Les Papillons de Terezín (Butterflies from Terezín)

About

Throughout history, humanity has shown a tendency to forget its past and lose sight of what is truly essential in life. Yet, strategies that helped children survive the Terezín concentration camp should serve as a source of inspiration and as a catalyst for us to actively contemplate how to address the many challenges we are facing in the world today. The opera invites audiences to reflect on the notion that the fundamental building blocks we must use today to ensure proper paths for our children to walk along are to maintain a firmly, grounded perspective, to keep our imagination alive and to maintain a healthy “inner world”.

Butterflies from Terezín is an opera for children, composed by composer and conductor Charles Baumstark. The libretto was written by cellist Lola Ramirez Casanova, who dedicated research to the artistic activities that took place within the Terezín concentration camp. In 2021, she initiated "Et Terezín Chantait" (And Terezín Sang...), an educational project created in collaboration with the music school in Anjou Bleu. The project was created to raise children's awareness of the Holocaust and simultaneously incorporate the use of the children’s opera Brundibár as a teaching aid in the vocal classes of the music school. Following the educational success and popularity of the project, the Anjou Bleu music school decided to continue this particular research and expand the project, inviting Charles Baumstark to compose a new opera for children.

Inspired by the everyday lives of the "little souls" in Terezín, librettist Lola Ramirez Casanova conceived an opera that operates on two levels: beneath the apparent lightness of the text, Butterflies from Terezín also serves as a gateway to discussion and reflection. The core mission of the opera is to prompt inquiries about the future in light of the past.

The performance was created in cooperation with the National Theatre's project Musica non grata, with the financial support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.