"Children's Crusade"

Grammy-Winning San Francisco Girls Chorus: Anti-War "Children's Crusade"

The horrors of war touch everyone, but perhaps the children most of all. That adds a special poignancy to this performance of "Kinderkreuzzug (Children's Crusade)", an anti-war cantata by German-Kurdish composer Ralf Yusuf Gawlick. It's based on Bertolt Brecht's moving account of a group of war orphans who band together to collectively survive the hardships inflected on them by adult conflict and search for a land of peace. This performance at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley will also feature the world premiere of a new arrangement by Philip Glass and SFGC Artistic Director Lisa Bielawa of Glass's "Father Death Blues", plus Lili Boulanger's stunning "Pie Jesu".