Korngold Streaming
During the Covid-19 viral pandemic, many organizations are offering past performances of concerts and productions for online viewing. Here are few of the notable Korngold-related videos that are currently available:
Bard College – 2019 production of Das Wunder der Heliane
University of North Carolina School of the Arts – 2012 production of Much Ado About Nothing with the complete Korngold incidental score. (Courtesy of Maestro John Mauceri)
posted 29 Apr 2020

Orchestral Award
The critically acclaimed recording of Korngold’s Symphony in F sharp, Theme and Variations, and Straussiana by the Sinfonia of London conducted by John Wilson for the Chandos label has won the Orchestral Award for the 15th annual BBC Music Magazine Awards. (Chandos CHSA 5220)
posted 14 May 2020

André Previn
(6 Apr 1929, Berlin – 28 Feb 2019, New York)

Composer, conductor, performer who blurred the bounds of jazz, pop, and classical music, and recording artist passed away on Thu, 28 Feb 2019 in Manhattan. Of interest here, he conducted Korngold’s music in concert as far back as the 1970s, and recorded several of Korngold’s compositions, including the Symphony and the Violin Concerto (three times). His recording of Korngold’s Violin Concerto with violinist Gil Shaham (Deutsche Grammophon) is frequently regarded as comparable to Heifetz’s recording, and some prefer it to the Heifetz. A champion of music much as Leonard Bernstein, he performed and promoted music in many genres, from classical, ro broadway, to jazz. He was 89 years old.
BBC obituary // NY Times obituary
posted 3 Mar 2019

Bard College Announces Korngold as the Featured Composer for Summerscape 2019
Bard College (near Reinbeck, NY) has selected Erich Wolfgang Korngold as the central focus of their 30th Annual Summerscape Music Festival. The Festival, which runs each year during July through mid-August, this year will feature a wide selection of Korngold’s music performed live, a semi-staged performance of Die tote Stadt, and the North American premiere of Das Wunder der Heliane. See our Events page for more details and important links.
Posted 3 Mar 2019

Three important recent releases!
Das Wunder der Heliane receives its first complete recording for the first time since John Mauceri’s 1993 recording for Decca’s Entartete Musik series. The new release is on the Naxos label, recorded partially in concert.
Korngold had made several versions of his incidental music to Much Ado About Nothing, including orchestral, violin and piano duet, and solo piano arrangements. A version arranged for string quartet was unknown until it surfaced in 2012. The premiere recording of this arrangement is released on Centaur, performed by the Amernet String Quartet.
Finally, Rondeau Produktions has released the premiere recording of Korngold’s operetta Das Lied der Liebe. A revision of Strauss, Jr’s operetta Das Spitzentuch der Königen, previously only select songs were ever recorded.
posted 1 Dec 2018

CAROL NEBLETT (1 Feb 1946 – 23 Nov 2017)
b. Modesto, CA; d. Los Angeles, CA
Soprano, Carol Neblett, passed away in November 2017. One of her notable successes was in the role of Marie/Marietta in Frank Corsaro’s revival of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at New York City Opera in 1975. She recorded the same opera for RCA Victor that same year. Brendan Carroll relates the following anecdote: Maria Jeritza sat in on Neblett’s audition for the 1975 production and told Frank Corsaro and George Korngold that Neblett was perfect for the role of Marietta. Read her obituary in Opera News.
posted 8 Dec 2017

“The Sea Wolf” on Blu-ray
“Long thought to exist only in substandard form, Warner Bros. is proud to present this film as first released in 1941, restoring its original 100-minute running time from 35mm nitrate elements.” (Press Release) Long existing in an 87-minute version, recently uncovered elements allowed restoration to the original feature length film, not seen in over 75 years. With the film restoration is the restoration one of Korngold’s finest and most abstract scores in its entirety.

 
ARC Ensemble presents EXIT: MUSIC
EXIT: MUSIC, a documentary directed by James Murdoch that examines the impact of National Socialism on the lives of five composers, premieres on 29 November 2016 at HotDocs Cinema, Toronto. The film uses archival footage and material from a 10-day shoot to present the biographical and musical contributions of Walter Braunfels, Paul Ben Haim, Adolf Busch, Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Following the premiere will be a short performance by the ARC Ensemble.
ARC Ensemble website / HotDocs Cinema listing
The American premiere of this film is scheduled for Wednesday evening, January 18 at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, with the Amernet String Quartet to perform live excerpts by the composers featured in the film. Details forthcoming.
posted 8 Nov 2016

Japanese website
Japanese violinist Mr Hidehiro Tokitsu has created a website and other links pertaining to the ongoing revival of Erich Wolfgang Korngold in Japan. The website contains several performances of Korngold’s music, including the Japanese premiere of Korngold’s Violin Concerto in 1989.
http://www.korngold.jp/
posted 9 Oct 2016

Guy Wagner (1938-2016)
Guy Wagner was born in Luxembourg on 20 April 1938, the eldest of three children of Alphonse and Marguerite (nee Bissen). He is the author of a biography and two other texts on Mikis Theodorakis, a biographical novel based on Schubert’s “Winterreise”, for which he received the National Literary Prize Luxembourg 2004-2005, and the biography of Erich Wolfgang Korngold entitled “Musik ist Musik” (Matthes & Seitz, Berlin, 2008). This biography was of particular importance because of the valuable and original research Prof. Wagner included about Korngold’s mysterious older brother, Hans Robert and a detailed family tree of both the Korngold and Sonnenthal families. Guy Wagner passed away in the early morning of 17 May 2016. He leaves behind a wife, Ariel, two sons, Claude and Serge, and three grandchildren.

Virtual Korngold Exhibition
Michael Haas, who curated several exhibitions at Vienna’s Jewish Museum about composers who were persecuted by the Nazis, has posted a “virtual exhibition” that re-creates and expands upon “The Korngolds” exhibition from 2007. The virtual exhibition includes images and sound clips interspersed among a generous and highly informative text.
Link to the virtual exhibition.
posted 16 August 2015

Resources for artists and researchers can be found here
Thank you to everyone who has and continues to send us notices, updates, and news regarding the host of Korngold concerts, recitals and productions worldwide. We strive to be as thorough as possible, and appreciate your contributions.
 
Page last updated April 2020