College Chorus to Present Kristallnacht Program

Kristallnacht, an evening considered by many to mark the beginning of the Holocaust, will be commemorated in a Tuesday, November 10, concert by the 160-voice Ithaca College Chorus.

The concert for Kristallnacht ("Night of the Broken Glass") is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. at Temple Beth-El in Ithaca. Admission is free but seating is limited. Call the temple at 273-5775 for ticket information.

The program will feature a presentation of Robert Convery’s Songs of Children, a 41-minute cantata of nine poems written by children who were interned at the Terezin ghetto before being sent to die at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Convery, a New York City composer acclaimed for his writing of works for voices, wrote the piece in memory of all children who died in the Holocaust. Songs of Children was featured at the 1993 opening of the United States Holocaust Museum.

The concert is the result of a collaborative effort between chorus conductor Jeffrey Gemmell and Temple Beth-El Rabbi Scott Glass.