Anne Frank's story to be told through music and film at Rathgormack Community Centre

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Girish Paul will perform a concert with his virtual orchestra at Rathgormack Community & Hiking Centre on Saturday, October 21 at 8pm to mark the worldwide release of his new ablum, The Diary of Anne Frank: Her Journey in Music.

The concert that will accompany a film depicting Anne Frank's life from her schooldays to her years in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, is part of a tour of Ireland that follows hot on the heels of the composer’s successful performances of the production at the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. 

Girish Paul said music for The Diary of Anne Frank: Her Journey in Music was composed with a view to performing it as part of a stage musical down the line with original songs to accompany the on-stage action.

“But as the album of the same name has been released worldwide on all major online platforms, we decided to tour the music in a concert format with our virtual orchestra,” he explained.

“The film that audiences will see throughout the musical performance up on screen was shot with professional Irish actors in order that audiences will experience the sequence of events as they happened as depicted by each piece of music as it is performed.

“The story spans from Anne's happy schooldays, her joyous birthday celebration through to the family’s escape from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and her experiences as a growing 13-year-old in secret hiding, together with her innermost feelings, the relationships around her, her resilience and inner strength way beyond her years, and her first kiss.”

The production has received the full support of the Anne Frank Fonds Foundation in Switzerland that was set up by Anne’s father Otto Frank after World War Two, and has received several accolades.

Anne Frank was just 13-years-old when she went into hiding with her family in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation of Holland because they were Jewish.

In August 1944, Anne and her family were captured by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps.

She died in the notorious Bergen-Belsen camp in March, 1945 at the age of 15, just two months before the end of the war.

The concert’s organisers wish to thank Rathgormack Community & Hiking Centre and Nora Bray for their kind support of the production.’

Reviews and accolades
‘A Masterpiece,’ Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023
‘A hauntingly beautiful production’ John Ahern, The Avondhu, Fermoy, Cork
‘Girish’s music is captivating. We look forward to seeing you in the USA,’ Rabbi Jeffrey, Phoenix Arizona
‘Your music for Anne Frank is wonderful,’ Anne Frank 
Fonds Foundation, Switzerland.

Tickets for the concert can be purchased online via the ticketing company Gr8events. The website address is:  http://www.Gr8events.ie.