Two Remain • 2016
Libretto by Gene Scheer
Based, in part, on the true stories of two Holocaust survivors: the Polish dissident Krystyna Zywulska (1914-1993) and the gay German Jew, Gad Beck (1923-2012). Source material for the libretto includes documents and journals in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Zywulska’s I Survived Auschwitz (1946), as well as various interview, including several from the film Paragraph 175, directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman (Copyright Reflective Image Inc. Used by permission.)
Opera in two acts
World Premiere: May 22, 2016
Out of Darkness commissioned by Music of Remembrance
Two Remain (Out of Darkness) revised for and performed at Atlanta Opera
Duration: 1 hour, 35 minutes
About
Two Remain is an opera based, in part, on the true stories of two Holocaust survivors: the Polish dissident Krystyna Zywulska (1914–1993) and the gay German Jew, Gad Beck (1923–2012). Source material for Gene Scheer’s libretto includes documents and journals in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Zywulska’s I Survived Auschwitz (1946), as well as various interviews, including several from the film Paragraph 175, directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman (Copyright Reflective Image Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)
The opera explores perspectives on survival, and a survivor’s struggle to find the words to describe what happened to them. The two main characters in Two Remain are each visited by the ghosts of their past. The living want only to forget while the ghosts want only to be remembered. Which will prevail?
“Deeply emotional and deeply moving. It lingers with you long after the performance.
ArtsATL
Premiere Cast & Creative Team
Conductor: Joseph Mechavich
Production: Erich Parse
Lighting and Set Designer: Matthew Antaky
Costume Designer: Sam Fleming
Media Designer: David Murakami
Production and Stage Manager: Laura Anderson
Krystyna Zywulska: Caitlin Lynch
Krysia: Ava Pine
Zosha: Catherine Cook
Manfred: Michael Mayes
Gad Beck: Robert Orth
Undewritten by a generous award by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Music of Remembrance Commissioning Circle