Arts The incredible story of the opera written at Terezin concentration camp
This Saturday, March 15, London's Opera Up Close company is holding the premiere of their production of "the Kaiser of Atlantis" ("Der Kaiser von Atlantis"), which was written by Viktor Ullmann with a libretto by Petr Kein. A Vienna-born Jew, Viktor Ullmann later took Czech nationality, and was already well-known as a composer before being sent to Terezin concentration camp in September 1942. It was there - in the most incredible circumstances - that he wrote "the Kaiser of Atlantis", before meeting his death in Auschwitz in October 1944. When I spoke to Opera Up Close director Russell Plows in London last week, he told me Viktor Ullmann was just one of many leading Czech Jewish artists and musicians imprisoned at Terezin.
Back
