Journeys

Nov 1, 2026

• Benaroya Hall
  Benaroya Hall 200 University St, WA, Seattle 98101, view on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Journeys of freedom, of courage, and of memory

Different Trains, by American composer Steve Reich, who celebrates his 90th birthday this fall, captures the sounds and voices that Reich remembered from the cross-country trains of his childhood trips between his separated parents during World War II. He juxtaposes them with echoes of the transports that were carrying European children to a very different fate. Iranian American composer Sahba Aminikia’s Stormy Seas, an MOR commission, tells the compelling true stories of five child boat refugees who braved perilous waters in search of safety and freedom in new lands. Songs from the collection We Go On, Oswego, are a tribute to the women who escaped Nazi persecution and received shelter in the only refugee camp in America during WWII. The concert opens with the soulful second movement of Black American composer George Walker’s Lyric String Quartet, dedicated to his enslaved grandmother who escaped to freedom.  

Guest Artist: Lily Bogas, mezzo-soprano

Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Elisa Barston, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Walter Gray, cello; Laura DeLuca, clarinet; Cristina Valdes, piano

Erich Parce, director      Peter Crompton, media design