Forbidden Music: Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis: Suppressed Musical Treasures of the Twentieth Century

Featuring Ulrike Anton, Flute, the Selini String Quartet, and Students from the Mannes School of Music at the New School - Mannes Sound Festival

In collaboration with Exilarte Zentrum der mdw - Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Leo Baeck Institute, YIVO, and The Center for Jewish History

Works by Hans Gál, Alexandre Tansman, Robert Fürstenthal, Julius Bürger, and Erwin Schulhoff

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Erev Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Commemoration Day)

7:30 PM Eastern

The Center for Jewish History

15 W. 16th St. NYC

Featuring:

Hans Gál, Concertino for Flute and String Quartet, op. 82

Alexandre Tansman, Suite for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon

Lieder by Robert Fürstenthal and Julius Bürger

Erwin Schulhoff, Divertissement for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon

Exilarte – Center for Banned Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

Exilarte is a research center at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Its objective is to restore into the collective memory composers and performers who were persecuted, forced into exile, or murdered during National Socialism. Through its acquisition and collection of estates, musicological research, exhibitions, concerts and symposia, as well as seminars for students, Exilarte is returning to musical life those who were silenced, recalling musicians who were forgotten, and filling a historic void.

Austria was the home of many of Hitler’s most important musical victims, some of whom have already become established as culturally historic figures. Yet others still await their discovery or, more often, their re-discovery. There are large gaps within Austrian musicology or performance-practice where these musicians have not been rightfully incorporated or given credit for their contributions.

Only within recent decades has Austria started to address this issue. The assessment and restitution of such a multi-facetted cultural inheritance, extending from the 19th century through operetta, film music and ‘chanson’, cabaret, and the developments of the ‘Second Viennese School’, ‘Jugendstil’, ‘New Objectivity’ and much more is an enormous, multi-disciplinary undertaking.

Exilarte’s purpose is to restore these important missing links to the chain of Austrian music-history.

Austrian flutist and musicologist Ulrike Anton received her musical education in Austria, France and Great Britain. She is one of the leading performers of works by composers who were persecuted by the Nazi-Regime during World War II. She is frequently invited to perform works by exile composers at prestigious festivals, such as the Holocaust Education Week Festival in Toronto/Canada, the Tokyo Spring Festival or the Brundibar Festival of the Arts Newcastle. One of her CD projects as a soloist for the Gramola label includes works by Erwin Schulhoff and was recorded together with the English Chamber Orchestra under conductor David Parry.

Ulrike Anton concertizes regularly as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, the USA, Canada and Asia and performed at the Wiener Musikverein, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Philharmonic Hall in Brno, the Old Hall of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, in Carnegie Hall New York, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Ishibashi Memorial Hall Tokyo, just to name a few.

Reputed composers such as Michael Graubart (England), Gabriele Proy (Austria), Viktor Fortin (Austria), Karl Haidmayer (Austria) and Can Aksel Akin (Turkey) have written and dedicated works to her. Her recordings include several CDs published by Preiser Records, Gramola and Centaur.

She is currently adjunct professor at the Institute for the International Education of Students (IES Abroad) in Vienna, where she is in charge of the chamber music program. For Wake Forest University (Vienna Campus) she gives lectures in music history. She also frequently holds flute master classes at different universities in the USA, Canada and China.

Ulrike Anton is Vice-Chair of the Exilarte Center at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Selini String Quartet

Nadia Kalmykova, violine

Ljuba Kalmykova, violin

Marta Potulska, viola

Loukia Loulaki, celloInspired by the Greek Mythology, the Selini Quartet borrows its name from the Goddess Selini, the Goddess of the moon. The semicircle-shape of the string quartet reminds us of the Quarter Moon, where each member of the quartet symbolizes one of the four moon phases.

Coming from Russia, Romania and Greece, the four musicians met in Vienna, where they formed the Selini Quartet in 2017. Since then, they have been performing around Europe and were prizewinners of several competitions, such as the “Prague Spring International Music Competition” 2021 (Czech Republic), the “Ysaye International Music Competition” 2021 (Belgium), the “mdw great talent award” 2021 (Austria), the “Szymanowski International Music Competition” 2018 (Poland) as well as the “Artis Quartet Prize” of ISA Competition 2018 (Austria).

They have been invited to perform in some of Vienna’s major concert venues such as the Wiener Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus, Schuberthaus, Beethoven Museum, ORF RadioKulturhaus, MuTh, Burgtheater, Hofburg etc. Abroad, they have appeared in Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, the UK and Belgium. Their performances have included appearances at the “Istanbul Music Festival”, “Steirisches Kammermusikfestival” in Graz, at the “Kalkalpen Kammermusikfestival” in Grossraming, at the “Aegina International Music Festival” in Greece, at the “Harmos Festival” in Portugal, at the “Prague Clarinet Days“ Festival, at the “Classix Festival ” in Romania, at the “Art Novi Festival” in Croatia, at the “Festspillene Helgeland” in Norway, “Capraia Music Festival” in Italy and more.

In 2019 the ensemble was admitted to the ECMA – European Chamber Music Academy, where it is supervised by some of the world’s leading chamber music specialists and given the opportunity to perform at major concert halls and festivals in Europe. Further invitations followed to “Le Dimore del Quartetto”, Chamber Music Residency program of “Festival d’Aix en Provence” and Musethica. In the same year the quartet was invited to teach at the Toppen International Summer Academy (Norway).

The Selini Quartet was selected to represent Austria’s music scene across the world, through the “NASOM-New Austrian Sound Of Music” program, for the seasons 2020-2022.