Push

‘My life has been nothing but miracles…’, the Holocaust survivor and Brussels resident Simon Gronowski told Howard Moody after the premiere of Sindbad at La Monnaie. That encounter was the starting signal for Push, which is based on Gronowski’s story. In 1943, he was taken from the Dossin Barracks and put on a train for Auschwitz. Thanks to his mother, who pushed him off the train, he was able to escape. But Push is more than a miraculous war story. It transcends the historical facts and resonates with the experiences of prisoners and refugees past and present: ‘our lives in one bag’. Howard Moody, an extraordinary bridgebuilder both as a composer and a conductor, fills his opera with a message of hope inspired by Gronowski’s words: ‘I wanted to live in the present and the future, in optimism, joy, and friendship’. For this production, Moody once again brings together professional musicians and amateur performers – both adults and children – in a unique theatrical experience.