Elysium turns 35 - 10/18/19 Concert - Building bridges of understanding between America and Europe, and to foster artistic and academic dialogue and friendship.

Celebrating 35 Years of Elysium

Gregorij von Leitis

(photo: Letizia Mariotti)

Dear Friends of Elysium – between two continents,

35 years ago, in October of 1983, I founded Elysium as a Theater Company in the East Village. For many years, we successfully presented European plays in English translation to an American audience, and used the arts and theater to reach out to underprivileged groups, young Puerto-Rican immigrant children in the East village and the homeless, for whom we created the program “Theater for the Homeless.”

In 1993, our program director Michael Lahr and I transformed the theater company into a trans-Atlantic cultural exchange organization, using the arts, literature and music to build bridges of understanding between America and Europe, and to foster artistic and academic dialogue and friendship.

Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” back then inspired us to call our organization “Elysium”. Schiller’s words and ideas, which Ludwig van Beethoven so powerfully set to music at the end of his Ninth Symphony, are as much a guiding light and a moral compass today as they have been 35 years ago:

“Joy, beautiful spark of Divinity,

Daughter from Elysium,

We enter, drunk with fire,

Heavenly One, thy sanctuary!

Your magic binds again

What convention strictly divides:

All people become brothers,

Where your gentle wing abides.”

It is up to us, to create the conditions for a peaceful, free and equal coexistence of all people on this planet. It is up to us, to pick up this divine spark and to watch over the flame and to spread this light of joy into the world.

I look forward to welcoming you to our upcoming events in New York and beyond.

With best regards,

Gregorij von Leitis

Recommendation: Conference on the Rosenstrasse Protests

Confronting the Nazis

Reflections on the Forms and Dilemmas of Resistance

October 4 – 5, 2018

Columbia University

Deutsches Haus

420 West 116th Street

For more information and a detailed conference schedule please go here

The American historian Nathan Stoltzfus, member of our board of advisors, did the ground-breaking research on the protests of the women in Rosenstrasse and wrote the award-winning book Resistance of the Heart.

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Rosenstrasse protests, we did a reading of his book at the German Consulate General in New York on February 27.

Now Prof. Nathan Stoltzfus has joined forces with Professor Volker Berghahn and others to organize the two-day-conference Confronting the Nazis. Reflections on the Forms and Diemmas of Resistance at Columbia University’s Deutsches Haus.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Rosenstrasse protests in February 1943 by non-Jewish women demanding the release of their Jewish husbands rounded up for their dispatch from Berlin, this conference examines different forms of resistance to the Nazi “Final Solution” policy within Germany and beyond.

Memorial at the site of the Rosenstrasse protests in Berlin, created by German sculptor Ingeborg Hunzinger in 1995 (photo: Michael Lahr)

The Great Disruption

Austrian Female Writers Reflect on the Fateful Year 1938

A literary-musical Collage

so-called “Anschluss”, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938, significantly aggravated the already desperate situation of the Jews. The gate to hate and discrimination was opened further, the marginalization and persecution of the Jewish population in Germany and Austria was intensified. In the night of November 9, 1938, Jewish shops throughout Nazi Germany were looted and destroyed, and synagogues burnt down.

Among the artists, who soon had to flee their native Austria, were a number of female writers. This literary collage gives voice to the experiences and reflections of Rose Ausländer, Vicki Baum, Veza Canetti, Mascha Kaléko, Maria Ley Piscator, Berta Zuckerkandl, and Hermynia zur Mühlen.

Songs by banned composers, such as Egon Lustgarten, Alma Mahler, Karl and Vally Weiglcomplement the program.

Concept and Introduction: Michael Lahr

Narrator: Gregorij von Leitis

Piano: Richard Cordova

Sopranos: Jeannie Im and Alexis Rodda

Thursday, October 18, at 7.30 pm

Austrian Cultural Forum

11 East 52nd Street

New York, NY 10022

Admission free –

Reservations required

For more information and

to reserve a seat

please click here

Veza Canetti (photographer unknown)

Berta Zuckerkandl (photo: Madame D’Ora

Maria Ley Piscator

(photo: Halsman)

Hermynia zur Mühlen

(photographer unknown)

The Bridge Journal No. 6 – 2018 is online

The most recent issue of our newsletter “The Bridge Journal”

No. 6 / 2018 is online

The focus is on the Double Anniversary:

Elysium at 35

Erwin Piscator at 125

to download the issue as a pdf-file please click here

Elysium – between two continents

Fostering artistic and creative dialogue and mutual friendship between the United States of America and Europe. Fighting against discrimination, racism, and anti-Semitism by means of art.

www.elysiumbtc.org

The Lahr von Leitis Academy & Archive

Art and Education without Borders.

Education and knowledge as efficient tools to fight against ignorance, discrimination, and hatred.

Familiarizing the young generation with the treasures of exiled art, to help them create a meaningful future that incorporates the lessons learned from history.

www.lahrvonleitisacademy.eu

Elysium Between Two Continents
elysiumbtc@aol.com