Simon Wallfisch

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Simon Wallfisch 2017

Simon Joseph Lasker Wallfisch (born May 22, 1982 in London , England ) is a German-British singer and cellist .

Life

Simon Wallfisch is the son of the British cellist Raphael Wallfisch and the Australian baroque violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch . His grandmother is the cellist and Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch . Simon Wallfisch studied cello, singing and conducting at the Royal College of Music in London from 2000 to 2006 . As an enthusiastic song interpreter, he continued his vocal studies in Germany, 2006–2007 at the “Hanns Eisler” University of Music in Berlin and 2007–2009 at the “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” University of Music and Theater in Leipzig . During this time he had his first solo stage appearances at the Leipzig Opera House , Magdeburg Theater , Anhalt Theater Dessau , and Altenburg-Gera State Theater .

In October 2018 he received German citizenship.

baritone

From 2009 to 2012, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zurich Opera , where he several productions in solo roles interpreted. He sang as a freelance artist

As a soloist he sang a. a. 2017, the Christmas Oratorio by Bach at the Brighton Early Music Festival.

Simon Wallfisch is a member of the chamber music ensemble Ensemble Emigré .

Awards

2004: Beneficiary of the "Countess of Munster Trust"

2006: Laureate of the Georg Solti Foundation

Recordings

As a cellist, Simon Wallfisch was one of the solo artists in a BBC special broadcast on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2015 . Further recordings and live broadcasts were broadcast by NDR, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Schweizer Rundfunk SRF and France Musique.

CDs

On this CD, Wallfisch combines mainly Viennese and Eastern European composers who - typical of this era - succumbed to the fascination of oriental, Persian and Chinese poetry. This includes many names who later had to end or restrict their careers as ostracized musicians or who were simply murdered in the concentration camp, but also Richard Strauss, who had come to terms with the Nazi regime.
Dr. Ingobert Waltenberger from the Merker cultural platform praises the "great approach" of this "clever program" because "the listener can immerse himself in the incredible soundscapes of all these musical cousins" and because "he takes a close look at the parallels in the musical quality, without forgetting, of course, even one relevant historical event. "
Radio Bremen also emphasizes in its CD review that in addition to "the musical quality and the interesting program of this CD, which is absolutely worth listening to, another aspect is important: [...] It is time not to see the ostracized composers through this veil of perception , but rather to bring them back onto the stage of musical life, where they belong simply because of their quality. "
EuropaDisc explicitly praises the musical qualities of the Wallfisch / Rushton duo and emphasizes how Wallfisch, with the aid of Edward Rushton's "wonderfully sensitive, moving and magically precise piano accompaniment", brings the German and Czech texts with all their nuances to life with great success and thereby both " the fascination of the Orient, which fired the composers' imagination "artistically captured, as well as the" agonizing feeling of being different, of not belonging, which many of them probably immediately addressed. " ( With the help of superbly sensitive, evocative and magically detailed piano accompaniments from Edward Rushton, Wallfisch, ever alive to the nuances of the German and Czech texts, triumphantly succeeds. He captures both the fascination with the Orient that fired these composers' imaginations, and also that haunting sense of 'otherness', of unbelonging, that must have spoken to many of them all too directly.)
  • 2014, Lyrita Records: Geoffrey Bush Songs ; Vocals Simon Wallfisch, piano Edward Rushton ;
John France of Musicweb International emphasizes in his record review that Wallfisch is an “ideal artist for the English interpretation of songs” and praises the CD as “an excellent discovery of the works of Geoffrey Bush ” (1920–1998) and “a valuable contribution to his rediscovery, the greatest possible Deserve success ”. ( Wallfisch makes an ideal artist for English song recitals. […] This is an excellent exploration of Geoffrey Bush's songs […], a hugely worthy contribution to this reappraisal and deserves every success. ).

Movie

“Music in your veins. The Wallfisch family ”, directed by Mark Kidel ; broadcast by arte on August 23, 2010.

Teaching and engagement

In addition to music, Simon Wallfisch is repeatedly committed to civil courage and against anti-Semitism: He gives lectures and accompanies his grandmother Anita Lasker-Wallfisch , who appears as a contemporary witness and Auschwitz survivor in various events. a. In 2014 in the talk show Markus Lanz , in 2015 in a detailed family interview in SZ-Magazin, or in January 2018 in a high school in Traunstein.

Wallfisch is a curator at the International Center for Suppressed Music (ICSM), which is dedicated to the discovery and re-performance of ostracized composers and musicians who were prevented from developing their careers during the Third Reich. In 2018 he is also a member of the jury of the International Festival Ostracized Music in Schwerin.

In Osnabrück, Wallfisch led a masterclass "Memory Culture" in cooperation with the Institute for Music (IfM) at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences under the motto "Sharing Heritage" as part of the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018. Young musicians from Europe and students from the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences studied compositions by Jewish musicians such as Dieter Gogg , Ilse Weber and Viktor Ullmann and presented "Songs from the Theresienstadt Ghetto" as a walking concert directed by Ruth Frenk .

Private

Simon Wallfisch's older brother Benjamin Wallfisch is a film composer (including Es , Blade Runner 2049 ), his younger sister Joanna Wallfisch is a singer-songwriter. Wallfisch is married to the baroque musician Kathleen Ross , a member of the medieval ensemble Mediæval Bæbes . The couple live in London and have a daughter and a son. At the end of 2018, the convinced European Simon Wallfisch accepted German citizenship in response to the Brexit referendum; people with German-Jewish ancestors are free to do this.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jens-Peter Marquardt: Simon Wallfisch becomes German. In: tagesschau.de . November 9, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018 .
  2. ^ English Touring Opera
  3. ↑ State Theater Nuremberg
  4. ^ Brighton Early Music Festival
  5. ↑ http://www.ensemble-emigre.com/artists/ Ensemble Emigré
  6. ↑ http://www.munstertrust.org.uk/past-beneficiaries
  7. ↑ http://www.soltifoundation.com/winners.php
  8. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0513l27 BBC special broadcast on International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2015
  9. ↑ Gesänge des Orients at Nimbus Records
  10. ↑ Dr. I. Waltenberger on online marker
  11. ↑ CD tip from Radio Bremen
  12. ↑ CD review by Europadisc
  13. ↑ French Songs at Nimbus Records
  14. ↑ Geoffrey Bush Songs on Lyrita Records
  15. ^ John France, CD review at Musicweb International
  16. ↑ Interview with three generations of the Wallfisch family of musicians in Süddeutsche Magazin
  17. ↑ Contemporary witnesses cast a spell over the public
  18. ^ International Center for Suppressed Music at the Jewish Music Institute JMI
  19. ^ International Festival Ostracized Music Schwerin
  20. ↑ Article in the university magazine WIR of the Institute for Music at the University of Osnabrück, p. 15
  21. ^ Article in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung
  22. ↑ [1] Article in Focus in January 2019
personal data
SURNAME Wallfisch, Simon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wallfisch, Simon Joseph Lasker (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-British singer and cellist
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England