GEDÄCHTNIS-BUCHENWALD-KONZERT

Paul Celan wrote his ‘Death Fugue’ in 1944/45 in the shadow of the Holocaust. This poem, more than any other, has become a symbol of reflection on the horrors of the Shoah. For Theodor W. Adorno it was a cause to reconsider his statement that poetry was impossible after Auschwitz. In the face of the brutal war of aggression against his homeland, the Ukrainian composer Evgeni Orkin has written a concerto for violin, narrator and orchestra under Celan’s title ‘DEATH FUGUE’.  It is dedicated to the solo violinist Andrii Murza and the famous Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, who will perform this year’s traditional Buchenwald Memorial Concert together with the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, which has now been based in exile in Gera for two years. The work will receive its German premiere in Weimar two months after its world premiere at the Wiener Festwochen. The narrator will be the Luxembourgish actor Steve Karier. 

In the second section of the evening, Lyniv and her orchestra will present Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ together with soloists and the opera chorus belonging to the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar. The composer’s last work, which remained unfinished, is widely considered to be one of his most important: it is undoubtedly one of Mozart’s most popular pieces. With Heike Porstein (soprano), Sayaka Shigeshima (mezzo/alto), Taejun Sun (tenor) and Guido Jentjens (bass), the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar provides an ensemble of top quality soloists, while the house’s opera chorus takes on the magnificent choral part. The Buchenwald Memorial Address will be given by the contemporary historian Norbert Frei, Director of the acclaimed Jena Center for 20th Century History and a much sought-after columnist who regularly writes for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.