I Too Bleed and Hope for Beauty [HL:369852]

Alma Rose, niece to Gustav Mahler and daughter of renowned violinist Arnold Rose, became a famous violinist and founder of a popularwomen's orchestra called “The Waltzing Girls of Vienna.” After the Nazis came to power, she fled to the Netherlands and then to France, where she was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo and deported to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. There, she became the conductor of the women's orchestra and, by the power of her spirit and determination, the ensemble became a path to survival, saving the lives of nearly 50 prisoners who otherwise would have died in the Nazi gas chambers. The title of this piece, “I too Bleed, and Hope for Beauty,” is a quote by Manca Svalbova, a young Slovak doctor at the Auschwitz hospital, and a close friend of Alma. The quote is Svalbova's way of describing the message conveyed by Alma's violin playing. “I too Bleed, and Hope for Beauty” is a tribute to Alma Rose and the enduring power of music, which, even the worst of circumstances imaginable, offers hope and beauty. Commissioned and world premiered by ROCO.