| Projects of The Lahr von Leitis Academy & Archive |
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Over the past few years, Gregorij H. von Leitis and Michael Lahr have conceived of numerous literary collages, montages and readings. These programs have been presented at various occasions, e.g. at the Elysium Festival Bernried. The programs listed below are ready to travel. If you are interested in presenting any of them, please contact  Michael Lahr. |
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| Foto: Alice Herz-Sommer, Foto: Michael Teutsch |
Hate is a Failure of Imagination
A Literary Collage
An Encouraging Testimony |
| under the patronage of Prof. Felix Kolmer (Prague), Foundation for Holocaust Victims |
Concept & Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr
Recitation: Gregorij H. von Leïtis
Premiered at the Austrian Cultural Forum, Berlin (May 22, 2014) |
 Hate is a Failure of Imagination |
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| Photo: Viktor Ullmann around 1924, Archive of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute Los Angeles |
| Cornet: Viktor Ullmann’s Legacy from Theresienstadt |
The Lay of Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke for recitation and piano
and the Piano Sonata No. 6 by Viktor Ullmann |
Introductory Lecture on Music from Theresienstadt: Michael Lahr
Recitation: Gregorij H. von Leitis
Piano: Dan Franklin Smith
Premiered at the Goethe Institute New York / USA |
| Cornet |
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| Illustration: Heinrich Heine |
Heinrich Heine: Tell me what does it mean to be human?
A literary journey through life |
Narrator: Gregorij H. von Leitis
Concept and Introduction: Michael Lahr
Premiered at the Elysium Festival Bernried on May 26, 2012
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| Heinrich Heine: Tell me what does it mean to be human? |
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| Illustration: Georg Büchner |
“Peace to the Shacks! War on the Palaces!”
Social Criticism in Germany prior to the Revolution of 1848 |
Reading of selected works by Georg Büchner and Christian Dietrich Grabbe
with Christa Pillmann |
Introduction: Michael Lahr
Premiered at the Elysium Festival Bernried (June 1, 2012)
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| Peace to the Shacks! War on the Palaces! |
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| Illustration "Defending Democracy" by Pepe Vives |
Defending Democracy
A Meditation on Basic Democratic Values
in Times of Political and Economic Insecurity |
| Literary Collage with texts by Mahatma Gandhi, Robert F. Kennedy, Hermynia zur Mühlen, Erich Mühsam, Alfred Polgar, Carl von Ossietzky, Joseph Roth, Hans Sahl, Kurt Tucholsky, Lasantha Wikrematunge, and others |
| under the patronage of Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights |
Gregorij von Leïtis (Narrator) Concept and introductory talk: Michael Lahr
Premiere: Künstlerhaus, Munich / Germany (April 19, 2012)
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| Defending Democracy |
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| Illustration "Clean Up Your Mess! Love Mother" |
After Us the Deluge?
A Montage |
under the patronage of Meera T. Gandhi
CEO and Founder
The Giving Back Foundation
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Gregorij H. von Leïtis (Recitation)
Michael Lahr (Concept & Introduction)
Premiered at the Elysium Festival Bernried / Germany |
| After Us the Deluge |
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| Photo: Joseph Roth, © Leo Baeck Institute NYC |
Cry for Life: Passionate Exiled Voices
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| A Literary Collage recited by Gregorij H. von Leïtis |
Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr
Premiered at the Elysium Festival Bernried / Germany |
| Cry for Life |
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| Hans Sahl, illustration by Leo Glückselig |
| “We are the Last, question us, we are relevant” |
| in remembrance of the 25th anniversary of Hans Sahl’s death |
Gregorij H. von Leïtis reads from the vast oeuvre of the exiled writer Hans Sahl
Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr |
The reading recaptures some of the most creative moments of Hans Sahl’s life,
a life between two continents. Sahl’s observations illustrate in detail the destiny
of the émigrés and the tragic events that led to the intellectual exodus
of German Jews. |
| Premiered at the Elysium Festival Bernried / Germany |
| We are the Last |
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| Franz Kafka, illustration by Andy Warhol courtesy of Hotel Jalta Prag |
| The Gospel According to Kafka |
A literary Collage
recited by Gregorij H. von Leïtis |
Concept & Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr
Premiered at the Elysium Festival Bernried / Germany (June 2011) |
The Gospel According to Kafka
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| Friedrich Nietzsche, illustration by Rune Mields |
| My Nietzsche |
| Gregorij H. von Leïtis reads selections from Friedrich Nietzsche’s writings |
Introductory Lecture by Michael Lahr
Premiered at: Galerie im Fronhof, Leutesdorf / Germany |
My Nietzsche
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| Photo: Stefan Zweig |
“A Time like this perverts our Hearts”
A reading of collected texts by Stefan Zweig |
Speaker: Gregorij H. von Leïtis
Introductory lecture: Michael Lahr
Premiered at Freunde Deutscher Sprache (Friends of the German Language),
Greenwich, CT / USA, March 21, 2012 |
| A Time like this perverts our Hearts |
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| Photo: Rosenstrasse Berlin, 2012 |
Resistance of the Heart
Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany in 1943 |
| commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Rosenstrasse Protest |
| under the patronage of Rabbi Dr. Ismar Schorsch, Chancellor Emeritus of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York |
Gregorij H. von Leïtis reads from the award-winning book by Nathan Stoltzfus
Introductory Lecture: Michael Lahr
Premiered at the Jüdische Kulturverein Berlin (Jewish Cultural Club), November 9, 1999 |
| Resistance of the Heart |
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| Photo: Libertas Schulze-Boysen |
Our Death must be a Beacon
Poems and Letters by Libertas Schulze-Boysen |
| Remembering the 75th anniversary of the execution of Libertas Schulze-Boysen |
Narrator: Gregorij H. von Leïtis
Introductory Lecture by Michael Lahr
Premiered at: German House - New York City, December 13, 2002 |
| Our Death must be a Beacon |
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| Photo: Viktor Frankl |
| „…Nevertheless Say YES to Life“ |
Literary Collage from the groundbreaking works of Viktor Frankl
Austrian psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, founder of the Viennese school of logotherapy |
| under the patronage of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch |
Concept & Introduction: Michael Lahr
Narrator: Gregorij H. von Leïtis
Premiered at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York / USA on October 18, 2016 |
| Viktor Frankl Reading |
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| Photo: Lew Nussimbaum |
Lew Nussimbaum
alias Essad Bey
alias Kurban Said:
Cosmopolitan – Wanderer between two worlds – Jewish Muslim – Orientalist in Exile |
| Literary Collage from his fantastic oeuvre |
Gregorij von Leitis (Narrator)
Concept and introductory talk: Michael Lahr
Premiered at the Lithuanian Embassy in Berlin / Germany on August 31, 2017 |
| Lew Nussimbaum Reading |
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| Photo: Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky |
Resistance:
Persecuted, but not Silenced |
| A Literary Collage |
Narrator: Gregorij H. von Leïtis
Concept & Introduction: Michael Lahr
Premiered at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York / USA on November 9, 2017 |
| Resistance Persecuted but not Silenced |
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On the following pages you find the upcoming events News and Press Coverage. |
