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Freedom of the arts is essential for any democracy, but what role do the arts play when democracies come under pressure? Through four concerts and talks in New York City, the program indulged in the works and stories of composers who went into exile, sharing their music, and asking how democracies and the arts relate today.
During Songs from Exile, works by Ruth Schonthal and Erich Zeisl were presented in a concert at Austrian Cultural Forum New York. Schonthal, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday in 2024, became an important figure in the New York music scene. She composed several operas, including Princess Maleen, which will be heard in part. Zeisl, on the other hand, lived mainly on the West Coast, where he worked for the film and various educational institutions. Excerpts from his opera fragment Hiob, based on the famous novel by Joseph Roth, were performed next to Schonthal. Both works are largely unknown today, as are the biographies of their authors.
- Ruth Schonthal: Princess Maleen (Excerpts)
- Erich Zeisl: Hiob (Excerpts)
- Musicians: Manhattan School of Music
- Introduction: Kai Hinrich Müller (Thomas Mann House, Los Angeles)
Event Photos by: Jamie Isaacs
This festival is generously supported by the Friends of Freiburg University, New York.
Music by:
Ellie Pope, soprano
Benjamin Warschawski, tenor
Benjamin Sokol, baritone
Weiyu Wang, soprano
Elliot Roman, piano
Rea Abel, flute
Clara Cho, cello
Biographies
Born 1985 in Stuttgart, Kai Hinrich Müller is one of the emerging festival makers at the intersection of scholarship and practice. His work fosters cultural dialogues across continents and connects him with renowned institutions in Europe and the United States. He is the director of the BAUHAUS MUSIC FESTIVAL in Berlin and the TEREZÍN MUSIC ACADEMY in the former ghetto of Theresienstadt, an initiative of MUSICA NON GRATA, for which he has curated numerous programs on artists persecuted by the Nazis. He has held several fellowships in Germany and the US, most recently at the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles, where he initiated the transatlantic festival series OPERA & DEMOCRACY. Kai studied musicology, law and business administration (PhD 2013; habilitation 2022) and teaches at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. His current research interests include Richard Wagner and the Bayreuth Circle, antisemitism in music history, musical life in the interwar and Nazi years, the ensuing period of exile in North America, as well as transatlantic opera traditions.
In cooperation with the Manhattan School of Music.
The events will be hosted by 1014 – space for ideas, Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Goethe-Institut, and Leo Baeck Institute - New York | Berlin. Presented by Thomas Mann House and curated by Thomas Mann Fellow Kai Hinrich Müller.
Freedom of the arts is essential for any democracy, but what role do the arts play when democracies come under pressure? Through four concerts and talks in New York City, the program indulged in the works and stories of composers who went into exile, sharing their music, and asking how democracies and the arts relate today.
During Songs from Exile, works by Ruth Schonthal and Erich Zeisl were presented in a concert at Austrian Cultural Forum New York. Schonthal, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday in 2024, became an important figure in the New York music scene. She composed several operas, including Princess Maleen, which will be heard in part. Zeisl, on the other hand, lived mainly on the West Coast, where he worked for the film and various educational institutions. Excerpts from his opera fragment Hiob, based on the famous novel by Joseph Roth, were performed next to Schonthal. Both works are largely unknown today, as are the biographies of their authors.
- Ruth Schonthal: Princess Maleen (Excerpts)
- Erich Zeisl: Hiob (Excerpts)
- Musicians: Manhattan School of Music
- Introduction: Kai Hinrich Müller (Thomas Mann House, Los Angeles)
Event Photos by: Jamie Isaacs
This festival is generously supported by the Friends of Freiburg University, New York.
Music by:
Ellie Pope, soprano
Benjamin Warschawski, tenor
Benjamin Sokol, baritone
Weiyu Wang, soprano
Elliot Roman, piano
Rea Abel, flute
Clara Cho, cello
Biographies
Born 1985 in Stuttgart, Kai Hinrich Müller is one of the emerging festival makers at the intersection of scholarship and practice. His work fosters cultural dialogues across continents and connects him with renowned institutions in Europe and the United States. He is the director of the BAUHAUS MUSIC FESTIVAL in Berlin and the TEREZÍN MUSIC ACADEMY in the former ghetto of Theresienstadt, an initiative of MUSICA NON GRATA, for which he has curated numerous programs on artists persecuted by the Nazis. He has held several fellowships in Germany and the US, most recently at the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles, where he initiated the transatlantic festival series OPERA & DEMOCRACY. Kai studied musicology, law and business administration (PhD 2013; habilitation 2022) and teaches at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. His current research interests include Richard Wagner and the Bayreuth Circle, antisemitism in music history, musical life in the interwar and Nazi years, the ensuing period of exile in North America, as well as transatlantic opera traditions.
In cooperation with the Manhattan School of Music.
The events will be hosted by 1014 – space for ideas, Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Goethe-Institut, and Leo Baeck Institute - New York | Berlin. Presented by Thomas Mann House and curated by Thomas Mann Fellow Kai Hinrich Müller.
Freedom of the arts is essential for any democracy, but what role do the arts play when democracies come under pressure? Through four concerts and talks in New York City, the program indulged in the works and stories of composers who went into exile, sharing their music, and asking how democracies and the arts relate today.
During Songs from Exile, works by Ruth Schonthal and Erich Zeisl were presented in a concert at Austrian Cultural Forum New York. Schonthal, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday in 2024, became an important figure in the New York music scene. She composed several operas, including Princess Maleen, which will be heard in part. Zeisl, on the other hand, lived mainly on the West Coast, where he worked for the film and various educational institutions. Excerpts from his opera fragment Hiob, based on the famous novel by Joseph Roth, were performed next to Schonthal. Both works are largely unknown today, as are the biographies of their authors.
- Ruth Schonthal: Princess Maleen (Excerpts)
- Erich Zeisl: Hiob (Excerpts)
- Musicians: Manhattan School of Music
- Introduction: Kai Hinrich Müller (Thomas Mann House, Los Angeles)
Event Photos by: Jamie Isaacs
This festival is generously supported by the Friends of Freiburg University, New York.
Music by:
Ellie Pope, soprano
Benjamin Warschawski, tenor
Benjamin Sokol, baritone
Weiyu Wang, soprano
Elliot Roman, piano
Rea Abel, flute
Clara Cho, cello
Biographies
Born 1985 in Stuttgart, Kai Hinrich Müller is one of the emerging festival makers at the intersection of scholarship and practice. His work fosters cultural dialogues across continents and connects him with renowned institutions in Europe and the United States. He is the director of the BAUHAUS MUSIC FESTIVAL in Berlin and the TEREZÍN MUSIC ACADEMY in the former ghetto of Theresienstadt, an initiative of MUSICA NON GRATA, for which he has curated numerous programs on artists persecuted by the Nazis. He has held several fellowships in Germany and the US, most recently at the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles, where he initiated the transatlantic festival series OPERA & DEMOCRACY. Kai studied musicology, law and business administration (PhD 2013; habilitation 2022) and teaches at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. His current research interests include Richard Wagner and the Bayreuth Circle, antisemitism in music history, musical life in the interwar and Nazi years, the ensuing period of exile in North America, as well as transatlantic opera traditions.
In cooperation with the Manhattan School of Music.
The events will be hosted by 1014 – space for ideas, Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Goethe-Institut, and Leo Baeck Institute - New York | Berlin. Presented by Thomas Mann House and curated by Thomas Mann Fellow Kai Hinrich Müller.
Session Recording
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