A northern Illinois music group is doing a show that will commemorate a particular group of individuals.
The Rockford Symphony Orchestra will honor immigrants during its upcoming performance. Yaniv Attar is the orchestra’s music director. He says he started planning the concert over a year ago but recently decided to add immigrant stories provided by concert goers.
“We come from lots of different places," he said, "and that's what make us more rich, more powerful. Like they say, diversity is our strength.”
He says one of the greatest lines in the piece is “At the end of the day we are all immigrants.”
“It's just a question of who got here when, you know," he said. "And I think people need to see that to see that there's not enough humanity in our society today, and we need to always strive for that.”
Attar is also an immigrant. He was born in Israel and became a U.S. citizen in 2018.
The "Ellis Island: Dream of America" program will feature actors from the Artists' Ensemble Theater. The concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, at the Coronado Theater. A prelude featuring immigration stories will take place at 6:30 p.m. A youth concert will take place on Friday, March 7.
