Antisemitism in Bohemia and Austria around 1900: The Blood Libel Accusation, Song cycle 'Bozena' by Charles Heller -- world premiere

With Marta Vávrová (soprano), Petr Vašíček (piano) and Rivka Golani (viola)

The focus of this event will be the world première of the Bozena Song Cycle by Charles Heller, which is based on the composer's own grandmother's letters from Nazi occupied Europe to her son Otto to whom she wrote till her death in the hands of the Nazis. Antonín Dvořák's Biblical Songs op. 99 and the 2 Spiritual Lullabies by Johannes Brahms will be the other items of the evening.

The other part of the event will present an exhibition where anti-Semitic cartoons connected with the Hilsner affair will be displayed. This shaked and shocked Central Europe in 1899/1900 as one of the darkest expressions of anti-Semitism between the Middle Age and the arrival of Adolf Hitler. Songs of the period will be sung too to show all the impact the scandal had.