Forgotten casualties of the Holocaust: Karol Rathaus, a prominent composer of concert and film music, is forced into exile from Nazi Germany and fights for his creative survival in the atmosphere of cultural and political hostility.
Forgotten casualties of the Holocaust: Karol Rathaus, a prominent composer of concert and film music, is forced into exile from Nazi Germany and fights for his creative survival in the atmosphere of cultural and political hostility.
Who is Karol Rathaus and why we are making this film
Composer Karol Rathaus (1895, Ternopol, Galicia – 1954, Flushing, New York) belongs to the generation that came of age in the aftermath of WWI, the generation decimated by the Nazis and WWII. With his music performed by such luminaries as Wilhelm Furtwängler and Erich Kleiber, he was on his way to becoming one of its leading voices. The rise of Nazism interrupted Rathaus’s ascend to the musical Olympus – he had to leave Germany and after several years of wondering through Paris and London, he found a new permanent home in Queens, New York. Choosing safety and obscurity, he accepted the position of first composition professor at the recently formed small urban Queens College.
Karol Rathaus shall rightfully be viewed as an unrecognized and unacknowledged casualty of the Holocaust. Uprooted from his native soil and uncertain of his ethnic and cultural identity, he lost his fight for creative survival in an increasingly hostile cultural and political environment.
Promo/Demo Reel
This is the latest teaser for the film emphasizing Rathaus’ struggles. In this reel you see and hear voices of student musicians of The Orchestra Now (TON), the president of Bard college and the principal conductor of TON Maestro Leon Botstein, one of Rathaus’ students George Sturm, a historian Henry Feingold, and Rathaus’ daughter-in-law June Rathaus.
Michael Haas is an award winning recording and executive producer who worked with major music labels such as Decca, Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, etc. His most highly regarded work has been in the recovery of music lost during the Nazi era in Europe, including London/Decca’s recording series Entartete Musik of works thought lost, forgotten or destroyed. After publishing book “Forbidden Music: Music of Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis” he was invited to become a senior researcher at the exile.arte Zentrum of Vienna University for Music and Performance Arts.
Daniil and Sergey Deych are two brothers, one of whom (Daniil) is an up and coming filmmaker and the other (Sergei) is a classically trained pianist. After Daniil came back home from Vancouver, where he attended Vancouver Film School, the Deyches teamed up and formed a film production company specializing in classical music videos. Daniil (with Sergei help) also wrote, produced and directed his first short film “Untitled”, which he submitted to a number of festivals.
Music Director and Principal Conductor of American Symphony Orchestra and The Orchestra Now of Bard College, a scholar, and an expert in the history of European music. President of Bard College,
Photo by Matt Dine
Polish Pianist, Chamber musician, Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of Silesia. Alexandra founded Karol Rathaus Ensemble, dedicated to promotion of Karol Rathaus’ music, and Karol Rathaus Foundation in Poland.
Promotion Executve at Boosey and Hawkes, the largest specialist classical music publishing company in the world. Boosey and Hawkes published a large number of Karol Rathaus’ compositions, with Frank Harders being one of Rathaus’ major champions.
Samuel Adler is one of the most distinguished American composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, recipient of numerous awards including the Charles Ives Award, the Lillian Fairchild Award, and a Special Citation by the American Foundation of Music Clubs (2001).
Photo by Jack Mitchell
Karol Rathaus on world wide web
