18.05.2025

ADRIAN ERÖD in Eric Zeisl's ‘Requiem Ebraico’ at the Vienna Musikverein

Erich Zeisl (1905-1959) fled Vienna for exile in America in 1938. There, a stronger reflection on his Jewish origins emerged in his work. The most moving testimony to his engagement with this tradition is the Requiem Ebraico, which is dedicated to the memory of Zeisl's father (and stepmother) who were murdered in the Holocaust and to the "countless victims of the Jewish tragedy in Europe". Composed and premiered in 1945, Zeisl's Requiem is the earliest work in music history to commemorate the Holocaust.

Originally planned for 2020 and, like countless other events, a victim of the global coronavirus pandemic, Erich Zeisl's Requiem can now be heard at the Vienna Musikverein under Marin Alsop and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, five years later than planned and with the same line-up as originally intended. For the Viennese baritone Adrian Eröd, it is a special re-encounter with this work, as he also took part in the first performance of the work in October 2009 under the direction of Tugan Sokhiev and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cast

Dana Marbach, soprano
Annette Schönmüller, mezzo-soprano
Adrian Eröd, baritone
Wolfgang Kogert, organ

Marin Alsop, conductor
ORF RSO Vienna
Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien