The Emperor of Atlantis

(Der Kaiser von Atlantis) By Viktor Ullmann and Peter Kien

From Darkness to Light Music by Ofer Ben-Amots

Choreographed by Garrett Ammons

Project Partners: Central City Opera

Ballet Nouveau Colorado

Colorado Symphony

The Mizel Arts and Culture Center at the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center

The Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver

Colorado College

Generous support for this project has been provided by: Merage Foundation

EKS&H Accounting and Consulting

Ellen Beller

Pinon Trail Foundation

Zoni and Sam Pluss

Special thanks to: Colorado Public Radio

Colorado College

Holocaust Awareness Institute

Center for Judaic Studies

TEACHERS (or others interested in learning or teaching more about

the Holocaust), the University of Denver Holocaust Awareness

Institute and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum provide

excellent resources:

http://www.du.edu/cjs/holocaust-education.html#resources

http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/resource/

Additional resource links are provided in this document

“A Journey of the Human Spirit” will be performed in Gates Concert

Hall in the Newman Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of

the University of Denver at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday,

January 16 and 17, 2013.

Single tickets are now available at www.newmantix.com, in person at

the Newman Center Box Office, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver, CO 80210, or

via phone to the Box Office (303-871-7720). The Box Office is open M-

F, 10am – 4pm, Sat. 12-4 (Sept-May). The lowest service fees are

available online. More information about location, parking and the like

is available at www.newmancenterpresents.com

PLANNING the Colorado Premiere of The Emperor of Atlantis

The Colorado premiere of The Emperor of Atlantis takes place January 16 and 17, 2013, thanks

to a unique collaboration among several of Colorado’s leading arts and cultural organizations,

including Central City Opera, Colorado Symphony, The Newman Center for the Performing

Arts at the University of Denver, Ballet Nouveau Colorado, Colorado College, and The Mizel Arts

and Culture Center at the Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center. Colorado Public Radio will

broadcast the performance live.

This joint effort started with a simple conversation in the spring of 2007 between Colorado

Public Radio on air personality, Monika Vischer, and Jewish Community Center Chief Executive

Officer, Stuart Raynor. A few years before, Vischer created an award-winning 5-part radio

documentary series with James Conlon, Music Director of LA Opera, focused on silenced music

of the Holocaust. Vischer had heard about Raynor’s involvement in producing The Emperor of

Atlantis with Conlon in association with the Houston Grand Opera. Dedicated to the mission of

having these works performed, they began to talk about how The Emperor could be performed

in Denver. One conversation led to another and the team of those signing onto the mission

grew.

“This opera is now being discovered in all of the world’s major arts centers; its time for Denver

is now,” said Vischer, who spearheaded plans for The Emperor’s debut outside of her role as

classical host for Colorado Public Radio. “This is not just a clever work that tells a powerful

story of the Holocaust’s atrocities, it is a great work of art that deserves its rightful place in

history. We have to do our part to make that happen. It’s been my great honor to help bring

these partnering organizations together to do just that.”

Everyone agreed that no tyrant should have the power to silence the arts. As Steve Seifert of

DU’s Newman Center said, “By ensuring that the voices of those persecuted by the Nazis will be

heard, even long after the deaths of both oppressed and oppressors, we take a stand for the

right of all present and future artists who may be terrorized by tyrants to be heard.”

The Emperor of Atlantis becomes A Journey of the Human Spirit

During their discussions about the project, the team decided to expand the experience of the

opera, creating, as it were, both a preface and an epilogue. Thus, the audience’s first

experiences of the evening will involve traditional Eastern European klezmer music, celebrating

life and leading the audience into the story of the opera. Seamlessly integrated at the end of

the opera, a new work of dance will round out the experience, creating new communities of

hope after so much death. The dance will be choreographed by Ballet Nouveau Colorado’s

Garrett Ammon and set to music for chamber orchestra, mandolin and clarinet solos,

combining eastern European Jewish folk themes with a modern dynamic, by Ofer Ben-Amots,

Israeli born composer and Chair of the Music Department of Colorado College. The mandolin

solo part will be played by international sensation Avi Avital.

Partners

Pat Pearce, General & Artistic Director of Central City Opera,

remarks: “The Emperor of Atlantis is not only an important work in

historic terms, but also the perfect example of how the arts are a

mirror of mankind. Through art, we continue to learn and make our

lives better. Collaborations among arts and cultural organizations

help make the creation and presentation of productions like this one

possible, while also fostering a sense of community. We are proud

of our long history of partnerships along the Front Range and to be a

part of this one.”

Less than an hour from Denver, Colorado in a lush Rocky Mountain setting, Central City Opera

is among Colorado’s elite summer music festivals. The second oldest annual professional opera

festival in the country (and the fifth-oldest opera company), the company continues to make

history with three productions each year including one opera favorite, one lesser-known piece,

and one American work.

In addition to the summer Festival, Central City Opera’s Bonfils-Stanton Artists Training

Program offers career-entry opera training to today’s young artists with career management

classes as well as main stage rehearsal and performance opportunities. Year-round

opera education and community programs entertain and educate more than 150,000 people

each year across the Rocky Mountain region. A steward of historic preservation, the company

also maintains the Central City Opera House and 30 other Victorian-era properties which serve

as performance and rehearsal venues and house Festival staff each summer.

“Ballet Nouveau Colorado is privileged to be a part of this

unique and important project. Ofer Ben-Amots’ music is a

beautifully complex celebration of our humanity and a perfect

juxtaposition to ‘The Emperor of Atlantis.’ I am thrilled for the

opportunity to create a new contemporary ballet around the

world premiere arrangement of this wonderful work. This timely project provides an

opportunity to honor those who have endured great struggles before us. Even in the darkest of

times they were able to create community through art; this is truly something to celebrate.” –

Garrett Ammon, Artistic Director Ballet Nouveau Colorado

Through its innovative productions, BNC has captured the imagination of a new and

enthusiastic audience and drawn national attention to Denver's dance scene, including being

named "25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine – the first Colorado organization to receive this

honor. Today, BNC plays a distinctive role in the Denver community as an acclaimed

contemporary dance company, ballet school and community education organization.

The Newman Center for the Performing Arts strives

to provide the highest quality performing arts

experiences for faculty, students, performers and the

Colorado community. We offer an eclectic, innovative,

and entertaining mix of emerging artists and seasoned

performers to expand and enrich our community’s cultural experiences. We are dedicated to

showcasing cultural diversity, stretching the imagination, and stimulating dialogue. We invite

our entire community to share, enjoy, and examine a blend of traditional, new, and provocative

arts experiences. The Newman Center welcomes you to share the adventure and joy of lifelong

learning.

MACC illuminates the human experience through creative and

cultural programs in the performing, visual and literary arts for

the Jewish community and the community at large. We strive

to produce, present, exhibit, advance and preserve the arts,

serving as a performance and exhibition venue and as an

educational resource for people at every stage of life. MACC is

an independent non-profit organization charged with the operation of all arts and culture

programs that take place on the JCC campus.

“The Emperor” is unique in many ways as the composer and librettist

needed to use the instruments and talent available to them in

Theresienstadt. “The musicians of the Colorado Symphony are

particularly intrigued by the eclectic instrumentation of Ullmann’s

work, and we feel this is a critical story for us to share with the

community. The collaboration alone is exciting and worth

celebrating.” – Anthony Pierce, Vice President of Artistic

Administration, Colorado Symphony

Colorado’s only full-time professional orchestra, the Colorado Symphony performs symphonic

performances throughout the year. Originally established in 1989 as the successor to

the Denver Symphony, the Colorado Symphony performs in Boettcher Concert Hall and

throughout the Front Range, presenting education and outreach programs, as well as

Masterworks, Pops, Holiday, Family, and the new Inside the Score and Symphony on the Rocks

series.

“Colorado College is honored to support the production of ‘The Emperor of Atlantis.’ Though

the genius of this work recounts one of mankind’s darkest times, it is a part of history we must

never forget and a story that must be told. Colorado College is pleased that one of Colorado’s

musical treasures, Colorado College Professor of Music Ofer Ben-Amots contributed to this

project with his composition ‘From Darkness to Light.’ We admire and support Ofer’s

dedication to creating and preserving the rich tapestry of Jewish music and culture.” —

Colorado College President, Jill Tiefenthaler

What is Klezmer?

Klezmer music originated in the 'shtetl' (villages) and the ghettos of Eastern Europe, where

itinerant Jewish troubadours, known as 'klezmorim', performed at joyful events ('simkhes'),

particularly weddings. Klezmer rhythms are primarily based on dance.

Klezmer is easily identifiable by its characteristic expressive melodies, reminiscent of the human

voice, complete with laughing and weeping. Its roots are in the 16th century, inspired by secular

melodies, popular dances, Jewish liturgy, and 'nigunim', the simple and often wordless

melodies, intended by the 'Hasidim' (orthodox Jews) for approaching God in a kind of ecstatic

communion.

Klezmer is truly World Music, influenced over the years by Slavic, Greek, Turkish and Gypsy

musical styles, and later by American jazz. Today, it is easily recognizable by its unique style

and is widely appreciated, both by 'ethnic insiders' and by larger audiences, all around the

world.

http://borzykowski.users.ch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klezmer

Hal Aqua and The Lost Tribe play nouveau klezmer music -- an exuberant

musical experience, rooted firmly in traditional Jewish modes and

melodies and driven by contemporary rhythms and danceable grooves.

The versatile musicians who make up The Lost Tribe have a deep respect

for their source material, from the evocative tunes of Eastern European

Jews and Gypsies to the sinuous rhythms of the Middle East and

Mediterranean. In the long-standing Jewish tradition of absorbing musical

inspiration from surrounding cultures, The Lost Tribe steeps their songs in

a broth spiced with rock, reggae, salsa, funk and blues influences, serving

up an irresistible party vibe. The band includes Hal Aqua (vocals, guitars, octave mandolin,

oud), Ben Cohen (bass, tuba), Shanti Hazan (drums and percussion), Sherman Jacobs (violin),

and Miriam Rosenblum (clarinet, recorders, button accordion).

The Lost Tribe is dedicated to bringing Jewish music to a wider audience. Whether you’re a

longtime klezmer aficionado or have never heard the word, The Lost Tribe will make you a

klezmer fan before you can say mazel tov!

www.halaqua.com

The Emperor of

Atlantis or

The Refusal of

Death (Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder

Die Todverweigerung)

A Legend in Four Scenes

Music by Viktor Ullmann

Libretto by Peter Kien

Sung in German with English Surtitles

Cast (in order of vocal appearance)

The Loudspeaker (Der Lautsprecher) Jeffrey Tucker

Harlekin Stephen Paul Spears

Death (Der Tod) Jeffrey Tucker

The Drummer (Der Trommler) Katherine Pracht

Emperor Over All (Kaiser Überall) Keith Phares

Girl with the Bobbed Hair (Bubikopf) Devon Guthrie

A Soldier (Ein Soldat) Ian O’Brien

Production Team

Conductor Yaakov Bergman

Director Ted Huffman

Co-director/choreographer Zack Winokur

Lighting Designer Vance McKenzie

Costume Designer Paul Carey

Stage Manager Erin Joy Swank

From Darkness to

Light

Choreography by

Garrett Ammon

Music by

Ofer Ben-Amot

Dancers

Candice Bergeron Ben Delony

Amanda Copple Colby Foss

Marian Faustino Brandon Freeman

Julie King Corbin Kalinowski

Sarah Tallman Damien Patterson Production Team

Choreographer Garret Ammon

Conductor Yaakov Bergman

Lighting Designer Vance McKenzie

Costume Designer Rachel Kras

Stage Manager Erin Joy Swank

The Holocaust and the Creation of “The Emperor of Atlantis”

Whenever societies are ruled by tyrants, people are subjected to turmoil, violence and

hatred. Creative voices are silenced. Yet a brave and defiant few artists always speak

out. Those who do so put their careers and lives in danger.

During the Holocaust many artists spoke out, trying to stop the destruction of their

society. Two of them were musician/composer Viktor Ullmann and his colleague librettist Peter

Kien. Their satiric opera “Der Kaiser von Atlantis, oder Die Tod-Verweigerung” (“The Emperor

of Atlantis, or The Refusal of Death”) was composed around 1943 while Ullmann and Kien were

imprisoned in the former Czech fortress Terezín turned by the Nazis into the transitional

concentration camp/ghetto Theresienstadt.

Over its several years in operation, Theresienstadt held over 144,000 Jews from occupied

Bohemia. At least 88,000 of them were deported to the death camps. Despite Nazi terror and

the desperate conditions, the internees, who included many artists, produced for themselves a

rich and creative cultural community, full of great music, art and educational activity.

Eventually, the Nazis exploited this haven of the human spirit to deceive Red Cross visitors in

1944, and subsequently exploited it for a self-serving propaganda film.

The one-act opera “The Emperor of Atlantis” was rehearsed at the “model camp” in March

1944. The Nazi authorities, however, understood the depiction of the Emperor as a satire on

Adolf Hitler and refused to allow the opera’s performance. Ullmann and Kien were deported in

October 1944 to the death camp Auschwitz where they perished. Ullmann entrusted the

manuscript to another prisoner, the camp librarian, who survived the war, as did the original

manuscript. The opera was first performed by the Netherlands Opera in 1975 and has since

been performed throughout Europe and the United States.

The satirical opera has 20 short sections and runs about fifty minutes. Andrew Porter

encapsulates the story this way: “The Emperor of Atlantis, ruler over much of the world,

proclaims universal war and declares that his old ally Death will lead the campaign. Death,

offended by the Emperor’s presumption, breaks his sabre; henceforth men will not

die. Confusion results: a Soldier and a Girl-Soldier from opposite sides sing a love duet instead

of fighting; the sick and suffering find no release. Death offers to return to men on one

condition – that the Emperor be the first to die. He accepts and sings his farewell.”

What to Listen for During the Opera

Singers are accompanied by a chamber ensemble including such unusual instruments as banjo,

harmonium, alto saxophone and harpsichord, because those are the instruments that were

available to Ullmann in Theresienstadt.

As a kind of “private code” with his fellow inmates of Theresienstadt, Ullmann used some

popular musical phrases in the score of the opera – some more hidden than others.

The opera opens with the character The Loudspeaker, singing, “Hallo, hallo!” This phrase

continues as a leit motif, or repeated musical pattern, throughout the opera. With just these

two little words and the four notes that are sung, the audience at Theresienstadt would have

already been clued in to a secret. The Czechoslovakians in the audience, which comprised a

large portion of the prisoners, would have easily recognized the melody as the death motif of

Josef Suk’s Asrael Symphony. Asrael is the Islamic angel of Death who leads the souls of the

deceased to the land of eternity. Suk wrote the symphony in honor of his teacher (and father-

in-law) composer Antonín Dvořák. Suk's wife Otilie (Dvořák's daughter) also died before the

symphony was completed, and the latter movements were dedicated to her. At the time of our

opera, the Asrael Symphony was frequently used in Czechoslovakia during periods of national

mourning, and would have been easily recognizable by audience members of that nation.

Examples from Suk's Asrael Symphony:

Measures 3-4, bass clarinet, viola, cello (diatonic) No. 7, strings (whole tone)

Examples of Asrael motive in Ullmann’s The Emperor of Atlantis:

Opening of opera, Prologue, mm. 1-7 (exact whole tone and partial whole tone statements)

Exact versions, Scene II, pp. 61, 63, and 73 (whole tone)

(Images and descriptions above taken from http://www.ex-tempore.org/rollin/ullmann.htm. Visit

the webpage for additional comparisons of the compositions.)

Additionally, the words of this opening phrase would have struck a chord with those in the

audience who, like Ullman, had served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I.

When an “observer” - a lower-ranking soldier who assisted command officers in

communication – used either a telephone or radio, he always began the conversation with

“Hallo! Hallo!”

VIDEO: Der Kaiser von Atlantis - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hrSv-BAHvw

During the first scene of the opera, The Drummer repeats the phrase “Hallo, hallo!” and then

reads a decree from the Emperor. During the end of her aria, the tune shifts to a minor-key

version of the German national anthem, “Deutschlandlied.” This melody was written by Josef

Haydn and used in his string quartets, Opus 76. This particular section, the third movement of

the opus, is known as “The Kaiser Quartet” or “The Emperor Quartet.” Haydn was actually

quoting himself, using an anthem he had written for Emperor Francis II. At some point during

the rehearsal period for Der Kaiser von Atlantis in Theresienstadt, an SS delegation observed a

rehearsal and forbade the opera's performance. This tune appears to have been one of the

most troubling to the captors; there exist alternate versions for this section, which are much

less obvious quotations of the German anthem. For this production we are using the original

composition, retaining the controversial melody.

VIDEO: Deutschlandlied : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2IaFaJrmno

The finale of the opera contains the leit motif that might be most recognizable to today's

audience. This quartet quotes Martin Luther's hymn “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,” known in

English as “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” In the opera, it becomes a hymn to honor Death,

rather than God. The final lyrics translate to “Teach us to keep your holiest law: Thou shalt not

use the name of 'Death' in vain.”

VIDEO: Ein feste Burg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADamVJaXZMg

Along with these quotes of music by earlier composers, you might notice the influence of

Arnold Schoenberg, Paul Hindemith, Kurt Weill and Igor Stravinsky as well.

As you attend the opera, listen for these hidden melodies and influences and their underlying

satire.

Recovering a Musical Heritage – The Music Suppressed by the Third Reich

“Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate…Those doomed conscripted, unvictorious ones?”

Siegfried Sassoon

After 1945, those who performed, wrote or taught classical music worked in a culture scarred

by omissions. These were not of their making, but were part of the legacy of atrocities

committed by Nazi Germany. With its racist ideology and systematic suppression – particularly

(although not exclusively) of Jewish musicians, artists and writers – the Third Reich silenced two

generations of composers and, with them, an entire musical heritage. Many who perished in

the concentration camps, and others, whose freedom and productivity were curtailed, were

fated to be forgotten after the war. Their music seemed to have passed with them, lost in

endless silence.

However, more lost music has survived than was first thought. It has taken decades of

dedicated work to recover and publish it. We must now mitigate a great injustice by working to

revive the music of those whose only “fault” was that they were Jewish, or that they were

opposed to or deemed offensive by an authoritarian regime. But that is not the only reason to

restore these works. I believe that the spirit of this “lost generation” now needs to be heard.

The creativity of the first half of the twentieth century is far richer than we think. Alongside

Stravinsky, Strauss and other major and more fortunate figures, the varied voices of composers,

from Berlin, Vienna, Prague and Budapest, whether Jewish, dissident or immigrant, reveal much

about the musical ferment of their time. Their music, I believe, is accessible and relevant.

Further, our own American heritage owes an enormous debt to those who emigrated to

Hollywood and Broadway, bringing their distinctive personalities with them, and creating a style

that has become distinctly American.

The cliché “there are no lost masterpieces” reveals our own ignorance. Entire civilizations,

along with their masterpieces, have been destroyed by war since the beginning of human

history. Various forms of censorship have repeatedly affected artists and works, and continue

to do so.

The suppression of these composers and musicians caused the greatest single rupture in what

had been a continuous seamless transmittal of German classical music. This centuries-old

tradition, dating from before Johann Sebastian Bach, was passed on from one generation to the

next. It was nourished by the free expression of an often contentious creative exchange

between conservative traditional artistic modes of expression and competing currents of

innovation and iconoclasm. The policies of the Third Reich destroyed the environment in which

this could flourish, murdering an entire generation of its greatest talents, uprooting a garden

with its creative polemics and dialectics, forcing those who survived to scatter where there was

no comparable artistic milieu in which to live and create. This immense, self-destructive act

seriously damaged its most cherished tradition, killed its caretakers and buried a “lost

generation” and its sprit within.

There are three aspects to be taken into consideration: moral, historical and artistic. Undoing

injustice, when one can, is a moral mandate for all citizens of a civilized world. We cannot

restore to these composers their lost lives. We can, however, return the gift which would mean

more to them than others: to play their music. Our perspectives on the history of twentieth-

century classical music are incomplete because an enormous quantity of works has remained

unplayed, and the lives of its composers largely ignored. History is not only made by its “big

names,” its warrior kings, dictators and most famous artists, but by the collective action of all of

those artists who lived in a given era. The twentieth century needs to be re-scrutinized after

we acquaint ourselves with the voluminous music cast off by the Nazi suppression.

Neither moral nor historical considerations would be reason enough for revival were it not for

the artistic quality of what was lost. This cannot be judged by a single hearing of tokenistic or

uncommitted performances. Judgments, if indeed they must be made, can only be made after

those performing and listening over the course of years have given the spirit of that era

sufficient time to be fully digested.

I now perform this music regularly, in the hope that I will find its place in the standard

repertoire. I devote myself to programming works by this group of composers wherever

possible. The list of names is long, including works by Alexander von Zemlinsky, Viktor Ullmann,

Pavel Haas, Bohuslav Martinů, Erich Korngold, Karl-Amadeus Hartmann, Erwin Schulhoff, Franz

Schreker, Walter Braunfels, Ernst Krenek, Hanns Eisler, Erich Zeissl and Kurt Weill, to name just

a few.

By keeping alive their music and that of other victims of totalitarianism, we deny those past

regimes a posthumous victory. The revival of this music can serve as a reminder for us to resist

any contemporary or future impulse to define artistic standards on the basis of racist, political,

sectarian or exclusionary ideologies.

The answer to Sassoon’s question is: it is we, now, who can begin to “absolve the foulness of

their fate.”

By James Conlon

American Conductor

Music Director of Los Angeles Opera, Ravinia Festival and Cincinnati May Festival

(from The Jewish Community Center of Houston’s 2006 Auxiliary materials – used with

permission)

About Terezín (Theresienstadt)

The town of Terezín, close to Prague, was built in 1780 by Joseph II of Austria (the same

Emperor who was responsible for the first performances of Mozart’s operas in Vienna). With it,

he built a small fortress to protect the city of Prague from invaders from the north. He named

the town after his mother, Maria Theresa, hence its German name, Theresienstadt.

In 1941, Reinhard Heydrich – the mastermind behind the “Final Solution,” i.e., the total

annihilation of the Jews – established Theresienstadt as a camp to hold, among others, Jews

from the Czech lands and other German-occupied areas. The inmates included elderly,

privileged and famous Jews, including numerous artists. The outside world was led to believe

Theresienstadt was a model settlement where Jews were sent for “safe-keeping.” This was a

clever ruse by the Nazis, designed to deflect criticism from the rest of the world, and for some

time it proved to be effective.

For propaganda reasons, the Nazis made a film about the town and even allowed an inspection

by representatives of the Red Cross, who witnessed a clean, well-ordered town with shops

brimming with food, and happy Jewish residents. To outsiders’ eyes, clearly seeing only what

they wished to see, all seemed well. They failed to understand that a town originally built for

5,000 people was now a hell-hole for over 55,000 Jews, and owing to these cramped

conditions, thousands died of malnutrition and exposure, their bodies disposed of in the camp’s

four ovens.

Even so, Theresienstadt was not one of the “death camps.” It was a transit camp, and nearly

200,000 men, women and children passed through Theresienstadt on their journey to the gas

chambers, notably those of Auschwitz and Treblinka. Of the vast number of Czech Jews

deported to Theresienstadt, 97,297 died – of that number, 15,000 were children.

Terezín’s fortress, which had seldom been used since its construction in 1780, was used as a

prison by the Nazis for interrogation, punishment and torture of selected prisoners. Ironically,

one of the fortress’s notable past prisoners was Gavrillo Princip, a Bosnian Serb who had been

approached by the Serbian secret society, the Black Hand, to assassinate Austria’s heir to the

throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie. On June 28, 1914, Princip killed them

during their visit to Sarajevo, and with those shots, set into motion the events that culminated

in World War I, Germany’s eventual defeat and humiliation, and the rise of the Nazi Party.

The Allied Forces had made much headway by the time of Viktor Ullmann’s death at Auschwitz

in mid-October, 1944. On May 3, 1945, three days after Adolf Hitler’s suicide, control of the

camp was transferred from the Germans to the Red Cross. On V-E Day (May 8, 1945)

Theresienstadt was finally liberated by Soviet troops.

By Colin Ure, Dramaturg, Houston Grand Opera

(from The Jewish Community Center of Houston’s 2006 Auxiliary materials – used with

permission)

The Creators and Production Team

Viktor Ullmann, composer, pianist, conductor and music critic was born on the 1st of January

1898 in Teschen, now Cieszyn, Poland, and died in Auschwitz, October 1944. The son of an army

officer of the Austrian Imperial Army posted in Teschen, he wrote some 40 compositions before

WWII. He was fascinated by the composition of Alban Berg; this manifested in “Emperor.”

Viktor was deported to Theresienstadt in September 1942 and conscripted into the

Freizeitgestaltung (Administration of Leisure) to act as the camp’s music critic. With Hans Krása,

who wrote the opera Brundibár, he co-organized the so called “permitted’ leisure activities

within the camp. On his deportation to Auschwitz, Ullmann handed over all the compositions

he had written in the camp to his fellow inmate Utitz. Among them was the autograph of the

opera with its crossings-out and several text variations, some of them blacked out, in addition

to a handwritten and a typewritten version of the libretto. These sources thus escaped

destruction.

Peter Kien, librettist for “Emperor” was born in Varnsdorf, Czechoslovakia, 1 January 1919 and

died at Auschwitz, October 1944 at the age of twenty-five. A prominent figure among many

outstanding artists imprisoned in the Terezín, Kien left significant artwork, poetry, and plays in

addition to the libretto for “Emperor.” Over a thousand drawings, sketches, designs and

paintings originate from his pre-Terezín years. Consigned to the drafting room of the Technical

Department in Terezín, Kien produced numerous portraits, landscapes, drawings and genre

sketches. His artwork radiates light, hope and warmth. By contrast, his writings of this period

are mostly tragic and hopeless.

For expanded bios and additional information, visit http://journey.maccjcc.org/

Maestro Yaacov Bergman will conduct the performance. Bergman is Music Director of the

Walla Walla Symphony, Music Director of the Portland Chamber Orchestra, and former Music

Director of the Colorado Springs Symphony, the New York Heritage Chamber Orchestra, and the

92nd St. Y Symphonic Workshop Orchestra in New York City. His versatility has led to frequent

guest appearances across the globe conducting the symphonic, operatic, oratorio and pops

repertoires.

American stage director Ted Huffman will direct “Emperor.” Huffman co-founded the

Greenwich Music Festival and serves as the company’s Artistic Director. As a guest teacher and

director, he has been engaged by such leading young artist development programs as Canadian

Opera Company’s Studio, LA Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program, Pittsburgh

Opera Studio and the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program. His shows have been described as

“the most visually striking and emotionally resonant opera productions in recent

years…brilliant” (Time Out NY), “splendid,” “visually memorable” and “destination-worthy”

(Opera News), and “excellent” “a compelling musical and theatrical experience” (The New York

Times).

The cast of singers includes Keith Phares (The Emperor), Katharine Pracht (The Drummer),

Steven Paul Spears (Harlekin), and Jeffrey Tucker (The Loudspeaker/Death). Visit

www.CentralCityOpera.org/journey for bios and additional information.

Ofer Ben-Amots , composer, From Darkness to Light, was born in Haifa, Isarel, in 1955. Ofer

started his music composition studies at Tel-Aviv University under Joseph Dorfman. He

continued with composition, music theory, and piano at the Conservatoire de Musique in

Geneva and the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany. Upon his arrival in the United States in

1987, Ben-Amots studied with George Crumb at the University of Pennsylvania where he

received his Ph.D. in music composition. Currently on the faculty of Colorado College, Dr. Ben-

Amots is a Professor of music composition and theory. Ofer Ben-Amots’ compositions are

performed regularly in concert halls and festivals worldwide. He is the winner of the 1994

Vienna International Competition for Composers the 1988 Kavannagh Award, the Gold Award

at South Africa’s 1993 Roodepoort International Competition for Choral Composition, and the

1991 Kobe International Competition for Flute Composition in Japan, and others.

Garrett Ammon, choreographer, From Darkness to Light, began his tenure as artistic director

of Ballet Nouveau Colorado (BNC) in 2007. Since that time, BNC has garnered national attention

and praise for its daring work, including being named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to

Watch" (2009). Ammon was also recently honored as a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Livingston

Fellow (2011). A prolific dancemaker, serial collaborator and self-professed tech geek; Ammon

has created more than 40 dance works over the past twelve years. He has conspired with artists

across an array of disciplines and developed a trademark aesthetic that seamlessly blends

tradition with adventurous new ideas. Ammon's passion for collaboration has also led to the

celebrated production Carry On (2011) with Colorado band Paper Bird, Vagabond Hill (2011)

with singer/songwriter Jesse Manley, and A Stitch in Time(2011) with textile artist Theresa

Clowes and cellist James Bailey. Most recently, Ammon worked with digital artist Kristopher

Collins to create the multimedia experience Love in the Digital Age (2012).

Avi Avital, mandolin soloist, From Darkness to Light, is internationally regarded for his

performances at venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Berlin

Philharmonic Hall, KKL Luzern, Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing and Wigmore Hall in

London. He has appeared as soloist with major orchestras and has collaborated extensively with

artists such as clarinetist Giora Feidman, soprano Dawn Upshaw, and trumpeter and composer

Frank London. Avi Avital is the first mandolin player to receive a Grammy nomination in the

category “Best Instrumental Soloist” for his recording of Avner Dorman’s Mandolin Concerto

with Andrew Cyr and the Metropolis Ensemble. He has won numerous competitions and

awards, including Germany’s ECHO Prize for his 2008 recording with the David Orlowsky Trio

and the Aviv Competition, the preeminent national competition for Israeli soloists. Avital has

released numerous recordings in the disparate genres of klezmer, baroque, and new classical

music.

The cast of dancers includes Candice Bergeron, Amanda Copple, Marian Faustino, Julie King,

Sarah Tallman, Ben Delony, Colby Foss, Brandon Freeman, Corbin Kalinowski amd Damien

Patterson.

Visit http://bncdance.com/company/ for bios and additional information.