Category: news

The publication about the work and life of the Jewish composer “Julius Bürger – Composer – Conductor – Vocal Coach” has now been published by Böhlau Verlag!

Author: Ryan Hugh Ross
Editor: Gerold Gruber
Publisher: Böhlau Verlag Vienna
110 pp. / Language: English
Böhlau Verlag Vienna, 1st edition 2024

“JULIUS BÜRGER Composer – Conductor – Vocal Coach”

Bürger studied with Franz Schreker in Vienna and Berlin. On Bruno Walter’s recommendation, Bürger later moved to the Metropolitan Opera in New York as an assistant to Artur Bodanzky. In 1929 he became Otto Klemperer’s assistant at the Berlin Kroll Opera and returned to Vienna after Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933. En route from London to Vienna in 1938, Bürger and his wife foresaw what was to come in Austria and left their luggage in Paris. In 1939 Bürger moved to America, where he worked again at the Metropolitan Opera in 1949 and began a close friendship with Dimitri Mitropoulos. His mother was shot on the way to Auschwitz, and five of his brothers were murdered in the concentration camp.

Julius Bürger’s life and work would be impossible without the care and commitment of his friend, attorney Ronald S. Pohl, Esq. lost to history. Through Pohl’s efforts, much of Bürger’s music was premiered in numerous concert performances in the early 1990s. Selected orchestral works by the composer were also recorded for commercial release, contributing to the composer’s rediscovery. After Bürger’s death in 1995, Pohl continued the preservation and promotion of the unpublished compositions until he placed the estate on permanent loan in the Exilarte Center of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, in the same building where Bürger began his studies.

The estate includes Bürger’s compositions in the form of autograph manuscripts as well as a large collection of personal documents and papers, recordings, newspaper articles and photographs.

The publication was published in English by Böhlau Verlag.

The catalogue to the exhibition: Fritz Kreisler – a cosmopolitan in exile. From child prodigy to ” King of Violonists”

The exhibition at the mdw’s Exilarte Center shows the different stages of life of one of the greatest violin virtuosos of the 20th century, whose success story started in Vienna and ended in New York. Fritz Kreisler was cosmopolitan on the one hand and affected by the fate of exiles on the other.

On the occasion of the 10th International Fritz Kreisler Violin Competition, which has been held at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna since 1979, the new exhibition of the Exilarte Center of the mdw was developed – to present the life and importance of Fritz Kreisler to the public.

After the Nazis had banned all of his performances and recordings due to his Jewish origins, he emigrated to the USA in September 1939 and became an American citizen in 1943. In addition to his spectacular successes from childhood to the end of his career, the exhibition sheds light on him as a Jew and exile. The exhibition also shows Kreisler’s philanthropic and charitable activities. Material newly discovered in the course of the research complements the difficult research situation.

Authors: 

Ulrike Anton 
Amy Biancolli 
Albrecht Dümling 
Gerold Gruber 
Michael Haas 
Nobuko Nakamura 
Matthias Schmidt 
Eric Wen

Editor:

Prof. Dr. Gerold Gruber (Chairman of the Exilarte Center)

Publisher: 

Verlag Böhlau

If you are interested in buying, please contact: info@exilarte.org