The Thomas Mann House and musicologist Kai Hinrich Müller present “Opera & Democracy: Transatlantic Conversations & Concerts,” a music and discussion series on the democratic potential of opera.

This series commemorates the centenary of the reopening of Berlin’s legendary Krolloper in 1924, one of the leading opera houses of the interwar period and today a symbol of both the renewal of opera in the 20th century and the struggle for democratic values in times of crisis. To honor this anniversary, concerts and panel discussions are to held to explore the democratization of opera, to questions of power and representation, new formats, casting and programming policies, audience expectations as well as to academic challenges and opera’s ability to amplify the voices of silenced or persecuted artists.

The series kicks off with “Opening Talk & Reception: Opera in Exile” at the Goethe-Institut in New York on April 16. The Welcome & Keynote: “Opera and Democracy” is given by 2023 Thomas Mann House Fellow Kai Hinrich Müller, followed by a panel conversation on the past and present of being forced out of a country or a home and the struggles to continue artistic practices elsewhere. The panel features Brigid Cohen an Associate Professor of Music at New York University, Gracie Golden the Artistic Freedom Initiative’s Senior Officer for Strategic Initiatives & Relocation, Brown University’s Barnaby Conrad and Mary Critchfield Keeney Professor of History and Music, Professor of German Studies Michael P. Steinberg. This event begins at 6:30 pm.

The Center for Jewish History, Leo Baeck Institute in New York hosts the first concert in the series “Works by Rosy Geiger-Kullmann, Paul Aron, and Ernst Tochon” on April 17 at 7:30 pm. The concert is presented by soprano Ellie Pope, tenor Benjamin Warschawski, baritone Benjamin Sokol, joined by Elliot Roman at the piano. The aforementioned soloists in addition to alto Toby Banks give the second concert, “Works by Ruth Schonthal and Erich Zeisl” at the Austrian Cultural Forum in  New York on April 18 at 6:30 pm.

Soprano Weiyu Wang and pianist Elliot Roman, with flutist Rea Abel and cellist Clara Cho provide music for the closing event “Dance and Finnissage.” Carl Christian Bettendorf moderates the post-concert conversation at 1014 – space for ideas on April 20 at 3 pm.