May/Jun 2008 - German World Magazine

30
Ostracized Music
Concert at the Goethe Institute
Los Angeles
BY NINA WACHENFELD
An evening with music by ostracized composers, held under
the auspices of the Consul General Christian Stocks and
with members of the Jewish community and the University
of Los Angeles in attendance, has once more proven the importance
of resurrecting their music at any given opportunity. Los
Angeles has always been symbolic as the onetime haven for
artists persecuted by the Nazis. As James Conlon, the music director
of Los Angeles, has indicated with his project Recovered
Voices, the need to make their music household names in the near
future is pressing. The Goethe Institute has now joined forces with
local Jewish institutions to launch the event Ostracized Music in
2009. The recent concert preview with piano artists Friederike
Haufe and Volker Ahmels served as a reminder of their undeniable
musical value. Both artists are longtime advocates of ostracized
music, both in Germany and across Europe. Ahmels serves in a
dual function at the Music Academy of Rostock. He is the
Academy’s director as well as the founder and headmaster of the
Centre for Ostracized Music. He is also organizing annual master
classes with colleagues from the Czech Republic and Israel to
promote the importance of history, music and remembrance. Their
common goal is to raise not only awareness in young people with
musical aspirations, but first and foremost to pass on enthusiasm
for the music among the upcoming generation.
www.german-world.com May/June 2008
Mark the Date!
German Lullabies
at Carnegie Hall
May 12, 2008 – 8 PM
performed by Tessa Lang and Johannes Schwaiger
The life story of Tessa Lang and Johannes Schwaiger is a
German-American love story at its best. She is of Italian-German
parentage, he was once the Bavarian answer to Heintje. They met
while studying music in Munich and fell in love. Moved to the
States and back to Germany. Today,the happily married couple is
performing a collection of World Lullabies in eight languages with
the Dreamgates Children’s Movement at venues like Carnegie
Hall, and teaches at NYU’s famous Tisch School for the Arts. In
addition, Schwaiger gives singing lessons to the Lubavitcher
Rabbis of Crown Heights in Brooklyn. A beautiful story of mutual
respect and of overcoming the obstacles presented by different
faiths, through the universal language of music.
(www.carnegiehall.org)
Read the full story and an exclusive interview by Nina Wachenfeld
in our next issue (July/August 2008).