Live Performance of “The Golden Cage”
Music by Charles Abeles
Libretto by Miriam Sommerburg
This opera was written by two Holocaust refugees from the Fort Ontario Refugee Shelter in Oswego,
during WW II. You can view this recording on the WCNY, PBS website
Background: 982 refugees from the Holocaust were brought from Europe to the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York and stayed from August 1944 to February 1946. It was President Roosevelt’s only acknowledgment of the Holocaust. All refugees had agreed to return to their homelands after WW II ended, but by that time in1945, there was nothing to go home to or it was dangerous to do so, and they wished to remain in the United States, They used various means to petition authorities to stay, and one was to write an opera that told their story – life in Europe, the journey across the Atlantic, and their experiences at the Shelter in Oswego, referred to as The Golden Cage. All their physical needs were met, but they lacked freedom. Charles Abeles, an Austrian musician, composed the music, and Miriam Sommerburg, a German artist and author, wrote the text.
First Performance: “The Golden Cage” was first performed on New Year’s Eve, 1945 and an abbreviated version in January 1946. By this time, President Truman had signed a doctrine allowing them to stay.
Mystery: “The Golden Cage” was presumed to be lost until recently, but things changed.
1. The music was found in a trunk in the composer’s nephew’s home in Germany
2. The libretto was discovered in the National Archives in Washington, DC
3. Both are currently being put together and edited for performance
Importance: This will be the first performance of “The Golden Cage” since its debut on New Year’s Eve in 1945 at the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, and the issues of immigration and anti-Semitism are unfortunately still relevant. The production will be part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the arrival of the refugees to Oswego in August 1944, which was held in August, 2019. Due to COVID, some events, including the opera, have been postponed until 2022.
Please plan to join Oswego Opera Theater for this important event