Performers:

In partnership with The Jack Buncher Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies.

Co-sponsored by the Askwith Family Chair of Holocaust Studies and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.

'Degenerate: The Saxophone and the Third Reich' is a recital summarizing many years of continuing research into the Jewish composers whose lives and work were threatened or destroyed in the Holocaust. Their music gives us fascinating insight into broader artistic and political movements, bringing to life the chaos of the time. We will hear how folk music inspired nationalist identities in regions pursuing independence from occupying powers, how experiments with jazz and atonality the norms of rhythm, melody, and harmony, and how rising interest in socialism promoted change not just in governmental structure, but also in the way composers relate to their performers and audiences. In addition, we will see how all these artists dealt with displacement, each adapting to their new environment differently - some thrived in the worst circumstances imaginable while others crumbled despite earlier success. Through exploring themes of identity, censorship, and immigration, performing this music also draws many uncomfortable parallels to our present time. 

Program:

Erwin Schulhoff Hot-Sonate 

Viktor Ullmann Slawische Rhapsodie

Hans Gal Suite, Op. 102b

Paul Dessau Suite

Paul Ben-Haim Three Songs Without Words

Edvard Moritz Sonata, Op. 96

Jaromir Weinberger Concerto

Ursula Mamlok Ruckblick

Darius Milhaud Scaramouche, Op. 165c

Daniel Muller is a saxophonist and teacher in the Pittsburgh area. Muller has been a Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Artist, a soloist with the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble, and a quarterfinalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Since 2018, he has presented research on Jewish composers who lived during the Holocaust in various lectures, panels, and recitals for the North American Saxophone Alliance, Carnegie Mellon Opera, and the Navy Band Saxophone Symposium. He regularly leads studies on this and various other musical and historical topics for the Osher lnstitute for Lifelong Learning. A graduate of Baldwin Wallace, Duquesne, and Carnegie Mellon Universities, Muller's teachers have inctuded James Houlik, Mike Tomaro, Keith Young, and Greg Banaszak. Outside of music, his hobbies include learning foreign languages, cooking international cuisine, drawing, and birdwatching.

Cost: Free and open to the public, no tickets required