Elysium's 31st Season 2013–2014
Spring 2014


Tuesday, February 18,
2014

at 7.30 pm
Austrian Cultural Forum
11 East 52nd Street
New York, NY 10022

Admission: Free
Reservations are required and can be made at www.acfny.org (click on events and choose date of February 18 in the calendar)

Presented by the Austrian Cultural Forum in cooperation with The Lahr von Leitis Academy & Archive and Elysium – between two continents

 

Cornet: Viktor Ullmann’s Legacy from Theresienstadt
in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Ullmann’s murder in Auschwitz

"The Lay of Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke"
for recitation and piano
and the Piano Sonata No. 6 by Viktor Ullmann

Introductory Lecture on “Music from Theresienstadt”: Michael Lahr
Recitation: Gregorij H. von Leitis
Piano: Dan Franklin Smith

The Austrian-Jewish composer Viktor Ullmann (1898 – 1944) was one of many artists, who were deported to the ghetto and concentration camp Theresienstadt north of Prague. Faced with degrading living conditions, hunger and pain, and fear in the face of terror and death, Ullmann did not surrender. Even under those horrible circumstances he remained defiant. His music helped him to endure the daily suffering. His art also comforted and encouraged the other inmates.
In Theresienstadt, Viktor Ullmann noted: "We did not sit moaning at the Rivers of Babylon and our will to be creative was as strong as our will to live." – Ullmann's will to be creative was admirable. During his two years in Theresienstadt, he composed a number of songs and piano sonatas, and the chamber opera "The Emperor of Atlantis".

The “Cornet” is the last composition that Ullmann was able to finish in Theresienstadt, before he was deported to Auschwitz on October 16, 1944, where he and his wife Elisabeth were killed two days later. His music was rescued by a friend who survived the camps. “The Lay of Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke” is based on a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. Rilke tells the haunting story of a young soldier who experiences love and death in one night. Ullmann’s composition is a rare combination of recitation and piano. The music underlines the dramatic action, comments on it, illustrates it and thus intensifies the effect.

The adamant will to live, the unshakable hope, that the good will prevail, no matter how horrible the attempts are to crush it, this is the message of Ullmann’s music from Theresienstadt.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014
at 12.00 noon
The Lotos Club
5 East 66th Street
New York, NY 10065

Admission: $ 325 (tickets are tax-deductible for the full amount less $ 85)

Proceeds will benefit Elysium’s International Educational Programs

To receive an invitation please contact Michael Lahr at elysiumbtc@aol.com

27th Annual Erwin Piscator Award Luncheon

honoring Harold Prince (Erwin Piscator Award 2014), legendary director and producer of numerous Broadway hits, operas, and plays for his outstanding contributions to the American theatre and musical theatre

and

Vartan Gregorian (Erwin Piscator Honorary Award 2014 in memory of Maria Ley Piscator) for his extraordinary contributions to education, culture and arts in the United States. Over the course of the last six decades he has served in various capacities on some of the finest educational and cultural institutions of this country, from his time at UCLA, and his professorship, position as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and later as Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, to his legendary tenure at the helmet of New York Public Library, his Presidency at Brown University, and currently his position as President of Carnegie Corporation of New York..

Harold Prince will be introduced by Jack O’Brien,
Vartan Gregorian will be introduced by Joel Conarroe.


Thursday, May 22, 2014,
at 7.30 pm
Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin
Stauffenbergstr. 1
10785 Berlin

Admission: Free
Reservations are required and
can be made at www.kulturforumberlin.at

Presented by the Austrian Cultural Forum Berlin in cooperation with Elysium – between two continents

Hate is a Failure of Imagination

In Remembrance of the artists from Theresienstadt who were murdered 70 years ago in Auschwitz

A literary collage
with texts by Alice Herz-Sommer, Paul Aron Sandfort, Leo Strauss, Viktor Ullmann and Ilse Weber

Concept & Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr
Recitation: Gregorij H. von Leïtis

The Nazis relentlessly stoked hate against the Jews. They tried to dehumanize them and degrade them to mere numbers. But the artists who were imprisoned in Theresienstadt, countered this hate – which Graham Greene so aptly described as a failure of imagination – with a powerful offensive of imagination. With their artistic fantasy, their creative power, their inventive energy they continuously proved wrong the national-socialist dictum, that Jews were sub-human and as such incapable of any real culture.

The literary collage “Hate is a Failure of Imagination“ is a testament to the power of imagination and to the profound love and humanity of the artists who were imprisoned in the ghetto and concentration camp Theresienstadt.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014
at 7.30 pm
St. Ursula
Parish Hall
Kaiserplatz 13 A
80803 Munich

Admission: Free
Reservations can be made at elysiumbtc@aol.com

Presented by Elysium – between two continents in cooperation with St. Ursula Munich

Hate is a Failure of Imagination

In Remembrance of the artists from Theresienstadt who were murdered 70 years ago in Auschwitz

A literary collage
with texts by Alice Herz-Sommer, Paul Aron Sandfort, Leo Strauss, Viktor Ullmann and Ilse Weber

Concept & Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr
Recitation: Gregorij H. von Leïtis

The Nazis relentlessly stoked hate against the Jews. They tried to dehumanize them and degrade them to mere numbers. But the artists who were imprisoned in Theresienstadt, countered this hate – which Graham Greene so aptly described as a failure of imagination – with a powerful offensive of imagination. With their artistic fantasy, their creative power, their inventive energy they continuously proved wrong the national-socialist dictum, that Jews were sub-human and as such incapable of any real culture.

The literary collage “Hate is a Failure of Imagination“ is a testament to the power of imagination and to the profound love and humanity of the artists who were imprisoned in the ghetto and concentration camp Theresienstadt.


Elysium - Between Two Continents gratefully acknowledges the support of :

Falke
Hemmerle
Max Kade Foundation
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation