Musical Stumbling Blocks

Jewish musical presence was a critical element of European musicianship. Despite its stigmatization by the nazis as "degenerate music", the Jewish musical tradition, with interruptions due to the universal shock, the Holocaust, never disappeared.

Still, there is a need for a continued effort to keep the Jewish musical traditions in the forefront, remind music lovers and the general public of its importance, and transfer the Jewish musical heritage to the new generations and non-Jews.

Following the German artist, Gunter Demnig’s initiative, many European countries honored the deported Jews by laying monuments in the sidewalk as “stumbling blocks”. In an analogy, the purpose of this project is to create memorial “stumbling blocks” in the form of a concert series and thus commemorate the milestones of 20th century Jewish musical thinking.

Each concert will represent a specific period between the "secure world" as described by Stefan Zweig, through the Holocaust, and end with current day remembrance (composers: Mahler, Goldmark, Schoenberg, Zemlinsky, Schulhoff, Ullmann, Weinberg, Achron, László Weiner, Sándor Kuti, György Kósa etc.). As were many composers, so were their compositions victims of the Holocaust and pogroms. We are taking part in education of Holocaust, in cooperation with other forms of art, using multimedia ecquipments. The proposed project will serve as a moderator for incorporating these rediscovered oeuvres in the concert repertoire.