Suawd - "Memorial Project" For Orchestra

A collaboration with the drama faculty in my school, for the “Holocaust Memorial Day” event. This multidisciplinary project was a practice assessment for my High-Level Music IB component, initiated around September 2023 towards January 2024. This project was unfinished due to logistic concerns that occurred midway.
My and the two other HL Music students' role was collaborating in crafting the music with the script written by three actors. The play combines music and acting to depict the atrocities of the Holocaust. The purpose of this project was to draw the student’s attention towards the atrocities and torment during those times while linking them to the present day’s issues regarding anti-Semitism. Therefore we planned to create dissonant and melancholic music to create a lasting impact on the audience.
*Narrative of the play*
The music and play comprises 3 parts: beginning, middle, and end sections. Two students composed the beginning and end sections, while I composed the middle. This TH-cam video presents my composition taken from the play's middle section.
3 stories are separated into 3 parts: beginning, middle, and end. The beginning is the rising action, the middle section is the climax and the ending section presents the falling action of the stories. Here is a short summary of the 3 stories throughout.
The first story is an interview which comprises an interviewer and an old lady. The old lady documents her traumatic experiences when she hid innocent Jewish children under her basement in order to avert the attention of the Nazi soldiers.
The second story is in an epistolary, monologue format. A lesbian couple, who were separated due to the war, exchanges letters with one another. The protagonist reads them and ruminates with her other half about the beautiful past.
The third story presents the perspective of the soldiers in the Nazi regime.
Below are the three scripts from three actors who wrote them on their behalf for the middle section (permission granted). These scripts are accompanied by the music in the sections labelled D, E, and F respectively. The music fits into the styles of an early romanticism “Beethoven” sonata, a jarring waltz and a sinister march.
D: “The Old Lady Story”
Irene: I was in Radom, Poland , away from home, in 1939 . I was drafted along with twelve other girls and we came with the troops, we were all away from our family, so we stuck together, the unit became our family . the bandages, scaples and needles were our most treasured objects aside from each other, because at times, it was the only thing keeping us alive to see each other . And death- is a round-o'clock visitor… There were twelve of us in the beginning…( she pauses, swallows ) I was only one left to return from the Russian border to learn that our Home was no more.
E: “The Couple Story”
Until I was…transferred [BEAT] I haven't seen her since. I don't know if I will again. Liberation is a great thing. Liberation is a blessing…but…I’d rather suffer a thousand lifetimes knowing Nelly is safe than being clueless here [she stares off in the distance for a few beats] I’m sure she's alive. I’ll find her, and if not now then in every other life.
F: “The Soldiers Story”
(soon)
It was unfortunate that we were unable to perform this to the live audience since it was our first time executing this collaboration. My sincerest thanks to the musicians and dramatists who collaborated and supported me throughout this project.

[@MavixEdits]

incredible composition as always bro!

[@kanhtran6444]

To think that students managed to compose this. You guys were awesome. It's a mix of terror, mystery, and tension. Amazing work