After the Premiere: From Fairy Tale to Terezín — Lori Laitman, Children’s Operas, and the Work of Musical Memory

By Justin Vickers

When Lori Laitman was composing Vedem, she initially thought she knew how to pronounce the title. She had already written an entire movement with the stress falling on the second syllable. Then, after a conversation with survivors and their families, she learned that the emphasis belonged on the first. Thus, she rewrote the vocal line t…