For the third time, the FREMDE ERDE festival is shining a spotlight on musical works that were banned under the Nazi regime. From 12 to 29 April 2026, in Vienna’s Neubau district, more than 100 musicians will breathe new life into the compositions of over 20 persecuted artists.
The “Fremde Erde” music festival is a project of the VIVA LA CLASSICA! association in cooperation with the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI), Neubau erinnert, the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG.Kultur), PEN Austria and Exilarte Zentrum at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
About the program The festival – featuring concerts, workshops and lectures – pays tribute to the lives and work of composers whose works were banned under the Nazi regime and denounced as ‘degenerate art’ – a term used at the time to describe all forms of art deemed undesirable in the Third Reich. VIVA LA CLASSICA! brings to life the music of Walter Arlen, Hanns Eisler, Michael Graubart, Maria Hofer, Friedrich Hollaender, Joseph Horovitz, Vítĕzslava Kaprálová, Fritz Kreisler, Józef Koffler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alexander Kukelka, Felicitas Kukuck, Simon Laks, Hermann Leopoldi, Hilde Loewe-Flatter, Ruth Poritzky, Karol Rathaus, Ruth Schönthal, André Singer, Władysław Szpilman, Alexandre Tansman, Viktor Ullmann, Vally Weigl, Mieczysław Weinberg, Ilse Weber, Kurt Weill, Egon Wellesz, Rosy Wertheim, Hans Winterberg, Erich Zeisl, and many other composers.
Detailed information on concert dates and tickets can be found here.
To mark the anniversary of the exile in 2026, a concert featuring members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist David Hausknecht will be held in cooperation with the Center for Jewish History, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, featuring works by Gustav Mahler, Erwin Schulhoff, and Walter Bricht. The concert is supported by Alumni Relations – Office of the Rector of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Welcome remarks by Gerold Gruber and Michael Leavitt.
Sunday, March 1, 2026, at 7:00 p.m.
Hebrew Union College, New York Campus 1 West 4th Street New York, NY 10012
Gustav Mahler Piano Quartet in A minor (1876) I. Not too fast
Erwin Schulhoff String Quartet No. 2 (1925)
Walter Bricht Piano Concerto No. 2 in A minor, Op. 17 (1929) — Arrangement for piano quintet (1952) I. Allegro molto moderato II. Allegretto con moto III. Introduction, theme, and variations
Moderator:
Gerold Gruber, founder of exil.arte and director of the Exilarte Center at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Interpreters:
Lucas Stratmann, violin (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) Martin Klimek, violin (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) Robert Bauerstatter, viola (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) Stefan Gartmayer, cello (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) David Hausknecht, piano (mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna)
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the exil.arte association and the 10th anniversary of the mdw’s Exilarte Research Center, this concert honored the voices of those composers, performers, music researchers, and theater artists who were considered “degenerate” during the Third Reich and whose works have often been forgotten. For two decades, the Exilarte Center has served as a contact point and interface for the reception, research, preservation, and presentation of this important cultural heritage.
The evening focused on works by exiled composers, readings by Cornelius Obonya, and solo and chamber music performances by artists who have been associated with Exilarte for many years. The premiere of Yury Revich’s composition INVISIBLE provided a contemporary reflection on the theme of invisibility and silencing of exiled artists.
Friday, March 13th, 2026 at 07:30 pm
Musikverein Gläserner Saal / Magna Auditorium Musikvereinsplatz 1 1010 Vienna
Performers:
Cornelius Obonya, reading Josipa Bainac, mezzo-soprano Yury Revich, violin Ulrike Anton, flute Elisabeth Plank, harp David Hausknecht, piano
ensemble LUX Louise Chisson, violin Marie Radauer-Plank, violin Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, viola Mara Achleitner, violoncello
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
(c) Stephan Polzer
Program:
André Singer
Requiem for the Homeless Klaviertrio, op. 32
Michael Graubart
Duets and Aria für Flöte solo
Walter Arlen
Arbeit macht frei. Für Klavier und Metronom Es geht wohl anders
– intermission –
Walter Susskind
Rechenschaft über uns
Erich Zeisl
Komm, süßer Tod Arrowhead. Trio für Flöte, Viola und Harfe
Hans Gál
Drei Prinzessinnen, op. 33/4 Abend auf dem Fluss, op. 33/5
Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s songs and letters provide an insight into the turbulent history of his time and the life of his family. A large number of them are held in the Austrian National Library and will be sung or read as part of this music salon. The thematic focus is on Korngold’s stays in the Salzkammergut region, to which he had close ties from his early youth. Many of his works either originated in this area or were orchestrated or completed during his summer stays there. Due to the precarious political situation, Korngold did not return to Austria from film shoots in Hollywood in 1938. His retreat in Gmunden, Schloss Höselberg, was confiscated by the Gestapo in the same year. The loss of his homeland was a deeply painful blow for him.
Interpreters:
Günter Haumer, baritone Josipa Bainac, mezzo-soprano David Hausknecht, piano
The publication featuring texts by and about the twelve-tone composer Philip Herschkowitz, a student of Anton Webern, was released in spring 2025 by the Viennese publishing house Hollitzer.
To mark the presentation of this new publication, two of the editors, Elisabeth Leonskaja and Alexei Lubimov, who were once students of Herschkowitz, will perform the music of those whom Philip Herschkowitz considered influential for his work: Mozart, Beethoven, and Schoenberg.
The young performers—Alexei Grots, Lisa Bormotova, and Constantin Siepermann, as well as the Ineo Quartet—will present compositions from Philip Herschkowitz’s own repertoire.
If you have the time and wish to experience a program of special pieces, we look forward to welcoming you to the free
concert on September 9, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. at the Kleiner Ehrbar-Saal, Mühlgasse 30, 1040 Vienna
You will also have the opportunity to purchase one or more copies of the book “Über Musik” (About Music) (price: € 48).
We warmly welcome you; it is our honor!
On behalf of all participants:
Prof. Gerold Gruber Dr. Michael Hüttler Heidemarie T. Ambros
On Saturday, October 4th, 2025, the “ORF Long Night of Museums” was held throughout Austria.
The mdw Exilarte Center was again taking part. This year the center was once again offering a variety of events, including lectures, concerts and guided tours of the exhibition “Eric Zeisl – Vienna’s Lost Son in Foreign Lands” and through our permanent exhibitions.
SPECIAL EVENTS as part of the ORF Long Night of Museums
1) “Bernhard Klein – A Viennese zither virtuoso in the shadows of oblivion” | lecture by Michael Haider (historian, BMEIA) | Monika Kutter (zither) (start: 6:15 p.m.)
Opening: Dr. Gerold Gruber, Head of the Exilarte Center of the mdw
In his lecture, historian Dr. Michael Haider (BMEIA) shed light on the eventful life and work of the almost forgotten Viennese musician Bernhard Klein (1861–1941). As a celebrated zither virtuoso, composer, and music teacher, Klein shaped the musical life of the turn of the century before he almost disappeared from cultural memory due to persecution, isolation, and his deportation to Riga in 1941.
Musical performance by Dr. Monika Kutter with zither music by Berhard Klein.
2) Chamber music evening in cooperation with the “Missing Voices” initiative – Hans Gál, Walter Bricht, and Henriette Bosmans (start: 8:00 p.m.)
Like the mdw’s Exile Art Center, the Missing Voices initiative is dedicated to rediscovering and raising awareness of composers whose careers and lives were interrupted or destroyed by National Socialism, exile, and discrimination. At the invitation of the mdw’s Exile Art Center, Sarah Bayens (violin) and Dimitri Malignan (piano) performed works by Henriette Bosmans, Hans Gál, and Walter Bricht.
3) “Songs and Piano Music” – a tribute to Georg Tintner (start: 10:00 p.m.)
Aleksandra Bobrowska (piano) and Danae Eleni (soprano) presented a finely curated program focusing on songs and piano works by Georg Tintner. In addition to his poetic settings—based on texts by Rilke, Storm, and Hesse, among others—the program includes works by Chopin, Debussy, and Audric de Oliveira, spanning the expressive spectrum from Romanticism to Impressionism and Modernism. The widow of the composer, Tanya Tintner, will be present at the concert.
4) Quick tours of the exhibition with curator Dr. Karin Wagner (7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.)
Erich Zeisl (1905-1959) is one of those displaced Viennese composers whose works have returned to contemporary musical consciousness thanks to the achievements of exile music research and have found their way into the current canon of literature. Born in Leopoldstadt in 1905, Zeisl was enrolled as a highly talented teenager at the then Academy of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (now the mdw) in 1920/21. It is therefore an important concern of the Exilarte Center to honor this composer, who was so closely associated with Vienna and died in Los Angeles, with an exhibition. Zeisl put his signature to his fate in Austria with the song “Komm süßer Tod”: composed in January 1938 and premiered in Vienna’s Ehrbarsaal in February of that year, it was the last song in the German language to end a flourishing career – shattered by the rise of National Socialism and the Anschluss that immediately followed in March 1938. It is precisely this image of the clash of worlds – Zeisl’s origins, the Café Tegetthoff, were soon “Aryanized”, Zeisl himself escaped to Paris under dramatic circumstances after the November pogrom of 1938 – that marks the entrance to an exhibition that aims to make the rupture of exile into a “before” and “after” tangible. The public’s perception and reception of the works in this “before” and “after” were fundamentally different. The exhibition traces these moments of an exile biography, the narrative line follows the exile locations Paris, New York and Los Angeles. While abroad, his style changed in the direction of “Jewish art music”, which is also the subject of the exhibition. Barbara Zeisl-Schoenberg, Zeisl’s daughter, and Randy Schoenberg, his grandson, have donated the entire correspondence (over 5,000 letters) and the musical estate to the archive of the mdw’s Exilarte Center.
The “Fremde Erde” music festival is a project of the VIVA LA CLASSICA! association in cooperation with the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI), “Neubau erinnert”, the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG.Kultur) and the Exilarte Center of the mdw.
The festival is a tribute to the work and lives of composers whose works were banned under the Nazi regime and defamed as “degenerate art” – a term used at the time for all art forms that were considered undesirable in the Third Reich. VIVA LA CLASSICA! brings the music of Anita Bild, Henriëtte Bosmans, Erich Zeisl, Viktor Ullmann and many other composers back to life.
Melodramatische Biographie des Lebens – Künstlers Hans Gerold
The eventful life of the poet-composer Hans Gerold (1884 – 1958), née Goldberger, under changing political circumstances, private ups and downs, characterized by artistic friendships – including with Franz Lehár – supported by his wonderful music.
Thursday, May 8th 2025, 7:30p.m. – sold out! Friday, May 9th 2025, 12:00 p.m. – admission via eventjet.at Free admission, registration via eventjet.at
MuTh Konzertsaal der Wiener Sängerknaben Am Augartenspitz 1, 1020 Wien
Organizer, Idea, Conception Wolfgang Gerold
Book and Direction: Charlotte Leitner
Music and Lyrics Hans Gerold
Choreography: Gabriel Wanka Helena Sturm
Musical Direction and Arrangement: Nicolas Radulescu Salonorchester Wien Vasilis Tsiatsianis (piano)
Contributors: Waltraud Barton Wolfgang Gerold Raphael Kaufmann Beate Korntner Merle Krammer Charlotte Leitner Markus Mitterhuber Florian Resetarits Gabriel Wanka
Memorial stones for the composer Julius Bürger and his family were recently laid at Obere Donaustraße 59 in Vienna. These memorial stones, which commemorate Chaje Bürger, Solomon Bürger, Elias Bürger, Isak Bürger, Siegfried Bürger, Julius Bürger and Rosa Bürger, are part of a project launched at the initiative of the American musician and researcher Ryan Ross. Ross has dealt intensively with the life and work of the Viennese composer Julius Bürger, who was forced into exile in the USA due to the horrors of National Socialism.
The laying of the memorial stones was made possible by the “Stones of Remembrance” association with the support of the City of Vienna and the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism.
The composer’s friends, supporters and relatives took part in the solemn memorial ceremony, including Ron and Collette Pohl, Trude Zörer, Eva Spreitzler, Edith Seybal and the team from the mdw Exilarte Center under the direction of Gerold Gruber.
The event was supported by Uniqa Insurance Group, which made its premises available. The ceremony was musically accompanied by the group Avanim, with Daliah Hindler and Barbara Probst singing and Christoph Kögler on the accordion.
Accompanying the premiere of the documentary film Visit from China by Paul Rosdy and a special memorial concert at the IES, Exilarte, in collaboration with the Jewish Museum Vienna, invites you to an exhibition that illuminates the extraordinary life of the violinist Ferdinand Adler.
As a Jewish refugee, Adler found refuge in Shanghai in 1939, where he left a lasting impact on the music world. Original photos, documents and his original violin bring his eventful time in exile to life, while the concert traces his musical career.
Film premiere:
Friday, November 8, 2024 at 6:45 pm Metro Kinokulturhaus, Historical Hall Johannesgasse 4, 1010 Vienna
The premiere will take place in the presence of Paul Rosdy, Christina Adler and Fang Sheng.
Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 5 p.m IES Abroad Vienna Center Johannesgasse 7, 1010 Vienna
The program includes a selection of works for violin and piano that Ferdinand Adler himself played in concerts in Shanghai. What is particularly impressive is that the concert evening will be played on Adler’s own violin, which can be seen in the accompanying exhibition. Univ.-Prof. David Frühwirth on violin and Mayuko Obuchi on piano.
Registration: info@exilarte.org
Exhibition:
November 8th to 24th, 2024; 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The exhibition can be seen in the mezzanine of the Metro Kinokulturhaus from November 8th to 24th, 2024 on the film’s screening days from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
