For Diotima

I am not a passionate reader of German literature, with one single exception: Hölderin. His Hyperion has been a companion in my life for many years. My viola solo “For Diotima” is from my musical theater “Hyperion Fragments”. To me, Hölderin is the quintessential intellectual exile. Dealing with the exile of musicians and their students from the Near and Far East, politically and historically relevant compositions are performed as part of the series “Mazel Tov International”. This year, the theme is viola and piano.

The lives and the works of all the composers featured in this concert are marked by migration and exile. Yet they do not necessarily see that experience as a loss, but also a gain in freedom. Works by: Yehuda Yannay, Isang Yun, Saburo Moroi, Kosaku Yamada, Paul Hindemith