A MUSIC COMPETITION AS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR A NEW CULTURE OF REMEMBRANCE

WOLF DURMASHKIN COMPOSITION AWARD

VIDEO TRAILER:
WDCA REVIEW INTERNATIONAL JEWISH-GERMAN WEEK MAY 2018
https://vimeo.com/wolfganghauck/wdca2018

PERIOD: 1.1.2017 to 31.12.2018
FOCUS: Music, historical research, commemorative culture
TARGET GROUP: Composers up to 35 years of age
PLACE OF EVENT: Landsberg am Lech

COMPETITION

PUBLICATION TERMS OF PARTICIPATION: August 1, 2017
SUBMISSION DATE: January 10, 2018
JURY SESSION: February 2018
COMPETITION LANGUAGE: German and English
AWARD-WINNING CONCERT AND PREMIERE: May 10, 2018, Landsberg am Lech
PRESS CONFERENCE: November 28, 107, 14:00 Munich University of Music and Performing Arts

COMPETITION AND CONCERT

Kompositionswettbewerb 2017-2018
May 10, 2018 Concert 13:00 and 20:00, Stadttheater Landsberg am Lech

OCCASION AND BACKGROUND

Wolf Durmashkin came from a Jewish-Polish family of musicians from Vilnius, Lithuania. On the one hand, he was committed to traditional Jewish culture, while on the other, the family cultivated the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg and Tchaikovsky. Wolf Durmashkin conducted the Vilnius Symphony Orchestra, was a choirmaster, but also composed and performed together with members of the family at musical activities in the Vilnius ghetto. He was separated from his family and died in 1944, one day before the liberation by the Red Army, in a German concentration camp in Estonia that had been set on fire by the SS.

The concert was intended to commemorate the largely forgotten DP orchestra, which was initially named after its founding place, St. Ottilien. It consisted of the last survivors of the persecution and extermination of Jews in Lithuania. They came from the ghettos of Kaunas and Vilnius and had also survived the Kaufering/Landsberg subcamps. The ensemble had its first performance on May 27, 1945, exactly one month after the liberation of Landsberg by the Americans. The musicians therefore called it a “liberation concert”.

Since history should be more than just a reconstruction, a composition competition will be announced at the same time, which is explicitly aimed at young musicians under the age of 35.

It is named after Wolf Durmashkin, who was denied a promising career as a conductor. At the age of 30, he died in a German concentration camp in Estonia.

As a result of this international competition, the world premiere of the winning compositions took place as part of the concert on May 10, 2018. The concert on May 10, 1948 was the starting point for the projects.

This was commemorated in Landsberg on May 10, 2018, the 70th anniversary.

But it should also be more: The participation and involvement of the present. The competition contributed to this with the world premieres of the winning compositions.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND IDEA

Wolfgang Hauck

CONCEPT

Wolfgang Hauck, Karla Schönebeck, Martin Schleske

TECHNICAL SUPPORT OF THE COMPETITION

Prof. Dr. Bernd Redmann, Prof. Jan Müller-Wieland, Prof. Tilman Jäger, Mark Mast

PATRONAGE

Abba Naor

ORCHESTRA

Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Mark Mast

COOPERATION PARTNERS

Munich University of Music and Performing Arts, www.musikhochschule-muenchen.de
Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, www.bayerische-philharmonie.de

PROMOTION

Federal Ministry of Agriculture
Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Culture, Science and the Arts
District of Upper Bavaria
Landsberg am Lech district
City of Landsberg am Lech
Savings Bank Foundation Landsberg am Lech
Saul & Eleanor Lerner Foundation, New York
Hans Heinrich Martin Foundation
Bavarian Memorials Foundation

SUPPORTERS

The Leonard Bernstein Office, USA, www.leonardbernstein.com
Sharing Heritage – European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, www.sharingheritage.de
Boston College, Newton, Massachusetts, USA, www.bc.edu
Etoile Productions USA, www.etoile-productions.be