The survival memories of Szymon Laks are on Saturday, August 12, the focus of the fourth concert at the open-air summer festival "Classics without borders". Concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Lennépark.
The Polish-Jewish composer, violinist and pianist Szymon Laks, born in Warsaw in 1901, settled in Paris in 1926. With the Nazi occupation of France in 1940, his successful career came to a brutal end. He survived, because he was a musician, as a violinist and leader of the camp band in Auschwitz-Birkenau. At the same time, he describes in his memoirs, published in 1948, that the music he had to write, rehearse, conduct and play himself in the concentration camp would have ensured his survival at best in a material sense, but not in an ideal or psychological sense. Rather, making music at the behest of the concentration camp wardens stabilized the genocide system - according to Szymon Laks' bitter assessment. All the more astonishing is how colorful and cheerful the music sounds that Szymon Laks composed after 1945.
The actor Dominique Horwitz, who was involved in the much-acclaimed complete recording of Laks' songs by Deutschlandradio Kultur, will read passages from Laks' survival memoirs about the power and powerlessness of music: "Musique d'un autre monde" - Music from another world, the title of the French first edition.
Adele Bitter, cellist in the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and pianist Katarzyna Wasiak, both of whom have worked for years to rediscover Laks' entrancing music, interpret key works by the composer from the period before and after World War II.
The evening will be led by musicologist Frank Harders-Wuthenow.
Berlin-born Adele Bitter has played in the Ensemble Modern at festivals in Lucerne and Edinburgh, was first solo cellist in Karlsruhe, and is principal cellist in the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The interest in contemporary music and the commitment to the works of persecuted, ostracized and exiled composers is reflected in several
publications.
Katarzyna Wasiak already thrilled the Frankfurt audience at the "Sommerklängen" with her Brahms and Schumann interpretations. The pianist has won numerous international piano competitions and scholarships, made guest appearances at renowned festivals and participated in recordings for Polish, German and Austrian radio and various record labels. March 2021 saw the release of her CD with soprano Ania Vegry and all of Szymon Laks' songs, which was named CD of the Month for September by BBC Music Magazine.
The German-French actor Dominique Horwitz is one of the most sought-after artists of the musical-literary genre due to his distinct sense of music. In 1992 he was awarded the Golden Lion as best actor and in 2002 he received the Mephisto Prize for his Brel-Chanson program.
When and where?
Saturday, 12.08.2023 · 7:30 p.m.
In Lennépark
Admission to the concert is free.