ORF Long Night of Museums I October 7, 2023

This year’s “ORF Long Night of Museums” will be held throughout Austria on Saturday, October 7, 2023.

The Exilarte Center of the mdw is pleased to take part again. This year the center is once again offering lectures, concerts and guided tours of the exhibition “Fritz Kreisler – A Cosmopolitan in Exile. From child prodigy to ‘king of violinists’” and through our permanent exhibitions.

SPECIAL EVENTS as part of the ORF Long Night of Museums

1) “The songwriting of Erich Wolfgang Korngold”, lecture with music (start: 6:15 p.m.)

Opening: Gerold Gruber, head of the Exilarte Center

Kurt Arrer has been intensively involved with the composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold and his father Julius Korngold for decades. He is considered an expert in the field of transferring Julius Korngold’s difficult-to-read script. The lecture by the contemporary historian Arrer will be dedicated to the composer’s songwriting. Accompanying the lecture, singers Arabella Fenyves and Josipa Bainac will interpret works by Erich Wolfgang Korngold with pianist David Hausknecht.

2) Exilarte Prize Winners Concert (Start: 8:00 p.m.)

Every two years a competition takes place in Schwerin that is exclusively dedicated to ostracized music. Exilarte awards a special prize that gives the winners the opportunity to take part in a concert in Vienna. The excellent duo with Ruben Mirzoian (clarinet) and Philipp Thönes (piano) were particularly convincing. They will interpret works by Joseph Horovitz (who died in London last year) and Paul Hindemith, among others.

3) “Tif vi di Nakht” with Ethel Merhaut and friends (start: 10:00 p.m.)

While hits like “That only exists once” or “In der Bar zum Krokodil” became absolute box office hits in Austria and Germany, Yiddish songs like “Glik” and “Zog es mir nokh amol” caused sell-outs in New York in the 1930s theater halls. “Tif wie die Nacht”, named after a tango by Abraham Ellstein, spans a musical arc from Europe to America and connects the German-speaking and Yiddish music scenes of the golden 20s and roaring 30s. Together with her outstanding ensemble, Ethel Merhaut strolls virtuosically between chanson, jazz and swing and takes the audience into the golden era of film and entertainment music. Music by Richard Werner Heymann, Abraham Ellstein, Robert Stolz, Sholom Secunda. Texts by Molly Picon, Fritz Löhner-Beda, Peter Herz, Bella Meissel…

4) Quick tours through the exhibition (from 6:30 p.m.)

Fritz Kreisler – A cosmopolitan in exile. From child prodigy to “king of violinists”

The life and work of the famous violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler are presented in the new exhibition at the Exilarte Center with pictures, sheet music, life and sound documents. When the National Socialists came to power in Germany, the star violinist’s performances were accompanied by disruptions and calls for a boycott due to his Jewish origins. His compositions were also no longer played. In September 1939 he immigrated to the USA, where he settled in New York with his wife Harriet.

ENTRY

Tickets can be purchased directly at the Exilarte Center!

Exilarte center of the mdw, Lothringerstraße 18 / 1st floor, 1030 Vienna

Regular: € 15 (incl. VAT)Reduced:* € 12 (incl. VAT)

Free entry for children up to 12 years*Reduced tickets for schoolchildren, students, senior citizens, people with disabilities, military servants and Ö1 Club members. Please have relevant proof ready on site.

You’ll find further information here.