THE miraculous story of a Holocaust survivor is being told in Salisbury.
This bank holiday weekend, La Folia in association with Wiltshire Creative present two performances of PUSH - an opera telling the story of Simon Gronowski, who was pushed by his mother from a train bound for Auschwitz in 1943.
The two performances of PUSH will be in St Thomas’s Church at 5pm and 8pm on Saturday, August 25.
Simon Gronowski will be in Salisbury for the performances and there is an opportunity to hear his story first-hand in his talk at Salisbury Methodist Church at 11am, also on Saturday, August 25.
The opera was written by Salisbury-based composer Howard Moody, and features internationally-renowned soloists, a community chorus of over 100 adults and children and the La Folia Orchestra.
The performances in St Thomas’s Church will be staged by Glyndebourne director Simon Iorio, with composer Howard Moody as musical director.
The three soloists are James Newby (Glyndebourne, BBC Proms), Matthew Stiff (Royal Opera House, English Touring Opera) and Tereza Gevorgyan (Opera North, Glyndebourne).
Howard Moody met Simon Gronowski in Brussels in 2014 and, after hearing his extraordinary story, promised that it would be the subject of his next opera. PUSH was subsequently commissioned in a partnership between Glyndebourne Opera and Battle Festival to mark the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and was premiered in Sussex in October 2016. In January 2018, PUSH was performed in Chichester Cathedral to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Salisbury-based music charity and production company La Folia is delighted to stage PUSH as part of the August bank holiday festival marking the launch of Wiltshire Creative, which has been formed by the merger of Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury Arts Centre and Salisbury International Arts Festival.
Tickets for PUSH (£20/£10 under-18s) and the talk with Simon Gronowski (£10) are available from Wiltshire Creative Ticket Sales at Salisbury Playhouse, either in person at the box office, by calling 01722 320333 or online at wiltshirecreative.co.uk
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