MOR Partners with Immigrant Rights Advocates in Season Opener
Soprano Vanessa Isiguen and composer Milad Yousufi with MOR Chamber Ensemble / photo by Ben Van Houten
Music of Remembrance Partners with Immigrant Rights Advocates for Season Opener
Concert turns ticket sales into lifeline for detained immigrants
Seattle • October 26, 2025
SEATTLE, WA – October 1, 2025 – On October 26 at Benaroya Hall, Music of Remembrance (MOR) launches its new season with Witness to Courage – a concert that puts stories of displacement and resistance at center stage. Music born in persecution and echoed in today’s detention centers will remind audiences that the struggles of the past continue to be painfully relevant. In a first-time partnership, 50% of ticket sales will be donated to the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), which provides legal aid to immigrants across Washington state, including those detained by ICE, and Jewish Family Service (JFS) joining as a community partner.
The evening begins with a public conversation featuring leaders from MOR, NWIRP, and JFS on today’s immigration struggles and how Seattle communities can act in solidarity. Together, the partners will link history to the present: music created and inspired by refugees of the Holocaust alongside the crucial work of defending immigrants under threat today.
“This partnership aligns with the core of our mission,” said MOR Executive Director Lorri Staal. “Through music, we illuminate the journeys of countless refugees – their expulsion, resilience, and hope – while NWIRP and JFS serve on the front lines today, aiding immigrants who are living these struggles now. Together, we connect the stories on our stage with the lives in our community.”
“This partnership is powerful because it fuses memory with action,” said Malou Chávez, Executive Director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. “Directly impacted communities and their loved ones are suffering every day under detention and deportation, and art can move people to stand in solidarity. With this concert, MOR puts money behind the message.”
Highlights of the program include:
• Music written in prison and exile – from William Hilsley’s defiant Dance Pieces, composed inside a WWII internment camp, to a string trio by Géza Frid, a refugee who risked his life forging identity papers for the Dutch resistance
• Stories of flight and survival – the West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Crossing Borders, based on a teenage girl’s secret diary as her family escaped Nazi-occupied Paris
• Testimonies of everyday heroism – Paul Schoenfield’s Sparks of Glory, drawn from eyewitness accounts of ordinary people who resisted the Holocaust with extraordinary courage
“The Holocaust showed us the lasting damage of oppression,” said MOR Artistic Director Mina Miller. “This music transforms histories of persecution and resistance into urgent reminders of the need to stand up for human dignity today. Witness to Courage is more than a concert – it’s a call to action.”
Witness to Courage
Sunday, October 26, 2025 @ 3:00pm
West Coast Premiere: Crossing Borders by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer
with Catherine Cook, mezzo-soprano
Plus works by Géza Frid, William Hilsley, and Paul Schoenfield
with Curt Branom, narrator; and Rachel Jung, violin (2025 David Tonkonogui Memorial Award recipient)
MOR Chamber Ensemble: Laura DeLuca, clarinet; Elisa Barston, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Walter Gray, cello; Cristina Valdes, piano
Panel Discussion: Mina Miller, Music of Remembrance Artistic Director; Malou Chávez, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project Executive Director; and Cordelia Revells, Jewish Family Service Director of Refugee & Immigrant Services
Benaroya Hall (200 University Street)
Seattle, Washington
Tickets $60; Students $25 (ID required)
https://musicofremembrance.org/show-details/witness
*Media are invited to film select rehearsal footage at Benaroya Hall on Saturday, October 25, from 1-2pm; soloists and leadership are available for interviews separately. Contact beth@verismopr.com to arrange.*
About Music of Remembrance
Established in 1998, Music of Remembrance (MOR) pays tribute to historic memory and directly confronts challenges to human rights and dignity today. In addition to its work discovering and performing music from the Holocaust, MOR is admired around the world for its leadership in commissioning, having premiered 48 new works by leading composers. This includes varied chamber ensembles, song cycles, choral works, dance music, film scores, musical dramas, and full-length operas – all using art to confront compelling issues in today’s world. MOR’s online concerts, nine albums, three documentary films, and many outreach programs have added to the impact experienced by live audiences. MOR’s annual David Tonkonogui Memorial Award welcomes new generations along on this journey, nurturing young musicians who seek to address issues of human rights through their art.
About Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is a free legal services organization that promotes justice by defending and advancing the rights of immigrants through direct legal services, systemic advocacy, and community education. NWIRP has been fighting for due process for immigrants since its founding in 1984. In 2024, NWIRP served over 20,000 people from 145 countries, speaking 63 different languages.
About Jewish Family Service
Inspired by our history and values, Jewish Family Service supports the needs of Jewish individuals and families, refugees and immigrants, and our broader community to achieve well-being, health, and stability. For 133 years, JFS has been a beacon of hope for refugees and immigrants seeking safety, stability, and a fresh start.
Press Contact: Beth Stewart
Verismo Communications
Tel: 618.444.3183 | Email: beth@verismopr.com
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