Olga Neuwirth – Die Stadt ohne Juden (The City without Jews)

Talea Ensemble, New York, United States

In 1922, Hugo Bettauer described in his novel The City without Jews, almost prophetically, the then still utopian idea of the expulsion of the Jews. A silent film of the same name directed by Hans Karl Breslauer was released two years later. The historical film document dating from 1924 was long considered lost and only rediscovered in fragments in the 1990s. Completely restored, the film premiered in Vienna in 2018 together with Olga Neuwirth's contemporary film music. The composer interprets deep-rooted anti-Semitism and approaches the themes of identity and foreignness, home and escape from a musical perspective.

Olga Neuwirth's setting of the silent film Die Stadt ohne Juden to music will see its American premiere with the Talea Ensemble, made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further Information:
taleaensemble.org