Thomas Pasatieri, a prolific composer from age fifteen, studied with Nadia Boulanger and Darius Milhaud, and received the first doctorate awarded by Juilliard at age nineteen.
Recording & Production
This recording was made possible by a generous gift from Beth Ann Segal, honoring the fiftieth wedding anniversary of Ruth and David Welkovics.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Composer Thomas Pasatieri was inspired by Pola Braun's poems, which describe a woman's loss of freedom and home, and felt fortunate to have such incredible texts to set to music.
Composition History
Thomas Pasatieri's "Letter to Warsaw" is a song-cycle based on six previously unpublished texts by Polish cabaret artist Pola Braun, written while she was imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto and Majdanek concentration camp.
Cultural Impact
Through Thomas Pasatieri's music, Pola Braun's words ensure that her voice of musical witness will not be lost to the anonymity of history, reminding listeners that each Holocaust victim was an individual.
Historical Context
Pola Braun, a pre-war poet and cabaret artist, continued her artistic life in the Warsaw ghetto and Majdanek concentration camp, where she was murdered in mass executions in 1943.
Album & Artwork
The album's cover art features Warsaw ghetto photographs, used with permission from Bundesarchiv and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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