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Steal a Pencil for Me, by composer Gerald Cohen and librettist Deborah Brevoort, is an opera in two acts about one of the Holocaust’s most unusual love stories—between Jaap Polak, a Dutch accountant, and Ina Soep, the daughter of a wealthy diamond manufacturer—who fell in love while imprisoned in the Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. Based on their love letters, which were published in a book of the same title, Steal a Pencil for Me is about the indestructibility of the life spirit and the power of humankind to survive adversity. The opera dramatizes intimate concerns and private dramas alongside the epic horrors of the Holocaust.

The action of Steal a Pencil for Me takes place in Amsterdam, at Westerbork transit camp, and at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp between the years of 1943-1945. Thirty-year old Jaap Polak is unhappily married to Manja, a capricious woman with a sharp tongue. He falls in love with 20-year old Ina Soep, whose boyfriend, Rudi Acohen, has been seized and deported to Poland by the Nazis. When Jaap, Manja, and Ina are deported to Westerbork, they actually find themselves living in the same barracks. Jaap’s wife objects to the relationship, and Jaap and Ina resort to writing secret love letters, which sustain them throughout the horrible circumstances of the war. Rudi appears onstage in the opera in Ina’s mind, as she gradually reconciles herself to her grief over losing him.

Gerald Cohen knew Jaap and Ina for over 25 years, and was inspired to write the opera after hearing their story and reading their letters. He and Deborah Brevoort met with them many times in the process of writing the libretto, and Jaap and Ina were present at the first workshop of the opera in celebration of Jaap’s 100th and Ina’s 90th birthdays.

Steal a Pencil for Me was given its premiere production in 2018 by Opera Colorado. The album, recorded in Denver in 2022, features most of the central performers of the Opera Colorado production, with Ari Pelto as conductor, and (in the principal vocal roles) Gideon Dabi as Jaap, Inna Dukach as Ina, and Adriana Zabala as Manja.

Read the album booklet here.
Learn more about the opera here.

Ari Pelto, Conductor
Sahar Nouri, Chorusmaster

CAST

Gideon Dabi Jaap Polak
Inna Dukach Ina Soep
Adriana Zabala Majna Soep
Kira Dills-Desurra Lisette
Daniel McGrew Rudi Acohen
Andrew Garland Abraham Soep
Ricardo Rivera Commandant
Thomas Lynch Nazi Guard I
Phillip Lopez Nazi Guard II

CHORUS

Allen Adair
Deborah Anderson
Daniela Guzmán Éqüez
Jennifer Harpel
Justin Kerr
Bella Mallow
Zeky Nadji
Madison Williams
Joshua Zabatta

ORCHESTRA

Byron Hitchcock Violin/Concertmaster
Takanori Sugishita Violin
Matthew Dane Viola
Michael Brook Viola
Andrew Klob Cello
David Crowe Bass
Susan Townsend Flute/Piccolo
Sarah Bierhaus Oboe/English Horn
Michelle Orman Clarinet
Heidi Mendenhall Bass Clarinet
Charles Hanson Bassoon
Michael Yopp French Horn
Peter Cooper Timpani/Percussion
Sahar Nouri Piano