I Never Saw Another Butterfly Lori Laitman

I Never Saw Another Butterfly - Lori Laitman Kristin Schmitz - soprano Paul Cohen - alto saxophone I had the pleasure of playing with Kristin Schmitz on her vocal recital in New Orleans in April of 2026. One of the works was Lori Laitman's haunting and poignant "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" (three movements) I. I Never Saw Another Butterfly 2. Yes, That's the Way Things Are 3. Birdsong Composer Lori Laitman is celebrated for her rich and emotionally resonant vocal music, setting texts that speak across time, place, and identity. Her vocal cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly is one of her most powerful and enduring works, and a moving example of her sensitivity to history, memory, and language. The cycle sets six poems written by Jewish children imprisoned in the Terezín (Theresienstadt) concentration camp during World War II. Over 15,000 children passed through Terezín; fewer than 150 survived. The poems left behind—discovered after the war—are remarkable documents of emotional clarity, containing moments of longing, innocence, and even hope amid the horrors of life in the camp. More than a piece of music, I Never Saw Another Butterfly is a memorial. It allows the words of these children— most of whom did not survive—to continue resonating in performance spaces around the world. In setting their poems to music, Laitman does not attempt to give them closure or explanation. Instead, she gives them voice. And through that voice, we listen—not only to history, but to humanity. Johnson Huynh