Professor Eva Kirchner (soprano) and Professor Julia Bartha (piano) will present works by composers of the late 19th and early 20th at this special recital. Both teach at the Institute of Music Education of the University of Music and Theatre ‘Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’ in Leipzig.
The programme spans a certain century of song and love history – from Vienna’s late romantic salon culture to Jewish expressionism in exile and oral late romanticism.
The selection illustrates how diverse composers of the 20th century used the genre of song as a mirror of inner and historical experiences: as a space for love and intimacy, memory, irony and survival. Apart from Roger Quilter (1877–1953), all composers are united by their family or cultural connection to the Jewish religious community.
Songs will be heard also by Alexander Zemlinsky (1871–1942) and Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), but at the heart of the programme are the rarely heard works by the composers Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996): Jewish Songs, op. 13 (1943) and Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944): Five Love Songs by Ricarda Huch, op. 26. Her works stand as a testament to cultural resilience in a time of existential threat.

The recital will be organised by the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Göttingen e.V. for November 1st 2026. The requested funds would be used for the musicians fees, costs for travel and accomodation costs, rental fee for the concert hall and the piano as well as for promotion.