Excerpt from "Letter from edith"

In April of 1933, German-Jewish philosopher Edith Stein--who had converted to Catholicism and wanted to become a nun--wrote a letter to the pope, urging him to speak out against the Nazis. He ignored her letter, and never spoke out. The audience at the concert got to hear what she had to say, and now you do, too.

At the premiere on October 30th, 2025, in the 10th Floor Lounge of the Riverside Church in New York City, Olivia Ericsson sang the role of Edith Stein. She was accompanied by Audrey Hayes on violin, Ben Capps on cello, and Ken Filiano on double bass. What you'll hear above is a 3 and a half minute excerpt; the entire piece lasted just under 13 minutes. 

For the first time in 600 years an audience got to hear what was said at the condemnation trials that led to Joan of Arc's death, at the Attic Studio at The Tank, New York, NY, on December 2nd, 2023.

Olivia Prendergast sang the role of Jehanne d'Arc (Joan is the English spelling) and Johannes Linneballe sang the role of her interrogator at the trials; they sang in the original Medieval French. The image you see at right is of her actual signature. The chamber ensemble also included violin, cello, double bass, harp, flute, bassoon and flugelhorn. The excerpt above is about 4 minutes of the 23 minute piece.