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SPECIAL EVENTS as part of the ORF Long Night of Museums

1)  Literary Reading with Music (starting at 7 pm)

In Memory of Käthe Leichter – 80 Years After Her Murder by the Nazis

Opening speech: Mag.^a Ulrike Sych, President of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

Käthe Leichter was one of the first leading Austrian social democrats to fight for equal rights of female and male workers. Her letters paint an impressive picture of a courageous woman. In 1939 she was deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she was murdered in 1942. Her sister, the composer and music therapist Vally Weigl, managed to flee to the USA together with her husband, the composer Karl Weigl in 1938.

The well-known actress Christine Ostermayer reads together with Gregorij von Leitis letters from Käthe Leichter and her husband Otto Leichter. The musical framework for this event is provided by works of Vally Weigl and Karl Weigl interpreted by soprano Josipa Bainac and pianist David Hausknecht.

Introduced by: Michael Lahr von Leitis (Lahr from Leitis Academy) and Gerold Gruber (Head of the Exilarte Center)

2.) Book presentation with music from the 1930s (starting at 9 p.m.)

„In-Musik-sein“ – The Musical Situation of the Exile Philosopher Günther Anders

Günther Anders is not only a technology-critical philosopher, he is also the author of writings on the philosophy of art and music. His Theorie der musikalischen Situation is reconsidered in the book „In-Musik-sein“ is presented here with a music-pedagogical intention.

During this event, the singers Melanie Hirsch and Sylvia Khittl-Muhr will interpret together with the pianist Christoph U. Meier works by Ralph Benatzky, Wilhelm Grosz, Friedrich Hollaender, Michael Jary and Robert Stolz. The musical estate of Wilhelm Grosz is located in the archive of the Exilarte Center.

Moderation Panel:

Gerold Gruber (Chairman of the Exilarte Center)

Markus Hirsch (mdw – Institute for Music Education)

Christoph Khittl (mdw – Institute for Music Education)

An mdw cooperation between the Institute for Music Education (IMP) and the Exilarte Center.

3.) Tours through the exhibition (as of 6:30 p.m.)

Fritz Kreisler – A Cosmopolitan in Exile. From Child Prodigy to “King of Violinists”

Life and work of famous violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler are presented in the new exhibition of the Exilarte Center through photos, scores as well as life and audio documents. When the National Socialists came to power in Germany, the performances of the star violinist were accompanied by disruptions and calls for boycott due to his Jewish heritage. Also his compositions were no longer played. In September 1939 Kreisler immigrated to the USA, where he settled in New York together with his wife Harriet.

TICKETS

Tickets can be bought directly at the Exilarte Center!
Exilarte Center at the mdw, Lothringerstraße 18 / 1st floor, 1030 Vienna

Regular: € 15.00 (including VAT)
Reduced:* € 12.00 (including VAT)
Free entry for children up to 12 years of age
* reduced tickets for schoolchildren, students, senior citizens, people with disabilities, military service and Ö1 Club members. Please have the relevant proof ready on site. 

For further information, please click here.

The Exilarte Center at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in Cooperation with Toccata Classics.

The Theresienstadt composer Hans Winterberg (1901 – 1991) has only been known to the musical world for a few years. The Exilarte Center is largely responsible for the rediscovery of the composer and will publish a large number of compositions in cooperation with the publishing house Boosey & Hawkes over the next few years.

On her second CD with works by Hans Winterberg, the pianist Brigitte Helbig recorded the Toccata, the First Piano Sonata (1936), the Impressionistische Klavier-Suite, the Suite (1956) and Erinnerungen an Böhmen for Toccata Classics. This new CD will be presented on June 9, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in the Franz Liszt Hall of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Prof. Dr. Gerold Gruber, chairman of the Exilarte Center, will guide the audience through this exciting evening, where Brigitte Helbig will interpret some of the works she has recorded. Furthermore, Peter Kreitmeir, grandson of Hans Winterberg, will speak about his numerous efforts supporting the work of his grandfather.

CD Presentation: Piano Music by Hans Winterberg (Volume Two), Toccata Classics

Thursday, June 9, 2022
7:30 p.m.
mdw –University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Lothringerstrasse 18
Franz Liszt-Saal (3rd floor)
1030 Vienna/Austria

Admission free!

Wearing an FFP2 mask during the event is recommended.

A Project in Cooperation with the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies (Yale University) / Wiener Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, the Institute for Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology of the mdw & the Exilarte Center

Concert:

On May 23, 2022, at 7 p.m. Zisl Slepovitch and his ensemble will present a concert of songs originally sung in villages and towns, in the ghettos and concentration camps across Central and Eastern Europe. The concert will take place at the Franz Liszt-Hall of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Performers:

Sasha Lurje, vocals
D. Zisl Slepovitch, clarinet, saxophone, vocals
Joshua Camp, accordion, piano, vocals
Dmitry Ishenko, double bass
Craig Judelman, violin, vocals

Monday, May 23, 2022
7 p.m.
mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Lothringerstrasse 18
Franz Liszt Hall
1030 Vienna

Workshop: “Voices of Survivors”

Zisl Slepovitch will also present a hands-on workshop sharing the background of his research and musical production work at the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. In the course of the workshop, Slepovitch will provide an insight into the Archive`s history and collection, methods of ethnomusicological research into testimonies with no personal access to the interviewees (working with tapes); musical restoration cases and methods.

Monday, May 23, 2022
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Lothringerstrasse 18
Franz Liszt Hall
1030 Vienna

In cooperation with the Department of Folk Music Research and
Ethnomusicology at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

About the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies/Yale University

In 2018, the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, along with musician-in-residence D. Zisl Slepovitch and former Hartman fellow Sarah Garibova, began production of an album of songs recalled in some of the more than 4,400 testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust in the Archive, held at Yale University.

The 12,000+ hours of recorded material – in over a dozen languages – represent thousands of people whose life stories provide insights into the Holocaust survivors’ experiences both before, during and after World War II. Songs and poems featured in a number of these testimonies, originally sung in villages and towns, in the ghettos and concentration camps across Central and Eastern Europe, convey the history of that period, in a very personal way.

Expelled, persecuted and banned by the Nazi regime – what musical estates are telling us…

On May 20, 2022, the Exilarte Center will represent the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with several events about the estate of Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura during the Long Night of Research.

The son of Jan Kiepura and Marta Eggerth, Marjan Kiepura, himself a pianist and artistic partner of his famous mother, will report on the fate and brilliant careers of his parents in an interview with Prof. Dr. Gerold Gruber (chairman of the Exilarte Center).

Historical film recordings and audio documents from Eggerth/Kiepura can also be viewed and listened to during the event.

In addition, there will be regular guided tours through the exhibition of the Exilarte Center “My Song For You – Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura Between Two Worlds”.

The exhibition shows the stage and film careers as well as the musical heritage of these two famous singers. After the so-called Austrian “Anschluss” in 1938, they were forced to turn their backs on Vienna, which the Hungarian soprano and the Polish tenor had initially chosen as their new home. Through scientific research on this important estate, it has also been possible to draw attention to numerous other fates of friends and colleagues of Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura who were persecuted or murdered by the Nazi regime.

Long Night of Research, May 20, 2022, 5 – 11 p.m.

From 5:30 p.m., Exilarte Center (1st floor)
Short tours through the exhibition “My Song For You – Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura Between Two Worlds” including trivia on the content of the exhibition

7 p.m., Franz Liszt Hall (3rd floor)
Opening: video greeting from Ulrike Sych, rector of the mdw
Marjan Kiepura and his wife Jane Knox-Kiepura will report on the interesting life stories of Marta Eggerth end Jan Kiepura. In addition, historical film recordings and audio documents will be shown.

8 p.m., Franz Liszt Hall (3rd floor)
Q&A with Marjan Kiepura and Jane Knox-Kiepura

From 8:30 p.m., Exilarte Center (1st floor)
further short guided tours & trivia 

Free entry!

Recording of the event: https://mediathek.mdw.ac.at/lnf22

Exilarte Center at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Lothringerstrasse 18 (1st floor)
1030 Vienna, Austria

The Composer Jan Urban – an Homage

The composer Jan Urban, born in Prague in 1875, spent most of his life among the South Slav regions, initially in the Kingdom of Serbia, after 1918 in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and from 1929 until its occupation by the Nazis in 1941 in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The declaration of the fascist-run Independent State of Croatia found Urban fleeing the country and returning to Serbia. His best friend, the Jewish conductor Lav Mirsky, together with whom he paved the way for modern Opera and symphonic musical life in Osijek, was deported. Among Jan Urban’s compositions celebrating the Resistance to the Nazis we find Sutjeska and Death of the Hero (Elegy).

Biljana Urban, well-known pianist and granddaughter of Jan Urban, has been advocating for the rediscovery of her grandfather’s works for many years. Her latest project in cooperation with the Exilarte Center at the mdw, which she will present at the Franz Liszt Hall of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna on March 8 & 9, 2022, involves young students from Austria, Serbia, Croatia , Spain and the Netherlands. During the process of preparing for a piano competition the young musicians have thoroughly studied Jan Urban’s oeuvre which they will present in a concert on March 9, 2022. The students will receive additional intensive preparation taking master classes with Biljana Urban.

Biljana Urban will perform works by Jan Urban and Hans Gál in a concert together with singer Annette Fischer and flutist Ulrike Anton on March 8, 2022.

The estate of Jan Urban is located in the archive of the Exilarte Center at the mdw.

Concert with works by Jan Urban and Hans Gál

Biljana Urban, piano
Annette Fischer, soprano
Ulrike Anton, flute

Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 7:30 p.m.

2G ( vaccinated or recovered) applies!

University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Lothringerstrasse 18
Franz Liszt Hall (3rd floor)
1030 Vienna/ Austria

Free admission

Student Performance

With students from Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Spain and the Netherlands

Wednesday, March 9, 2022, 7 p.m.

2G ( vaccinated or recovered) applies!

University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Lothringerstrasse 18
Franz Liszt Hall (3rd floor)
1030 Vienna/Austria

Free admission