Concert reviews, posters and ephemera from a Nazi concentration camp--a tribute to the defiant spirit of the creative will In Terezín, a Nazi camp where 33,000 people died, imprisoned musicians and artists created a remarkable cultural community that persevered against all odds. Our Will to Livebrings us into this astonishing world. It presents the first full translation of concert critiques written by accomplished musician, scholar--and Terezín prisoner--Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944). Ullmann describes Terezín performances by ensembles, youth choirs and solo artists including luminaries of European cabaret and opera, plus works by a generation of promising composers silenced too soon: Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas, Hans Krása and others. Paired with Ullmann's critiques are more than 250 rarely seen concert posters, programs, portraits and scenes rendered by imprisoned artists; these are from a trove of hidden artworks recovered after liberation. Our Will to Livealso offers an original collection of vintage and modern recordings performed by Terezín survivors and contemporary masters. Essays and annotations by scholar Mark Ludwig set the historical context, introduce the artists and deepen what we know of this extraordinary chapter in World War II history. Terezín survivors helped guide this project, the result of more than 30 years of research and writing. Shortly after Ullmann authored his final concert critique, Terezín's cultural community was decimated: nearly all the artists were murdered in Auschwitz. Mark Ludwigis a Fulbright scholar of Terezín, a member of the Pamatník Terezín Advisory Board and director of the Terezin Music Foundation. He produces recordings, concerts and Holocaust and genocide education programs worldwide. Ludwig is a violist emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, adjunct professor of Holocaust music at Boston College and editor of the poetry anthology Liberation(2015).

The definitive story of Amy Winehouse's life and career told through key photographs, memorabilia and recollections by those who knew her best. Curated by Amy's stylist and close friend Naomi Parry.0Amy Winehouse left an indelible mark on both the music industry and pop culture with her soulful voice and bold 60s-inspired aesthetic. Featuring stories and anecdotes from a wide range of characters connected to Amy, specially commissioned photography of memorabilia, styled and dressed themed sets incorporating Amy's clothing, possessions and lyrics, and previously unseen archival images, this volume presents an intimate portrait that celebrates Amy's creative legacy. 0 Interspersed throughout are personal reflections on Amy's life and work, provided by her friends, colleagues and fans. These include Ronnie Spector, Vivienne Westwood, Bryan Adams, Little Simz, Carl Barat, close friend Catriona Gourlay, Douglas Charles-Ridler (owner of the Hawley Arms), tattooist Henry Hate, goddaughter Dionne Broomfield and DJ Bioux. Each one has a personal story to share and together their anecdotes and reflections build into a complex picture of a much admired but troubled star. Vice Culture Editor Emma Garland puts these insights into context with an introduction that highlights the principal events and achievements in Amy's life and work, and the key characters that played a part in it.

A literary event that tells story of five hundred children who lived in the Czech Family Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau between September 1943 and June 1944. We lived on a bunk built for four but in times of overcrowding, it slept seven and at times even eight. There was so little space on the berth that when one of us wanted to ease his hip, we all had to turn in a tangle of legs and chests and hollow bellies as if we were one many-limbed creature, a Hindu god or a centipede. We grew intimate not only in body but also in mind because we knew that though we were not born of one womb, we would certainly die together. Alex Ehren is poet, a prisoner, and a teacher in block 31 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, also known as the Children’s Block. He spends his days trying to survive and illegally giving lessons to his young charges, all while shielding them as best he can from the impossible horrors of the camp. But trying to teach the children is not the only illicit activity that Alex is involved in. Alex is keeping a diary . . .

DIV With National Socialism's arrival in Germany in 1933, Jews dominated music more than virtually any other sector, making it the most important cultural front in the Nazi fight for German identity. This groundbreaking book looks at the Jewish composers and musicians banned by the Third Reich and the consequences for music throughout the rest of the twentieth century. Because Jewish musicians and composers were, by 1933, the principal conveyors of Germany’s historic traditions and the ideals of German culture, the isolation, exile and persecution of Jewish musicians by the Nazis became an act of musical self-mutilation. Michael Haas looks at the actual contribution of Jewish composers in Germany and Austria before 1933, at their increasingly precarious position in Nazi Europe, their forced emigration before and during the war, their ambivalent relationships with their countries of refuge, such as Britain and the United States and their contributions within the radically changed post-war music environment. /div

Publisher Description

The author tells of his own development as a student, "of how he and his intrepid colleagues were converted to chamber music ... [and of how] four individualists master and then overcome the confining demands of ensemble playing."--Jacket.

An exploration of freedom by some of the world’s most celebrated poets, published for the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camps The year 2015 marks the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the conclusion of the Second World War. But around the world, oppressed and imprisoned people are still longing for freedom and asking, “What does it mean to be free?” This collection of poems explores that question. In honor of this anniversary, some of the world’s top contemporary voices—including Rita Dove, Robert Pinsky, Jay Parini, Yusef Komunyakaa, Agi Mishol, Tsering Woeser, Han Dong, Ernesto Santana, and Richard Blanco—have written poems on the theme of liberation as it inspires them personally and creatively. Nearly all of their poems are published for the first time in this volume. The result is an artistic representation of the universal yearning for freedom from twenty-five countries—and countless stories of oppression, imprisonment, and liberation. Here are Afghan women writing in secret, Tibetan and Cuban dissidents, memories and hopes inspired by topics from Fergusson to the Middle East, from illness to spirituality to joy in nature. This collection demonstrates the power of art to heal and to bring attention to freedom as a universal human right. Lyrical, uplifting, contemplative, sometimes angry, sometimes hopeful, always masterful, these are enduring poems to enrich and inspire.