Who is Karol Rathaus and why we are making this film
Once one of Weimar Berlin’s most promising composers, Karol Rathaus escaped the Nazis, but lost his career, his cultural world, and any certain sense of who he was. “Hitler killed composer Karol Rathaus,” his son would later say. Born Jewish into a Polish-speaking family in Galicia and formed by German culture, Rathaus was forced to reinvent himself with every new exile. Guided by his letters, stark animation, and a young musician retracing his journey across Europe and America, the film enters the private world of an artist searching for a home within identities that history had shattered. It asks what remains when exile strips a person of nearly everything.
The answer is – the music.
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) divides his time between making films, writing and doing data analysis, and the other (Sergei) is a classically trained pianist. Daniil graduated from Queens College with degrees in physics and films, spent a year in Vancouver film school, got his Master’s degree in economics from UT Austin. Sergey graduated from Manhattan School of Music and Aaron Copland School of Music and divides his time between making films with his brother and raising a family.
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 emeretus 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.
Senior Lecturer in Music at the Department of Music University of Bristol, UK. Dr. Scheding work focuses on the displacement of European music and musicians caused by the catastrophes of the 20th century. His recent book, “Musical Journeys: Performing Migration in 20th-century Music” received the Royal Musical Association/Cambridge University Press Monograph Prize 2020.
Karol Rathaus on world wide web
