Phoenix Symphony to Feature Works by Several Suppressed Composers during the 2010-2011 Season
03 05, 2010
The 2010-2011 season of The Phoenix Symphony, Michael Christie, Music Director, will feature music by Hans Krasa, Marcel Tyberg, Erwin Schulhoff, Kurt Weill and Pavel Haas within a series entitled, “Rediscovered Masters.”
The series will include a season-long survey of works by these composers, and will involve concerts, events and lectures in partnership with The OREL Foundation, ASU Center for Jewish Studies and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
From the Phoenix Symphony's press release:
Their lives cut short by the horrors of war and genocide, and their works denied to be heard in the world's concert halls, World War II affected all walks of life including music composition. Several composers' vital and passionately lyrical compositions were banned and entire schools of composition were eradicated during the Holocaust while small pockets of music thrived in concentration camps across Eastern Europe. The Phoenix Symphony will explore and perform many of these works for the first time during the 2010/11 Season in its series, “Rediscovered Masters.” These composers include such masters as Pavel Haas, Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Hans Krása, Erwin Schuloff, Marcel Tyberg and Kurt Weill bringing to life the voices that were silenced decades ago. Throughout the season and academic year, The Phoenix Symphony and the Arizona State University Center for Jewish Studies, in conjunction with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will present a series of lectures, films and discussions around the Valley, linking the musical presentations to the cultural and historical themes of assimilation, modernization, destruction and remembrance. “The journey of learning about the incredible musical output of composers displaced or killed by the Nazi occupation of Europe has been particularly meaningful for me. Their music has been unjustly neglected but the quality speaks for itself. The Symphony's season-long association with ASU Jewish Studies and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is going to allow patrons to experience the music and its background in a very profound way. I am thrilled that this association puts us at the forefront of the rediscovery of these masterworks and the lives of their creators” says Michael Christie.
“Nazi Germany intended to eradicate not only the Jewish people, but all traces of Jewish culture as well,” says the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Southwest Regional Director, Melissa Gendason. “Sixty-five years after the defeat of Nazism, the Museum is excited to help bring the works of those impacted by war and the Holocaust to the Phoenix community.”
Visit the Phoenix Symphony’s web site and see a preview of the 2010-2011 season at
http://issuu.com/phoenixsymphony/docs/1011_season_preview?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml