The fugitives

The fact that many brilliant Jewish composers and other artists had to flee Berlin in 1933 is probably the greatest artistic loss for Germany in the 20th century. Genius composers such as Werner Richard Heymann, Friedrich Holländer and Kurt Weill, who embellished the Berlin music scene in the 1920s, had to leave their homeland immediately after the National Socialists came to power.
For the concert, Tal Balshai has arranged music by the Jewish composers Friedrich Schwarz, Kurt Weill, Mischa Spoliansky, Hanns Eisler, Hans May, Werner Richard Heymann, Friedrich Hollaender and Paul Abraham, who all had to flee Berlin in 1933, for voice, jazz trumpet, jazz guitar and piano. Mads Elung-Jensen sings and tells stories about the composers, Tal Balshai plays the piano. Paolo de Jesus Maido, jazz trumpet and Carlo Dayyani, jazz guitar, both from Denmark and students at the Jazzinstitut Berlin, complete the quartet.