BBC Total Immersion
Music for the End of Time
Art created in unimaginable conditions – a BBC Symphony Orchestra Total Immersion day presenting music of the ghettos and camps of Nazi-occupied Europe.
The Theresienstadt ghetto, established in 1941, served many purposes for the Nazis. Its Jewish self-administration and relative cultural freedom was used as propaganda, while its inmates were subject to forced labour, malnutrition and further deportation to extermination camps. It was here that Jewish artists at the heart of the Nazi’s atrocities produced mighty works of art against all odds.
This Total Immersion day highlights the composers who created masterpieces in the most terrible of conditions. From an operatic political satire that dared to hope for a better world, to choral arrangements of 'degenerate' folk songs, to pre-war music that appears disturbingly prophetic, take a deep dive into some of the most remarkable cultural artifacts from the darkest days of the 20th century.
Produced by the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Please note that the events in this Total Immersion day deal with subjects of a distressing nature
Events
BBC SO Total Immersion: Music for the End of Time
Extraordinary music written amid the hopelessness of prison and concentration camps that dared to seek the truth – and to hope for better times.
BBC Total Immersion: Songs in Time of Distress
The BBC Singers offer haunting choral music from the Theresienstadt ghetto, with reflective interludes provided by students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
BBC Total Immersion: The Theresienstadt Orchestra
Musical testaments by Krása and Haas written inside Theresienstadt, and a compelling symphony by Schulhoff that warns of impending human catastrophe.
