Maria Schreker, singer and wife of Franz Schreker

Our Reclaimed Voices Series Concerts highlight the work of Jewish composers and librettists who were silenced or exiled during the Second World War. The multi-media concerts tell the stories of these artists and showcase their work through live performances of their music.

The concerts were created with the purpose of educating the public and presenting in-depth looks at the lives of these composers. Folks Operetta has written and performed five different concerts over the past five years highlighting artists from the 1920s and 1930s.

“By no means did we sit weeping on the banks of the waters of Babylon and our endeavor with respect to the arts was commensurate with our will to live.” -Viktor Ullmann

Viktor Ullman

To Viktor Ullmann and the other Jewish composers of his generation, music was not only an escape from the horrors they were experiencing; music was life itself. It was their testament. Every melody sung, every chord played, every note written was a statement of their will to live and their insistence that they not be forgotten. Although their humanity and dignity were trampled, their spirits remained intact. Their legacy lives on as long as we remember, and it is our job to preserve and proclaim that memory.

As we launch our new Reclaimed Voices Series, we are deeply aware of the responsibility we bear toward these composers. In a world where old prejudices resurface and where a new generation of demagogues seeks to draw new lines of division and enmity, the stories of these composers take on a new urgency. Their works need to be heard, their stories told, and their memories restored. As we delve into their world, we draw inspiration from their determination to continue their art in the face of monstrous evil.  For them, music meant life, and life meant music.

Our Reclaimed Voices Series will expand our mission to include recovering the forgotten of works of Jewish operetta and opera composers who were forced into exile, persecuted or perished at the hands of the Nazis.  In particular, we will be introducing works that have not been performed in the U.S. and are dangerously close to being forgotten forever.  This includes the works of Leo Fall, Paul Abraham, Emmerich Kálmán, Josef Beer, Leo Ascher, Edmund Eysler, Leon Jessel, and Jean Gilbert as well as the works of Hans Gál, Gideon Klein, Viktor Ullman, Franz Schreker, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Egon Wellesz, Hans Krasa, Alexander Von Zemlinsky and Kurt Weill.

Reclaimed Voices Series Concerts:

  • Goodbye Berlin, Aloha Hawaii! The Jazz Operettas of Paul Ábrahám. (premieres April 14, 2019)
  • Forbidden Opera: The Lost Music of the Second World War
  • Moon over Berlin: The Music of a Great City
  • Operetta and the Great War: The Forgotten Shows of World War I
  • Operetta in Exile: The Music Silenced by the Third Reich

To find out how you can have these concerts performed at your venue contact us at chicagofolksoperetta@gmail.com