Evening Concert: Lydia Rathkolb & Maximilian Flieder present "Forbidden - Exiled - Outlawed"

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Evening Concert: Lydia Rathkolb & Maximilian Flieder present "Forbidden - Exiled - Outlawed"

  • Tue 19 Nov 2024
  • 7:00PM

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Join us for a remarkable evening of music and reflection with soprano Lydia Rathkolb and pianist Maximilian Flieder as they perform "Forbidden - Exiled - Outlawed: Children’s Songs and Forbidden Songs from Persecuted Composers". This special recital highlights music born from resilience amidst oppression, bringing to life the works of composers who endured ideological, racial, and anti-Semitic persecution under totalitarian regimes.

The programme will open with an introduction by Prof. Oliver Rathkolb from the University of Vienna, a distinguished Austrian historian.

Rathkolb © Matthias Cremer

Photo: Oliver Rathkolb (© Matthias Cremer)


While today we can perform and listen to music from all over the world, authoritarian and totalitarian regimes ban artists for ideological or racist and anti-Semitic reasons.

In their cultureless campaign against art, even deceased composers such as Gustav Mahler, and also his widow Alma Mahler, were banned and blacklisted despite their importance for music. Mahler faced increasing antisemitism from parts of the press and society and emigrated to New York, as he could "no longer stand the rabble" (Scheit/Svoboda). The successful young song composer Erich Zeisl, the rising star of contemporary opera Erich Korngold, and the composing virtuoso violinist Fritz Kreisler, who remained in Berlin until 1938—all three had to fear for their lives and emigrated to the USA. Korngold went to Hollywood, composing film music.

Béla Bartók was one of the few prominent artists in Europe who publicly spoke out against the anti-Semitic laws in Hungary and emigrated to the USA in 1940. Iván Eröd, who had survived the Shoah in Hungary, fled to Austria as the communist regime stigmatized the musical avant-garde. The conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein dedicated his entire musical life after World War II to the reconciliation of European and American societies and re-established Mahler's music since 1950/60 in Vienna.


Soprano Lydia Rathkolb has performed at top venues worldwide, including the Vienna State Opera, Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center Washington DC, Philadelphia, and the Wiener Musikverein and Konzerthaus Wien, as well as major festivals like Bregenz and Savonlinna. With a wide repertoire spanning Mozart, Strauss and contemporary works, she is celebrated for her performances in roles like the Queen of the Night, Pamina, Constanze, Rosalinde, Violetta, Lucia and Fiordiligi, as well as appearances in productions of La Traviata and Lucia di Lammermoor.

A longtime soloist member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble, she has a wide repertoire ranging from Mozart and Strauss to contemporary works, collaborating with renowned conductors such as Semyon Bychkov and Franz Welser-Möst. Her love for Lieder and chamber music has taken her internationally, often with Vienna Philharmonic ensembles. Lydia holds a PhD in musicology and teaches classical singing at institutions including the University of Vienna and Princeton.

To find out more about Lydia Rathkolb, please click here.


Maximilian Flieder, born into a Viennese musical family, began piano studies at age five and was accepted into the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna at nine, studying under Professors Elisabeth Dvorak-Weisshaar and Martin Hughes. He continued his studies with Professors Matti Raekallio and Antti Siirala in Hannover and Munich, also specializing in vocal accompaniment and contemporary music with top honors.

A prize-winning pianist since age eight, Maximilian has performed widely, including at Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonic, Shanghai’s Oriental Art Center, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He is an active chamber musician, collaborating with notable artists like Gustav Rivinius and Valentina Nafornita, and is a member of the internationally acclaimed Vienna Piano Quartet. Since 2019, he has also taught piano and vocal accompaniment at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw).

To find out more about Maxmilian Flieder, please click here.

Rathkolb (2)

Photo: Lydia Rathkolb (© Lois Lammerhuber) & Maximilian Flieder

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Austrian Cultural Forum London
28 Rutland Gate
London SW7 1PQ