Elysium between two continents, Inc.

Egon Lustgarten (1887-1961), an Austrian composer of Jewish descent, was forced to emigrate to the United States after Hitler’s annexation of Austria. The Chicago premiere of “Healing a Fractured World: A portrait of exiled composer Egon Lustgarten” brings the composer’s story to life through performance of his rarely heard musical works, narrated personal correspondence, images and a brief lecture.

Composer Egon Lustgarten and his wife Sophia

The mission of The Lahr von Leïtis Academy and Archive, under the auspice of Elysium Between Two Continents is to expose younger generations to exiled art; helping them create a future that incorporates lessons learned from history. The Lahr von Leïtis Academy and Archive has curated and preserved Lustgarten’s musical manuscripts and correspondence which would otherwise remain in the shadows. We aim to bring these musical masterpieces to light so that contemporary audiences can experience their inherent beauty while also gaining an understanding of their significant historical context.

The performance will take place on October 9, 2024 at 7PM at PianoForte Studios 1335 South Michigan Ave, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60605

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Additional program details

A brief opening lecture will give an overview of Lustagrten’s story and the political circumstances that led to his exile. Musical selections will include works for piano, Lieder and opera arias performed by Chicago-based artists Melissa Primavera, Soprano and Sarah Jenks, Pianist. Interspersed with the musical selections will be narration by actor Fred Wellisch of selected letters to Lustgarten’s loved ones and colleagues as well as his diary entries. These media combined will create a portrait of Lustgarten as an artist, emigrant, and human. The music will be sung in German (the composer’s original language) with English supertitles. The narrated components will be in English. Images of the composer and places of importance to his story will also be displayed as part of the performance. Running time is expected to be 60-90 minutes followed by a brief reception to allow for audience reflection, dialogue, and engagement with the performers.

Melissa Primavera, Soprano

Sarah Jenks, Pianist

Fred Wellisch, Actor

Lustgarten’s “Frühlingsruhe” is just one of the many rare musical selections that will be featured in the program. Here is a preview of pianist Sarah Jenks and soprano Melissa Primavera in rehearsal:

This immersive experience will...

Elysium Between Two Continents fosters artistic and academic dialogue, creative and educational exchange and mutual friendship between the United States of America and Europe. Through art, Elysium fights against ignorance, discrimination, racism, hatred, anti-Semitism, and forgetting or trivializing the Holocaust. Elysium’s history is closely linked with Erwin Piscator and his groundbreaking ideas of a politically and socially relevant theater. Founded in 1983 by Gregorij von Leïtis as a theater company in New York, Elysium presented numerous American premieres of German-language plays in English translation. During the last two decades, one programmatic focus has been the rediscovery and presentation of music and literature created by artists who were persecuted by the Nazis. Michael Lahr is the Artistic Director and Gregorij von Leïtis is the Co-Founder and Honorary Artistic Director of Elysium Between Two Continents.

Michael Lahr von Leïtis

Gregorij von Leïtis

In 1922, a group of musicians organized a festival in Salzburg to showcase modern music. Seen by some scholars as an attempt to subvert the conservative image of a newly-founded Austria being promoted by the Salzburg Festival, the festival returned in 1923 as the International Society for Contemporary Music, which still exists today.

However, even by 1923, the festival had already earned the ire of anti-modernists, with one reporter calling the participants “musical Bolsheviks.” The majority of those composers would later be exiled – either as Jews or because Nazi ideology linked modernism with Jewishness and communism. Most of these composers, in the midst of or on the precipice of vibrant careers, are now virtually unknown.

Join us in honoring the centennial of the ISCM with three evenings of music from these exiled composers, including Rudolf Reti, Paul Pisk, Karl Weigl, Hugo Kauder, Wilhelm Grosz, Egon Lustgarten, Paul Hindemith, and Egon Wellesz. Please help us in illuminating these unjustly forgotten composers whose music was repressed due to antisemitism and hatred.

This program is presented in collaboration with the Leo Baeck Institute and the American Society for Jewish Music and is presented under the patronage of Thomas Hampson.

On April 20th, we will kick off the series with chamber music works and talks by Michael Haas (exil.arte) and Alexis Rodda (soprano, program coordinator of Elysium Between Two Continents, and independent musicologist).

April 20, 2023 - 6:30 PM (Pre-concert talk 6:30, 7:00 Concert) - Chamber music and vocal works from the composers of the 1922 inaugural ICSM festival - The Center for Jewish History

April 21, 2023 - 7:00 PM - Chamber music works with string ensemble and piano - Marc A. Scorca Hall at Opera America

April 24, 2023 - 7:00 PM - Vocal selections with singers and piano - The Austrian Cultural Forum NYC

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Elysium Between Two Continents fosters artistic and academic dialogue, creative and educational exchange and mutual friendship between the United States of America and Europe. Through art, Elysium fights against ignorance, discrimination, racism, hatred, anti-Semitism, and forgetting or trivializing the Holocaust. Elysium’s history is closely linked with Erwin Piscator and his groundbreaking ideas of a politically and socially relevant theater. Founded in 1983 by Gregorij von Leïtis as a theater company in New York, Elysium presented numerous American premieres of German-language plays in English translation. During the last two decades, one programmatic focus has been the rediscovery and presentation of music and literature created by artists who were persecuted by the Nazis. Gregorij von Leïtis is the Artistic Director and Michael Lahr is the Program Director of Elysium Between Two Continents.