perform 12 movements, with lyrics by Zalis, that trace the Holocaust story from the rise of intolerance and hatred, through the horrors of attempted genocide, through liberation and trauma experienced by survivors, and finally to remembrance and hope. "