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Why Bard College’s orchestra performed Mendelssohn at the site of Hitler’s Nuremberg rallies

JL;DR SUMMARY At a historically significant site in Nuremberg previously used for Nazi rallies, Bard College's "The Orchestra Now" performed a concert centered on Felix Mendelssohn's music, once banned by the Nazis for his Jewish heritage. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

World War IiJewish HeritageBard CollegeNazismConcertCultural ExchangeFelix MendelssohnNurembergLeon BotsteinPeace Mission

Places mentioned

Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
"NUREMBERG, Germany On a spring evening in Nuremberg, an orchestra of New York students gathered for a concert celebrating 80 years since the end of World War II."
Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
"Nurembergs mayor Markus Knig, former President of Germany Christian Wulff and the mayor of Kharkiv, Nurembergs sister city in Ukraine, Ihor Terekhov."
New York, United States
"Bard Colleges The Orchestra Now, or TN, was invited by the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and made its first overseas trip for the concert on May 8."
Kharkiv, Kharkivshchyna, Ukraine
"He was interrupted by a swell of applause from the audience, which included Nurembergs mayor Markus Knig, former President of Germany Christian Wulff and the mayor of Kharkiv, Nurembergs sister city in Ukraine, Ihor Terekhov."
Washington DC, United States
"Olivia Chaikin, a 24-year-old flutist in TN who is Jewish, said it felt monumental to perform Mendelssohns music that was outlawed by the Nazis in the very place where millions of people cheered Hitlers ambitions."
Jerusalem, Israel
"Along with serving as music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2011, Botstein formed a 16-year partnership between Bard College and Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem."
Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
"His own life is a story of cultural exchange built from the ashes of war. Botstein was born in Zurich in 1946 to Polish-Russian Jews who survived the Holocaust, arriving in the United States in 1949 as a stateless person."
Palestinian Territories
"Botstein has built his music career on advocating for ignored artists, from Jewish musicians whose work was erased by the Nazis to Palestinian students in the West Bank to incarcerated people who are educated through the Bard Prison Initiative."

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