Defiant Requiem

Created in conjunction with Northern Illinois University’s performance of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín, this series responds to the extraordinary story of Rafael Schächter and the tens of thousands imprisoned in the Terezín ghetto. Schächter, a conductor, gathered prisoners in a dark basement and taught them Verdi’s Requiem from a single smuggled score. Their voices — fragile yet defiant — rose against the brutality surrounding them.

In researching Terezín, I was struck by accounts of prisoners experiencing a form of synesthesia: sensing warmth, color, and emotional vibrancy where none physically existed. That became a central thread for this series. If everything is taken away — home, family, freedom — creativity may be the last remaining form of resistance.

My works echo this tension between deprivation and abundance, darkness and radiance. Color becomes a refuge. Light becomes a rebellion. The collective act of singing becomes a declaration of humanity.

At its heart, this series honors the resilience of people who used whatever remained — their voices, imagination, and solidarity — to create hope in a place designed to extinguish it.