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WOLF DURMASHKIN COMPOSITION AWARD

 WOLF DURMASHKIN COMPOSITION AWARD
Summary:Chamber ensemble with voice competition
Deadline: 10 January 2018
Date Posted: 02 November 2017
Details: LEADING IDEA, NAMESHIP AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Wolf Durmashkin came from a Jewish-Polish musician family from today’s Vilnius in Lithuania. The music of Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Grieg or Tchaikovsky was cultivated in his family.

Wolf Durmashkin conducted the Vilnius Symphony Orchestra, was a choirdirector, and also composed.

After the German occupation in 1941 his activities were limited to ghettos and concentration camps. He was separated from the family and died in 1944 one day before the liberation by the Red Army in an Estonian concentration camp, which had been set on fire by the SS.

The sisters of Wolf Durmashkin Henia (singer) and Fania (pianist) were deported to the Dachau-satellite-concentration camps of Kaufering/Landsberg. In April 1945, when the US Army was advancing, they were sent to the so-called “death march of Dachau».

Just four weeks later, a concert took place with other survivors of the Holocaust. It took place in the Monastery of St Ottilien (which had become a Hospital for Displaced Persons). After the founding of the state of Israel in May 1948 and after the emigration of some musicians to America, this extraordinary orchestra was disbanded.

In the Landsberger DP camp on May 10th 1948 the Orchestra, now named “Orchestra Szeerit Hapleitah” (Orchestra of Last Survivors) gave a concert which was a symbolic and significant event, but is almost unknown in the present.

The concert was directed at the expresed wish of the young and aspiring Leonard Bernstein. This event simultaneously symbolizes a historical turning point: the simultaneous end and beginning, desperation and hope, fight and spiritual resistance.

In Landsberg Adolf Hitler had announced the extermination of the Jews during his fortress in the book «Mein Kampf».
In Landsberg am Lech, the Nazis had built the largest sub-camp complex in the final phase of the Third Reich. After 1945, also in Landsberg, one of the largest DP camps in the American zone had been erected.

May 10th 2018, marks the 70th anniversary of the concert along with the establishment of the independent State of Israel ((14th of May 1948).
It is with this historical background we call upon young people to consider; the circumstances, moods, feelings, defeats, fighting, and also the rebellion as a framework in their compositions.

To this end, different materials are available to become familiar with these historically unique events and to develop personal experience and interpretation.

PARTICIPANTS

As public competition composers of all nationalities, up to 35 years of age (Deadline January 10th 2018) may participate.

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

We offer independent creative freedom in all other areas. From the multi-faceted historical subject only the following guidelines for instrumentation and occupation should be considered.

COMPOSITIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES AND CASTING

Category: Vocal and Instrumental
Cast: Up to five musicians

INSTRUMENTATION

Compositions are permitted only with the following instruments and musicians, which can be staged without technical / electronic aids:

Solo use of
Vocal (Tenor, Soprano),
Accordion,
String instruments (max. 2 x Violin, 1 x Viola, 1 x Cello, 1 x Bass),
Percussion,
Clarinet,
Horn and Trumpet.

TEXT MATERIAL FOR COMPOSITIONS

From the historical and biographical material, poems, songs or texts are made available. These texts can be edited and used as desired.

TEXT OF “THE INTERNATIONAL”

An inmate of the concentration camp describes the emotional significance of “The International” (text Eugène Pottier, melody by the Belgian Pierre Degeyter) for the inmates who sang them simultaneously in their own languages.
It became a secret camp anthem so to speak.

Therefore, this text can also be used as the basis for compositions or editing.

All texts and information are available for download on the website.

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS

• One composition per participant can be sent
• The performance may be up to max. 10 minutes
• The works submitted must be compiled for this competition and may not have been published or awarded in any form (performance, online, video or recordings).

An introduction to the DP orchestra, Wolf Durmashkin and the situation in the concentration camps in the Landsberg am Lech region is available as an introduction to the subject and background.
You can find them at the following Link: www.wdc-award.org

Web Site:wdc-award.org/en/competition-conditions/?source=nmusa&utm_content=buffere2516&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer