Below is a review of the premiere of Come to Me in Dreams, presented by Cleveland Opera.
The Nazis destroyed millions of lives, but they couldn’t contain the thoughts and words of many who refused to lose hope. Cleveland Opera’s final program of the season…brings some of those words to affecting and disturbing life…[The] company is presenting the double bill of Lori Laitman’s Come to Me in Dreams (in its world premiere) and Grigori Frid’s The Diary of Anne Frank (in its Ohio premiere).
Both works have striking features, especially Come to Me in Dreams, a selection of Laitman songs tied together by David Bamberger, Cleveland Opera’s retiring general director. Bamberger’s scenario depicts the struggle of a Holocaust survivor to come to terms with the loss of his wife and a daughter.
The texts for the 15 songs in Come to Me in Dreams are derived from various sources, including children who died in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt (Terezin). Laitman’s settings are exuberant, poignant and harrowing realizations, written with a musical poet’s ear for expressive warmth, nuance and color.