Defiant Requiem

On 3 May 1945, the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp was handed over by the Germans to the Red Cross. Defiant Requiem tells the story of conductor Rafael Schächter and his choir members, who performed Verdi's Requiem as an act of resistance against the Nazis. The power of the music helped the camp prisoners maintain their resilience and regain their spiritual freedom. The Requiem was originally going to be performed on 3 May 2020 in Amsterdam (Beurs van Berlage), but had to be postponed due to COVID-19 measures.

On Sunday evening, 12 December 2021, the resit of this special concert will take place, which will be performed by the he National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands (NJO) in collaboration with the Netherlands Concert Choir (Nederlands Concertkoor), conducted by Murry Sidlin and with several soloists. The NOS (Dutch Broadcast Foundation) will broadcast the performance semi-live that evening on NPO2 from 22.05. Check our events calendar for tickets for the concert and the dress rehearsal earlier the same day.

The video below was made for the originally planned commemoration of conductor Rafael Schächter and his choir members (Dutch only) on 3 May 2020.

For current information on concert dates, venues and ticket sales see our events calendar.