A brief introduction to BCCO

The Story Behind the Work

Within the walls of the Terezín concentration camp during World War II, something extraordinary happened. Despite facing starvation, disease, and the constant threat of deportation to Auschwitz, the Jewish prisoners created a cultural scene that, for a time, surpassed that of any major European city. They mounted operas, formed choirs, composed new works, and performed masterpieces—most famously, the Verdi Requiem, learned by rote, at first from a single vocal score and accompanied by a legless upright piano. These weren’t acts of mere distraction or defiance; they were affirmations of essential humanity. The prisoners lived in order to create, to sing, to make meaning in the face of unimaginable darkness.

The TEREZÍN REQUIEM emerges directly from this history. Composer Michael Schachter brings both artistic mastery and a deeply personal connection to this project. His wife’s great-grandfather disappeared during the Holocaust and was only recently traced to Terezín, where he sang in the camp’s choirs. Those choirs were conducted by Rafael Schächter, a pianist and music director who was a possible cousin of Michael’s—a connection suggested by striking physical resemblance and family origins in the same Czech region. Three generations later, Michael and his wife met while singing together in their undergraduate choir, an echo across time of those voices raised in Terezín.

This new choral-orchestral work will be structured in seven movements spanning approximately 35-40 minutes. The texts reflect the multilingual reality of Terezín’s population: Hebrew, Aramaic (Kaddish), German (Heinrich Heine), Yiddish, Latin (requiem texts), and Czech (poems by children imprisoned in the camp). The opening and closing movements draw from Psalm 144 and the El Malei Rachamim prayer. Michael’s musical language is influenced by the choral-orchestral works of Fauré and Brahms, as well as Hebrew liturgical chant, creating a soundworld that honors both the classical tradition and the specific Jewish experience of Terezín. The work will feature two accomplished soloists alongside chorus and orchestra (chamber strings, double woodwinds, brass, and percussion). The result will be a work that speaks not only to Holocaust remembrance but to the universal power of art to sustain human dignity in the face of oppression.

The Composer

Michael Schachter is a composer whose work bridges the concert hall, the theater, and the screen. Recent projects include a new concerto for pianist Aaron Diehl and the Knights honoring the centennial of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (premiered at Carnegie Hall in October 2024), as well as commissions with the Knoxville Symphony, New World Symphony, Vermont Symphony, Harvard University Choirs and Orchestra, and Grammy-winning choir Conspirare. His concerto for violinist Tessa Lark, Cycle of Life, premiered with the Knoxville Symphony in 2022 to rave reviews. In 2022, the Los Angeles Philharmonic premiered “Concerto No. 2: Anthem,” created in collaboration with Davóne Tines, Caroline Shaw, and Tyshawn Sorey. His music-theater piece The Black Clown (adapted from the Langston Hughes poem by Davóne Tines & Michael Schachter, directed by Zack Winokur) premiered with sold-out runs at the American Repertory Theater and Lincoln Center, earning a New York Times Critic’s Pick.

Michael’s connection to Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra began in 2012 when he won BCCO’s Emerging Composer Competition with his vocal work Oseh Shalom, which the chorus performed in 2013. Music Director Ming Luke has followed Michael’s career closely in the years since, making BCCO the ideal artistic home for this deeply personal commission.

The Soloists

BCCO will premier the Terezín Requiem and tour with soprano Ronit Wildman-Levy and baritone Simon Barrad, both accomplished vocal artists steeped in the Jewish musical tradition.