Musica non grata

The international cultural project Musica non grata takes an artistic and scientific approach to Prague's musical life between 1918 and 1938, focusing on music that was "unwanted" by the Nazi regime. A four-year series of stage productions and concert performances, symphonic and chamber music concerts with works by persecuted composers, as well as an ambitious scientific accompanying program are planned at Prague's three major opera houses. The project is sponsored by the Prague National Theater and the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany and was ceremonially opened on August 30, 2020 with a concert at the Prague State Opera.

For international and German-speaking countries, Ophelias Culture PR supports Musica non grata in PR. This comprises classical press work and organization of press trips or consulting and implementation of digital and long-term communication of the project. 

The project focuses on the music of Czech and German, but above all Jewish composers who worked in Prague from the 1910s to the 1930s and were persecuted by the Nazi regime. The focus is not only on "Terezín composers" such as Pavel Haas, Hans Krása, Gideon Klein and Viktor Ullmann, but in the broadest sense on musicians who were harassed by the totalitarian Nazi regime. Special emphasis is placed on Prague's rich Jewish musical culture and on the music and lives of female composers, such as Ludmila Peškařová, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Emma Destinová, Ilse Webber, Geraldine Mucha, and Julie Reisserova.

The extended circle of considered composers includes Franz Schreker, Erwin Schulhoff, Rudolf Karel, Emil František Burian and Karel Berman, who were persecuted for their ethnicity, political views or as active members of the resistance movement. But it also includes artists whom the totalitarian regime forced to emigrate and who found refuge in the free world, including Ernst Křenek, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alexander Zemlinsky, Jaromír Weinberger, Paul Hindemith and Bohuslav Martinů. In addition, the classics of 20th century music such as Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg will receive the attention of Musica non grata.

The year 2021 begins with a series of digital concert formats, with works by Bohuslav Martinů, Hans Krása and Pavel Haas. To mark Alexander Zemlinsky's 150th birthday, which is celebrated this year, a small festival is planned for October. The Austrian composer, conductor and music educator was music director at the New German Theater in Prague between 1911 and 1927.