IRON & COAL

Iron & Coal is a powerful and personal rock-opera by critically acclaimed composer and performer Jeremy Schonfeld. Taking inspiration from his father, an Auschwitz survivor, composer Jeremy Schonfeld brings together his personal experiences with excerpts from his father’s memoir “Absence of Closure.” The ghosts of a vanished world mix with the present, brought to life through animation, a rock band, an orchestra, and multigenerational choruses, to celebrate the indomitable spirit of our ancestors and the legacy we carry with us. Schonfeld weaves memories of his own early childhood and his own coming to terms with the death of his father Gustav and with the birth of his own son.

Commissioned and developed by Strathmore and Beth Morrison Projects.

Support provided by Peter Boker, Heidi Farkash, The Dr. David M. Milch Foundation, and Joshua Schonfeld & Jill Steinberg.

The PROTOTYPE Festival presentation of this project was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

World premiere at Strathmore featured Alexandria Harmonizers, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras of Strathmore, Young Artists of America, and Strathmore Children's Chorus.

Part rock anthem, part off-Broadway musical, part singer-songwriter opus, the stirringly wistful music regularly gathers swelling forcefulness, with snowballing orchestral textures and catchy, urgent rhythms.
The Washington Post
The sheer magnitude of the concert event was enough to inspire wonder and awe… gloriously spectacular and overwhelmingly beautiful
DC Metro Arts

Creative Team

COMPOSER, CREATOR & PERFORMER — JEREMY SCHONFELD
DIRECTOR — KEVIN NEWBURY
MUSIC DIRECTOR & ARRANGEMENTS — DAVID BLOOM
PROJECTION DESIGN — S KATY TUCKER
LIGHTING DESIGN — JAPHY WEIDEMAN
SOUND DESIGN — TYLER KIEFFER
ANIMATION DESIGN — TOM SELTZER
VIDEO ENGINEERING — PAUL VERSHBOW
MOVEMENT — NATALIE LOMONTE
FEATURING — JEREMY SCHONFELD, RINDE ECKERT, LINCOLN CLAUSS, AND CONTEMPORANEOUS