Carnegie Hall to Present 100+ Events as Part of Weimar Festival

From January through May 2024, as the centerpiece of its 2023–2024 season, Carnegie Hall presents Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice, an expansive citywide festival exploring one of the most complex and consequential chapters in modern history: Germany's Weimar Republic of 1919–1933. Through 30 concerts and events at Carnegie Hall and 70+ multidisciplinary offerings at more than 50 leading cultural and academic institutions across New York City, the festival examines the arts and culture that flourished as artists sought bold avenues for creative expression in this increasingly traumatic time.

At Carnegie Hall, festival audiences are invited on an exploration through artistic movements in classical music, jazz, cabaret, art song, and more that reflect the forces that led to the fall of the Weimar Republic—and the many lessons about the fragility of democracy that can be gleaned from its extraordinary collapse. Among the artists and ensembles presented by the Hall as part of the festival lineup are: The Cleveland Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic, led by Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist Franz Welser-Möst; the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda; Ensemble Modern led by HK Gruber; The Hot Sardines with Alan Cumming; The Knights; Ute Lemper; Meow Meow; Jason Moran; and Max Raabe & Palast Orchester.

Across New York City and online, events presented by partner organizations extend the scope of the festival through concerts, exhibitions, courses and talks, theater performances, and film screenings. Festival programming includes a four-part course titled “Weimar Germany: Politics, Culture, and Catastrophe” presented by the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research that explores the political and cultural history of the Weimar Republic and what it can teach us about the problems that confront US democracy today; a multi-disciplinary series of performances, film screenings, and workshops presented by faculty and students of the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; photographic and visual art exhibitions of Weimar-era artists such as August Sander, ringl+pit (Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach), and others at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Käthe Kollwitz at The Museum of Modern Art; plus free performances of Valerie Coleman's Portraits of Josephine by the Orchestra of St. Luke's with playwright and narrator Kirya Traber at various venues in all five boroughs of New York City.

“With our citywide festivals, we seek to take audiences on curated journeys of discovery, asking questions about some of the most important issues of our day,” said Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall. “The Weimar festival explores the fragility of democracy through the lens of the fall of the Weimar Republic and shines a spotlight on the innovative creative expression and powerful artistic movements that emerged during this increasingly dark and tumultuous era. In exploring the arts and cultural landscape of this vivid time, we will also investigate the forces that led to the rise of Hitler through to his democratic election, and thereafter to his dictatorship which swept aside the Weimar Republic, leading inexorably to World War II. The Weimar period demonstrates many lessons that are as relevant today as they were then. Above all, we hope this festival's thought-provoking programming will not only engage audiences but also serve as a jumping-off point to stimulate dialogue. If there is any lesson to learn from the Weimar period, it is the great responsibility for everyone, including the arts and artists, to speak out and raise key questions at these times. As has been said by many, ‘…all it takes for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing.'”

HIGHLIGHTS OF WEIMAR FESTIVAL
EVENTS AT Carnegie Hall

Though we typically associate the music of Weimar Germany with modernism, experimentation, and the proliferation of new styles that emerged during this time such as Neue Sachlichkeit, expressionism, and 12-tone composition (Hindemith, Berg, Eisler, Schoenberg, etc.) as well as the increasing influence of jazz and novel approaches to modern musical theater (e.g. Krenek, Weill, and Brecht), the music of composers such as Beethoven, Bruckner, Gustav Mahler, Wagner and others continued to dominate concert halls and opera houses. During the Weimar era, countless music festivals, for example, commemorated the 100-year anniversary of Beethoven's death in 1927, while Bruckner was among the 10 most-performed composers by the Berliner Philharmoniker between 1922 and 1925. In addition, the ripples of musical innovation brought about by composers such as Stravinsky, Ravel, Richard Strauss, and Prokofiev continued to influence musical output and opinion.

To better understand the Weimar Republic and the inherent tensions and contradictions that led to its downfall, Carnegie Hall's festival performances take into account the full range of music that could be heard across Germany during the period between 1919 and 1933. The festival spans 27 events across the Hall's three performance venues—Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage (SA/PS), Zankel Hall (ZH), and Weill Recital Hall (WRH) —the largest number of concerts ever presented as part of a Carnegie Hall festival.

◆ Orchestral Music: The Weimar festival kicks off at Carnegie Hall in January with two orchestral concerts by esteemed conductor and Perspectives artist Franz Welser-Möst leading The Cleveland Orchestra in programs that demonstrate the diverse musical styles of the Weimar era, including works by Krenek, Webern, Bartók, Prokofiev, and Gustav Mahler (Jan. 20 and Jan. 21, SA/PS). Maestro Welser-Möst also leads the renowned Vienna Philharmonic in three distinct programs featuring music by Hindemith, Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, Ravel, Berg, Bruckner, and Gustav Mahler (Mar. 1, Mar. 2, and Mar. 3, SA/PS).

Additional orchestral concerts during the festival include: The Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, featuring Weill's Symphony No. 2 alongside Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue—with the Marcus Roberts Trio—and Stravinsky's Pétrouchka (1947 version) (Jan. 23, SA/PS); Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by Andris Nelsons, with Seong-Jin Cho as soloist in Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Stravinsky's revolutionary The Rite of Spring and Tania León's Stride (Jan. 29, SA/PS); The Met Orchestra, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, with soprano Lise Davidsen in Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder on a program that also includes works by Webern and Gustav Mahler (Feb. 1, SA/PS); National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda, with violinist James Ehnes as soloist in Korngold's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, as well as works by Berg and Beethoven (Feb. 12, SA/PS); and Orchestra of St. Luke's, led by Tito Muñoz, joined by a cast of soloists and the Westminster Symphonic Choir and the Young People's Chorus of New York City, perform Orff's Carmina Burana (Feb. 27, SA/PS).

In March, Orchestre de Paris returns to the Hall after more than 20 years, led by Music Director Klaus Mäkelä, with music from two Stravinsky ballets: The Firebird and The Rite of Spring (Mar. 16, SA/PS) followed the next month by the Bamberg Symphony with Jakub Hrůša in an evening of works by Wagner and Brahms, plus Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto with Hélène Grimaud. (Apr. 24, SA/PS).

In May, the festival concerts at Carnegie Hall close out with Sir Simon Rattle in his first appearance as chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra performing music by Hindemith, Zemlinsky, and Gustav Mahler (May 2, SA/PS).

◆ Jazz: Celebrated jazz pianist Jason Moran's acclaimed meditation on the life and legacy of the groundbreaking James Reese Europe, who created the band of WWI's African American 369th infantry regiment (Harlem Hellfighters) and helped popularize jazz throughout France will be a festival highlight (Mar. 9, ZH). In addition, superstar German crooner Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester—known worldwide as one of the leading big bands of
music from the Weimar Republic era—will make their anticipated return to Carnegie Hall as part of the festival performing their modern take on hits from 1920s and '30s German jazz and swing (Mar. 21, SA/PS).

◆ Cabaret: An immersive three-concert “Weimar Underground” cabaret series will feature acclaimed chanteuse and actress Ute Lemper who explores the
music of Weimar Berlin and the many artists exiled from it, including music by Hollaender, Weill, Brecht, Schiffer, Spoliansky, and more (Feb. 9, ZH); postmodern cabaret sensation Meow Meow—who blends performance art, cabaret, comedy, and pop culture—in Sequins and Satire, Divas and Disruptors: The Wild Women of the Weimar Republic (Mar. 23, ZH); and irreverent, swinging, early-jazz specialists The Hot Sardines, who will take the stage with special guest Alan Cumming for an evening that invokes 1920s Berlin, where cabarets thrummed with the sound of jazz that represented liberation and modernity to some, and a threat to others (Apr. 19, ZH).

◆ New/Contemporary Music: Contemporary concerts in Zankel Hall this season will reflect how the Weimar Republic has impacted artists today. For their festival concert, The Knights looks both to the past and present through multiple layers of history and culture. In a program that explores the connections between music by Ravel, Weill/Brecht, Bob Dylan, and Chico Buarque, they also welcome acclaimed pipa player Wu Man as soloist in the New York premiere of a work by Du Yun (co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall), plus vocalists Christina Courtin and special guest Magos Herrera (Feb. 29, ZH). American Composers Orchestra, under the baton of Rei Hotoda, offers a program titled America in Weimar: On the Margins that explores the US's influence on the Weimar Republic and aspects of the Weimar legacy that resonate in American culture today. The concert includes the world premieres of a new work by Tonia Ko (co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall) and a new work by John Glover and librettist Kelley Rourke, featuring mezzo-soprano Chrystal E. Williams and accordionist Felipe Hostins as well as the New York premiere of Clans from Jerod Impichcha̲achaaha' Tate's Lowak Shoppala' (Mar. 12, ZH).

◆ Chamber Music and Recitals: In April, one of the world's leading authorities on Weill's music, HK Gruber, leads Ensemble Modern in a program showcasing the Weimar Republic's urgent blend of desperate defiance and vast artistic possibility in an evening of works by Hindemith, Korngold, Schoenberg, and a new arrangement (by Gruber and Christian Muthspiel) of Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins (text by Bertolt Brecht) featuring mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta (Apr. 12, ZH).

Other chamber music performances on the festival concert lineup include The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble (Jan. 22, WRH) in a program entitled The Golden Twenties; Soloists of the Kronberg Academy with violist Tabea Zimmerman (Feb. 15, ZH); and Ensemble Connect (Apr. 9, WRH).

Vocal and piano recitals at the Hall during the festival include baritone Justin Austin and pianist Howard Watkins (Mar. 5, WRH); pianist Igor Levit who will perform Hindemith's Suite “1922” as well as works by Beethoven and Gustav Mahler (Mar. 7, SA/PS); and pianist Emanuel Ax in a recital of works by Schoenberg and Beethoven (Apr. 21, SA/PS). ◆ Just Added: Panel Discussion with Franz Welser-Möst: In addition to performances at Carnegie Hall, an engaging panel discussion, Anything Goes: The Role of Music in
Society, in the Hall's Weill Music Room just added on Feb. 28 features leading observers and cultural historians Larry Diamond, Oliver Rathkolb, Nadine Rossol and moderator Sheri Berman—joined by Perspectives artist Franz Welser-Möst—who will explore what the arts tell, or predict, of the
political and social conditions of their time. Presented in collaboration with the Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, the three experts will compare current conditions with those accompanying the new music and art styles of the “anything-goes” society of the 1920s that, by 1933, led to the demise of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism.

◆ Weimar Festival Exhibitions in Zankel Hall: Beginning Feb. 9 through May, two festival-themed exhibitions will be on display in Zankel Hall and free and open to all Zankel Hall concertgoers. The Democracy Project, curated by Reynaldo Anderson and The Black Speculative Arts Movement, is a visual exhibition that explores the intellectual, social, and cultural impact of the Weimar Republic on the African diaspora; how people of African descent engaged and responded to the era; and the lessons to be learned in dealing with present-day threats to democratic values. The exhibit—presented by the Black Speculative Arts Movement and Temple University in association with Carnegie Hall—is also available on Google Arts & Culture. In addition, the photography exhibition ringl+pit features the work of artist duo Ellen Auerbach and Grete Stern, who met in 1929 in Berlin, when the fragility of freedom was omnipresent. Through their avant-garde collaborations on portraits, advertisements, and graphic design, they sought to subvert the conventions of gender, politics, and social norms. The exhibit is presented by Fotografiska New York in partnership with Carnegie Hall.

◆ Weimar Festival on Carnegie Hall+: On-demand streaming on Carnegie Hall+ adds a new dimension to the Weimar festival, bringing curated programming from the world's greatest stages directly to viewers at home or wherever they may be. Music lovers can experience fully staged productions of essential Weimar-era operas, like Berg's Lulu, directed by Patrice Chéreau and led by Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera; Berg's Wozzeck performed at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic; and Richard Strauss's Arabella featuring Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson. Additional performances include Simon Rattle conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and a chorus of 500 in Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder, Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Salzburg Festival with the Vienna Philharmonic led by Christian Thielemann; the Munich Philharmonic in a riveting hometown performance of Hindemith's Mathis der Maler featuring conductor Zubin Mehta and violinist Midori; Barenboim's West Eastern Divan Orchestra in Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat, as well as Max Raabe in a dynamic performance with his Palast Orchester. For more information, visit carnegiehallplus.com.

◆ Special Weimar Festival Commissioned Artwork: Continuing its new tradition of commissioning artwork for its citywide festivals, Carnegie Hall engaged designer and illustrator Matthew Hancock as the second visual artist to create a new work inspired by the festival theme. Matthew's creation—Der Totentanz (Dancing with Death)—evokes the astonishing dualities of the Weimar Republic, a period he calls “one of the most concentrated bursts of chaos, creativity, and madness in recent history.” The piece is captivating in its apparent simplicity, but it is also full of symbolism and thematic references to uncover. To learn more about the festival's signature artwork, click here.

HIGHLIGHTS OF WEIMAR FESTIVAL
PARTNER EVENTS

From January through May, events presented by more than 50 festival partner organizations—ranging from concerts, exhibitions, courses and talks, to theater performances and film screenings—extends the scope of the festival, highlighting different facets of this creatively daring, intellectually curious, and artistically innovative period in history, including explorations of black, Afro-diasporic, and Latinx identity, perspectives on Yiddish and Jewish culture, the changing role of women in society, LGBTQIA life in Weimar Germany, and much more. Among the participating partner organizations are: Death of Classical; Fotografiska New York; The Juilliard School; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art; New York Film Academy; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; Orchestra of St. Luke's; Society of Illustrators; and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. For a full list of festival partners, please see below.
 

Among the festival partner highlights in February are:

Words Are Pictures: Writing and Drawing Weimar Berlin—a talk with cartoonist Jason Lutes and illustrator Nora Krug about how Lutes conceived, researched, wrote, and drew a 550-page graphic novel about the city of Berlin between 1929 and 1933, including the greatest influences on his storytelling, from Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea to Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire, and what happens when we listen closely to history. (February 9 at Society of Illustrators, 128 E. 63rd Street, New York, NY);

Lavender Songs: A Queer Weimar Berlin Cabaret, a celebration of Berlin's edgiest cabaret music with Tante Fritzy whose drag performance captures cabaret culture and
Weimar wildness with songs originally written or performed by queer artists in Weimar-era Berlin. (February 15 at Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, 36 Battery Place, New York, NY);

The Water-Bearer—a digital theater performance that tells
of the fate of Black Germans during the Weimar and Nazi period from the perspective of a “Water-Bearer,” a sculpture created by Jewish artist Bernhard Sopher in 1928, which stands on the Rhine Terraces in Düsseldorf. (February 15–February 29, Online: blackgermany.com/carnegiehall2024); Juilliard Drama Presents The Caucasian Chalk Circle—one of Bertolt Brecht's most celebrated works which was written at the close of World War II and is a
noted example of the playwright's conception of epic theatre—a type of drama written in response to
political and contemporary issues of the day. (February 22–25 at Stephanie P. McClelland Drama Theater, 155 W. 65th St., New York, NY);

Fotografiska New York's free, monthly live music series features Swinging on the Precipice with J. Walter Hawkes's Weill Style. The trio—led by Emmy-winning composer, skilled trombone and ukulele player, and member of the Hot Sardines, J. Walter Hawkes—specializes in music of the hot jazz era of the 1920s and '30s, which was integral to the culture and nightlife of the Weimar Republic. (February 29, and also March 28, April 25, and May 30 at Fotografiska New York, 281 Park Avenue South, New York, NY).


Festival partner event highlights in March include:

Contemporary Music of the Weimar Republic, featuring pianist David Witten along with flutist Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin; violinist Quan Yuan; and cellist Christine Lamprea, showcases two works that received their world premieres in 1925 at Germany's Donaueschingen Music Festival: Igor Stravinsky's Piano Sonata and Alexander Tcherepnin's Concerto da Camera for flute, violin, and chamber orchestra. Nearly a century later, both works will be performed on the same program, alongside piano compositions by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. (March 6 at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY); The classic horror film from 1920, Der Golem, accompanied by a live orchestral performance of an original score composed by students from New York University's Contemporary Music Ensemble led by Jonathan Haas. The film serves as a prescient foretelling of Jewish persecution that led to unspeakable horrors at the hands of
the Nazis. (March 6 and 7 at New York University, Iris Cantor Theatre, 181 Mercer St., New York, NY);

A classic of Weimar cinema, Fritz Lang's M, a haunting tale of paranoia and suspense with harrowing parallels to contemporary society. Starring Peter Lorre, this 1931 masterwork set the standard for the thriller genre. (March 25 at New York Film Academy, 17
Battery Place, New York, NY);

Yiddish and Hebrew Little Magazines in the Weimar Republic, a talk exploring the “little magazine” that was a staple of modernist Jewish culture that flourished in the Weimar Republic. The magazines—a distinctively portable and collaborative genre, and an appropriate venue for the migrant, cosmopolitan mix of Berlin's interwar Jewish population—blended poetry, manifestos, and visual arts to create a unique form of cultural expression. In this talk, Barbara Mann will discuss the publishing history of Yiddish and Hebrew little magazines, their content, physical features, and readership (March 27, Online: yivo.org/little-magazines).


Festival partner event highlights in April include:

Picturing the Weimar Republic—a talk by staff from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and guest artists as they share their insights and perspectives on art and photography from the Weimar Republic, including the opportunity to look at objects from the exhibition The Real Thing: Unpackaging Product Photography, including key works from Weimar-era photographers. (April 5 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY);

The digital group exhibition The Souls of White “Volk,” which takes inspiration from W. E. B Du Bois's essay “The Souls of White Folk” and visualizes the complex relationship between whiteness and art in the Weimar period, examining to what extent the history of whiteness in Germany finds expression, is challenged, and continues to have an impact on the present by right-wing populists. (April 5–April 20, Online: udk-berlin.de/carnegiehall2024);

Weimar Germany: Politics, Culture, and Catastrophe—an online course that explores the political and cultural history of the Weimar Republic and what it can teach us about the problems that confront US democracy today. (Wednesdays, April 10–May 1, Online
Course: thebrooklyninstitute.com/items/courses/new-york/weimar-germany-politics-culture-and-catastrophe/);

Tomorrow Belongs to Me: Cabaret—A Screening and Discussion about sex, high society, and creeping fascism. These are a few of the themes explored in the 1972 Oscar-winning musical Cabaret, starring Liza Minnelli. A post-screening event includes a discussion about how the film portrays Weimar Germany's split personality—its heady mix of queerness and conformity, joy and nihilism, freedom and fascism. (April 11 at Nitehawk Cinema, 188 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY);

The immersive, subversive, underground cabaret event Tiergarten which takes its name from the Tiergarten—“The Garden of Beasts”—a sprawling park around which the Third Reich rose to power. The event includes music, theater, food, and drink offering a time to reflect on the gathering darkness that enshrouded the crumbling Weimar Republic, and look ahead with increasing angst upon the fragile balance of the present moment. (April 17–April 19 at St. Mary's Church, 440 Grand St., New York, NY).


Festival partner event highlights in May include:

The Comet Cometh: Reads—a special reading of W. E. B. Du Bois's 1920 science-fiction short story The Comet. Du Bois, who studied in Germany and visited the country several times throughout his life, was greatly impacted by the culture and intellectual milieu, but also the nationalism, anti-Semitism, and racism he experienced there. Ahmed Best—known for providing the voice for the character Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars franchise—will read the story, backed by original music composed by MuthaWit Orchestra founder Boston Fielder and sequential images from Tim Fielder's graphic novel adaptation, creating a multisensory presentation (May 2, Online: youtube.com/@Dieselfunk);

Yiddish and Hebrew Song in the Weimar Republic—a concert program that explores Yiddish and Hebrew songs of the Weimar Republic, showcasing the rich musical activity of the Weimar Republic that bridged Jewish composers in the East and West, and reflected their linguistically and ideologically diverse aspirations. (May 7 at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 W. 16th St., New York, NY);

Will There Still Be Singing? A Hanns Eisler Cabaret with soprano Karyn Levitt and The Hanns Eisler Trio performing Eric Bentley's English versions of the songs of Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht, one of the 20th century's great songwriting teams. Levitt's close working relationship with Bentley, the foremost translator of Brecht's lyrics and plays, gave her the opportunity of a lifetime to consult with the source of these acclaimed translations. (May 8 at Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th St., New York, NY).


Highlights of select ongoing events include:

Harmony: A New Musical, which tells the story of the greatest entertainers the world would ever forget: the Comedian Harmonists. They sold millions of records, starred in major motion pictures, and played the biggest theaters around the world. By 1935, they were never heard from again. Direct