A musical celebration of compassion

New oratorio about Jewish refugees to make global debut in the city, Xu Xiaomin reports.

Produced by a group of top-level international musicians, an oratorio telling the story of exiled Jewish refugees navigating their new life in Shanghai during World War II will have its global premiere in the city this November.

Maestro Yu Long, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic have jointly commissioned the oratorio titled Emigre, composed by award-winning musician Aaron Zigman.

The lyrics are by Pulitzer Prizewinning librettist Mark Campbell and songwriter Brock Walsh.

The oratorio will premiere on Nov 17 at the Jaguar Shanghai Symphony Hall before making its US premiere in the David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York on Feb 29.

The idea for the production came from Yu, music director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, who spoke to Zigman about it at the beginning of 2020 in New York. Both of them then agreed to produce a work to commemorate this moving moment in history.