Jazz improviser, classical pianist, Dadaist, protégé of Dvorak and Debussy and dancehall habitué, Erwin Schulhoff was a rising star in the cultural world of 1920’s Europe. Among the first to integrate jazz and neoclassical composition, his work was nearly erased by the Holocaust and the Iron Curtain.
The Erwin Schulhoff Festival includes two weekends of special performances and a panel discussion that draws on Schulhoff’s wide ranging repertory for piano, chamber ensembles and voice, much of which will be new for Seattle audiences. A Schulhoff Festival highlight is the world premier performance of Tempo of Recollection, a new stage performance integrating Schulhoff’s compositions and his historical context, actors, musicians, dancers and innovative stage design.
Tempo of Recollection
January 18 - 20, 8pm
January 21, 2pmCreated and directed by Nick Schwartz-Hall, choreographed by Sheila Daniels and produced by the Cornish Music Series, the performance features Jose Gonzales, actor & piano, Robin Johnson, soprano, Peter Mack, piano, Saint Helens String Quartet (Michael Lim, violin, Adrianna Hulscher, violin, Michael Lieberman, viola and Paige Stockley Lerner, cello) and four Cornish student performers (Ben Burris, Esra Guler, Dylan Sladky and Miriah Ware)
Schulhoff Festival Panel
Monday, Jan 22, Noon
Panelists include Derek Katz, Assistant Professor of Music History and Erwin Schulhoff Scholar, University of California, Santa Barbara, Paige Stockley Lerner, cellist and Michael Lieberman, violist, of the Saint Helens String Quartet, Nick Schwartz-Hall, Creator and Director, Tempo of Recollection, and moderator Carol Shiffman, Chair of the Cornish Music Department
Free and open to the public
Schulhoff Chamber Music Performance
Friday, Jan 26, 8pm
Featuring Michael Brockman, saxophone, Mara Gearman, viola, Natalie Lerch, soprano, Peter Mack, piano, Roger Nelson, piano, Saint Helens String Quartet (Michael Lim, violin, Adrianna Hulscher, violin, Michael Lieberman, viola and Paige Stockley Lerner, cello), Mikhail Schmidt, violin, Tonya Siderius, piano, Paul Taub, flute and Amos Yang, cello
REPETOIRE
FIVE SONGS
Natalie Lerch, soprano; Roger Nelson, piano
STRING SEXTET
Misha Schmidt, violin; Adrianna Hulscher, violin; Mara Gearman, viola; Michael Lieberman, viola; Amos Yang, cello; Paige Stockley Lerner, cello
INTERMISSION
FLUTE SONATA
Paul Taub, flute
HOT SONATA FOR ALTOSAXOPHONE
Michael Brockman, saxophone; Tonya Siderius, piano
Schulhoff Piano Music Performance
Saturday, Jan 27, 8pm
Featuring solo performance by Peter Mack
Schulhoff Chamber Music Performance
Sunday, Jan 28, 7pm
Featuring Marc Feldman, bassoon, Beth Fleenor, clarinet, Joe Kaufman, bass, Saint Helens String Quartet (Michael Lim, violin, Adrianna Hulscher, violin, Michael Lieberman, viola and violin and Paige Stockley Lerner, cello), Tonya Siderius, piano, Shannon Spicciati, oboe, Chris Stover, trombone, Paul Taub, flute
Erwin Schulhoff Festival Location
All performances and events will be held at the following location:
PONCHO Concert Hall
Kerry Hall at Cornish College of the Arts
710 East Roy Street, Seattle
Erwin Schulhoff Festival Tickets
Tickets: $15 general; $7.50 students, alumni and seniors for individual performances
Festival Pass: $50 general; $25 students, alumni and seniors for admission into all performances
Free to the Cornish College community
Tickets available through Ticket Window at 206.325.6500, www.ticketwindowonline.com or at Ticket Window box offices located at Pacific Place, Broadway Market, Pike Place Market, and Bellevue’s Meydenbauer Center
About Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942) Czech Contemporary Composer
Born in Prague of Jewish-German origin, Schulhoff was one of the brightest figures in a generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany. The contributions made by many of these musicians, including Schulhoff, have largely languished in obscurity ever since, despite their pivotal importance to the development of classical music during the early 20th century. In his youth, Schulhoff studied composition and piano in Prague, Vienna, Leipzig and Cologne. He began to embrace the avant-garde influences of jazz and Dadaism in his performance and writing after World War I. He was one of the first classical composers in Europe to find inspiration in the rhythms of jazz music. Schulhoff was a celebrated keyboard virtuoso and made extensive tours of Germany while also venturing farther afield to France and England. In the 1930s, Schulhoff ran into mounting personal and professional difficulties. Because of his Jewish descent and his radical politics, he and his work were blacklisted as “degenerate” by the Nazi regime. He could no longer give recitals in Germany, nor could his works be publicly performed. His Communist sympathies, which became increasingly visible in his works, also brought him trouble in Czechoslovakia. In 1932 he created a music version of “The Communist Manifesto” (Op. 82). Taking refuge in Prague, he found employment as a radio pianist but earned barely enough to cover the cost of everyday essentials. When the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939, he had to resort to performing under a pseudonym. In 1941, the Soviet Union approved his petition for citizenship, but he was arrested and imprisoned before he could leave Czechoslovakia. In June 1941, Schulhoff was deported to the Wülzburg concentration camp in Bavaria. He died on August 18, 1942 from tuberculosis.
