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.
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.
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
