Cēsis hosted an audiovisual performance called “Silence Falls,” which was attended by residents as well as visitors from other cities, including members of the Riga Jewish Community.
Organizers of the performance describe it as a prayer for the murdered, a tribute to the Jewish community of Cēsis, which was destroyed during the Holocaust in August 1941.
The main instrument of the performance was a voice speaking to each participant through headphones. Then the people gathered on the square headed for the same forest on the outskirts of the city where 200 Cēsis Jews were murdered 81 years ago.
In the forest, one voice in the headphones was replaced by several other young voices of the world famous “Kamēr …” choir, who sang a new piece by the composer Krists Auznieks. The a cappella singing moved smoothly from Yiddish to Hebrew, from Hebrew to Latvian.
The organizers of the event are Krista and Reinis Dzudzilo, poet Merrit Malloy, and curator Elīna Kalniņa.
