Sono Luminus Presents STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME By Gerald Cohen & Deborah Brevoort

Sono Luminus will present Steal a Pencil for Me, the new opera album from composer Gerald Cohen and librettist Deborah Brevoort out on Friday, August 23rd.

An opera in two acts, Steal a Pencil for Me details one of the Holocaust's most unusual love stories—between Jaap Polak, a Dutch  accountant, and Ina Soep, the daughter of a wealthy diamond manufacturer—who fell in love while  imprisoned in the Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. Based on their love letters, which  were published in a book of the same title, Steal a Pencil for Me is about the indestructibility of the life spirit  and the power of humankind to survive adversity.

The opera dramatizes intimate concerns and private dramas alongside the epic horrors of the Holocaust. Steal a Pencil for Me was given its premiere production in 2018 by Opera Colorado. The album, recorded in Denver in 2022, features most of the central performers of the Opera Colorado production, with Ari Pelto as conductor, and in the principal vocal roles Gideon Dabi as Jaap, Inna Dukach as Ina, and Adriana Zabala as Manja. 

The action of Steal a Pencil for Me takes place in Amsterdam, at Westerbork transit camp, and at Bergen Belsen concentration camp between the years of 1943-1945. Thirty-year old Jaap Polak is unhappily married  to Manja, a capricious woman with a sharp tongue. He falls in love with 20-year old Ina Soep, whose boyfriend, Rudi Acohen, has been seized and deported to Poland by the Nazis. When Jaap, Manja, and Ina  are deported to Westerbork, they actually find themselves living in the same barracks. Jaap's wife objects to  the relationship, and Jaap and Ina resort to writing secret love letters, which sustain them throughout the horrible circumstances of the war. Rudi appears onstage in the opera in Ina's mind, as she gradually reconciles herself to her grief over losing him. 

Gerald Cohen knew Jaap and Ina for over 25 years, and was inspired to write the opera after hearing their  story and reading their letters. He and Deborah Brevoort met with them many times in the process of writing  the libretto, and Jaap and Ina were present at the first workshop of the opera in celebration of Jaap's 100th  and Ina's 90th birthdays. 

Steal a Pencil for Me will be available for downloading and streaming starting on August 23rd from Apple  Music, Amazon, Spotify, HD Tracks, Arkiv Music, Bandcamp & Sono Luminus. Available on CD from Sono  Luminus. Pre-orders available here:
https://www.sonoluminus.com/store/steal-a-pencil-for-me

Further information on Steal A Pencil For Me, including the full libretto, can be found at:  https://www.geraldcohenmusic.com/compositions/opera/steal-a-pencil-for-me/ 

 

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