Truth • Justice • Memory
You cherish freedom. You know its high cost. You know socialism is slavery … and communism kills.
On the morning of November 9, 1989, it was unthinkable that the Berlin Wall would fall that evening. For nearly three decades, the Wall had stood as a symbol of a Europe divided between communist totalitarianism and free nations. Yet the resilience of the peoples of the Captive Nations, and the courage of dissidents in the face of tyranny, relentlessly chipped away at the Iron Curtain and brought about its dramatic fall. Free people everywhere celebrated the inextinguishable desire for liberty that brought about the collapse of communism in Europe and the historic reunification of Germany.
Honoring
His Excellency Joachim Gauck, Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom Recipient
As a Lutheran pastor behind the Iron Curtain, Joachim Gauck led weekly prayers for peace that helped initiate popular resistance to the communist regime and eventually gave rise to the protest demonstrations in 1989. A co-founder of the New Forum opposition movement, Gauck was elected to the first free East German parliament in 1990 and oversaw the dissolution of the Ministry of State Security. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the 11th president of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Featuring
Performance of “Ode to Freedom” based on Leonard Bernstein’s 1989
performance of the Finale of Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Janice Chandler-Eteme, soprano
Kimberly Sogioka, mezzo
Won Whi Choi, tenor
Kevin Short, bass-baritone
National Philharmonic Chorale at Strathmore
Dr. Stan Engebretson, Conductor
George Mason University Singers
Dr. Stan Engebretson, Conductor
Bryan Stenson, Associate Conductor
Triumph of Liberty Symphony Orchestra
Simeone Tartiglione, Music Director
