Testimonials

“I Believe” was one of the most unique pieces I ever conducted. Through the music Zane Zalis was able to create a beautiful vehicle to communicate the tragic story of the holocaust to a 21st century audience.

- Alexander Mickelthwate

Music Director/Conductor

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

“I Believe” is as unique as it is powerful - a memorial to a story that must be told. No doubt those new to the darkest events in history will feel its messages in Zalis' narrative and remember them long after the music stops.

- James Manishen

Classical Music Reporter

Winnipeg Free Press

“I Believe” is an amazingly uplifting and spiritual musical experience... it is a must for all people of good will.

- Ephraim Kaye

Yad Vashem

The International School for Holocaust Studies

“I Believe” touches your heart, helps not to forget and demonstrates the importance of understanding, tolerance and reconciliation. There is no better music for this.

- Werner Brandstetter

Ambassador of Austria to Canada

“I Believe” encompasses not only a narrative from the beginning of the Holocaust through liberation but also a plea for awareness, understanding and peace wherever issues of human rights are concerned. The musical syntax is accessible, the choral writing rich and resourceful and the orchestral forces are used with skill. Mr. Zalis’s gift for melody is a hallmark of I Believe, and a number of the movements can stand alone for purely memorable songwriting.

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- Trudy Schroeder

Executive Director

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

In word, in resonant melody and chord, “I Believe” speaks to the depths of our humanity. Building on the particular experience of the Holocaust genocide, this oratorio explores such darkness as it is a part of the whole human condition. But then "I Believe" sings us forward to a future of hope. This oratorio is an essential experience for all of us.

- Rev Dr. Karen Hamilton

General Secretary

The Canadian Council of Churches