In commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day 2024, renowned Austrian baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and Canadian pianist Olivier Godin will present Music in Theresienstadt centered on works composed at the concentration camp.

ABOUT THE CONCERT

Many artists imprisoned in Theresienstadt, professionals and talented amateurs, like Viktor Ullmann, Hans Krása, Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas, Ilse Weber, Adolf Strauss, Karel Švenk and many others, managed to develop a wide variety of cultural activities: concerts, opera and theater performances, cabaret, readings, exhibitions. Under catastrophic conditions, they never lost their creative power and even humor in the daily struggle for survival and in their practice of spiritual resistance.

The concert will span an arc from classical songs to light music, all composed in Theresienstadt. To learn more about Music in Theresienstadt, the composers and the works that will be performed, please follow the link below. Text courtesy of Christopher Hailey.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Wolfgang Holzmair is an Austrian baritone who studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His career covers recitals in London, Lisbon, Moscow, New York, Seoul, Washington, at the Risör Festival in Norway, Bath, Belfast and Edinburgh festivals in the UK, Menuhin Festival in Switzerland, Bregenz and Carinthian Summer festivals, in collaboration with leading accompanists and pianists of our time. Opera roles include Masino in Haydn’s La vera costanza, Papageno and Speaker of the Temple in the Magic Flute, Don Alfonso in Cosi, Eisenstein in Fledermaus, Wolfram in Tannhäuser, Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier, Music Master in Ariadne, the Father in Hänsel and Gretel by Humperdinck, Danilo in The Merry Widow, Eduard in Neues vom Tage by Hindemith and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Britten.

Olivier Godin is a pianist and the Artistic Director of Bougie Hall at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts since 2022, and leads a brilliant career as a concert artist, chamber musician and educator in Canada and abroad. He has given recitals alongside several lyrical artists including Frédéric Antoun, Julie Boulianne, Gordon Bintner, Russell Braun, Donna Brown, Thomas Dolié, Julie Fuchs, Karina Gauvin, Hélène Guilmette, Wolfgang Holzmair, and many more. He has performed in several international festivals such as Palazzetto Bru-Zane in Venice, Wigmore Hall in London, Mexico Lieder Fest in Monterrey, Académie Francis Poulenc in Tours, Festival Albert Roussel in Lille, Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, Johannes-Wasmuth Gesellschaft in Bonn, La Monnaie in Brussels and Source Song Festival in Minneapolis. Among his many recordings are the complete songs of Poulenc, Fauré, Duparc, Massenet, Dutilleux, an album of melodies and piano works by Jolivet, Rachmaninov’s complete works for two pianos, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer as well as a solo album of the world premiere of Émile Pessard’s works for piano.

PROGRAM

Ilse Weber

Good day (Dobrý den)

Wiegala

I wander through Theresienstadt (Ich wandre durch Theresienstadt)

Pavel Haas

I heard the wild geese (Zaslech jsem divoké husy)

In the Bamboo Grove (V Bambusovém háji)

Viktor Ullmann

The Sower’s Sayings (Säerspruch) (C.F.Meyer)

Gideon Klein

Lullaby (Ukolébavka)

Hans Krása

You girls are like gardens (Ihr Mädchen seid wie die Gärten) (Rilke)

Love (Die Liebe) (Catullus)

Vice versa (Morgenstern)

Carlo S. Taube

A Jewish Child (Ein jüdisches Kind) (Erika Taube)

Adolf Strauss

Homesickness (Heimweh)

Felix Porges

Couplet (Kuplet)

Viktor Ullmann

A girl in old age (A Mejdel in die Johren)

Karel Švenk

Anything goes! (Všechno jde!)

Adolf Strauss

I know for sure that I’ll see you again! (Tango) (Ich weiß bestimmt, ich wird Dich wiedersehn) (Ludwig Hift)

Robert Schumann

They search for each other (Sie suchen einander) (Kopper)

Emmerich Kálmán

Terezin song (Terezín-Lied) (unknown author)

Hermann Leopoldi

In a small cafe in Hernals (In einem kleinen café in Hernals) (Peter Herz)

The little café (Das kleine Café) (Walter Lindenbaum)

Otto Skutecky

Down in the Prater is a little place (Drunt im Prater ist ein Platzerl) (Leo Strauss)