Elysium's 31st Season
2013–2014
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Tuesday, February 18, Admission: Free
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Cornet: Viktor Ullmann’s Legacy from Theresienstadt "The Lay of Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke" Introductory Lecture on “Music from Theresienstadt”: Michael Lahr 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. 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 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 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, |
Thursday, May 22, 2014, Admission: Free 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 Concept & Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr 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 Admission: Free |
Hate is a Failure of Imagination In Remembrance of the artists from Theresienstadt who were murdered 70 years ago in Auschwitz A literary collage Concept & Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr 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 : |
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Falke | |
Hemmerle | |
Max Kade Foundation | |
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation |