Auschwitz Performers to Be Recalled in Acclaimed Musical Drama at Holy Cross

The College of the Holy Cross will present An Evening with Madame F, a musical drama created by Claudia Stevens, on Feb. 7 at 4 p.m. in O’Kane Hall (Fenwick Theatre). The event is free of charge to the Holy Cross community and $10 for the general public.

Adopting the persona of an elderly concentration camp musician who had performed at Auschwitz, Stevens uses music actually played and sung by women inmates there, as well as first-hand accounts, to depict the physical struggle and ethical dilemma of those who survived through music performance. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, she also meditates on the issue of treating the Holocaust as the subject for artistic expression.

One of the most honored Holocaust-related performances before the public, An Evening with Madame F was produced for television broadcast by PBS affiliates WCVE and WHTJ. It has been performed in nearly 100 U.S. cities including New York, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D.C., as well as presented by many leading academic institutions across the nation.

Stevens is associate professor of music at the College of William and Mary.

The event is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture as part of the Kraft-Hiatt lecture series. The Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding supports campus and community-wide educational initiatives that foster understanding of Judaism and Jewish culture, and dialogue between Jews and Christians.