92nd Street Y Presents The Will to Create, The Will to Live: The Culture of Terezín

From January 9 through February 16, New York City's 92nd Street Y presents The Will to Create, The Will to Live: The Culture of Terezín , a singular in-depth multi-disciplinary series on the cultural significance of the Nazi concentration camp. Established in 1941 to hold Jews from occupied Bohemia before their deportation to the death camps, Terezín is widely known as the site of the staged performances that the Nazis used to deceive Red Cross visitors in 1944 and subsequently exploited for a propaganda film. 

Despite Nazi terror and the desperate conditions common to the ghetto, the Terezín internees produced for themselves a rich and creative cultural community, full of great music, art and educational activity. Eventually, the Nazis exploited this haven of the human spirit for their own self-serving purposes and propaganda, which has obscured the remarkable and inspirational legacy of Terezín. The Culture of Terezín celebrates the art and legacy of those imprisoned at Terezín, and includes performances of several chamber works from Viktor Ullmann and Erwin Schulhoff. On January 17 baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and pianist Russell Ryan perform Ullmann's Drei Lieder for Voice and Piano. The Nash Ensemble presents Ullmann's String Quartet No. 3 and Schulhoff's Duo for Violin and Piano on January 19. And Ullmann's Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke (The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke), for speaker and piano, is performed on January 23 by Wolfgang Holzmair and pianist Shai Wosner.

Learn more on The Culture of Terezín at www.92y.org.

Visit www.universaledition.com to learn about the life of Erwin Schulhoff, and view Viktor Ullmann's Composer Profile here.