Media Releases

Vienna Philharmonic to address Nazi past at sold out symposium

March 13, 2014

TORONTO, ON – It has been almost one year since Aus­tri­an researchers pub­lished the full extent of Nazi col­lab­o­ra­tion by one of that country’s lead­ing cul­tur­al insti­tu­tions, the Vien­na Phil­har­mon­ic Orches­tra. On March 17th, a cen­tu­ry after the start of World War I and 75 years since World War II began, the his­to­ri­an and the leader of the Orches­tra involved in doc­u­ment­ing that his­to­ry will dis­cuss their find­ings for the first time in Cana­da.

The evening, host­ed by the Chu­mir Foun­da­tion for Ethics in Lead­er­ship and the Munk School of Glob­al Affairs at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to, will include a unique pan­el that exam­ines Vienna’s iden­ti­ty as a well­spring of artis­tic cre­ativ­i­ty and explores the break­down of Aus­tri­an soci­ety dur­ing two glob­al con­flicts. Pan­el­lists will also dis­cuss Austria’s delayed but now con­struc­tive efforts at rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, reflect on how cur­rent ten­sions in Europe alarm­ing­ly mir­ror past dan­ger­ous atti­tudes and con­sid­er the ways to respond.

A spe­cial com­mem­o­ra­tive musi­cal per­for­mance fea­tur­ing a cham­ber music ensem­ble from the world-renowned Vien­na Phil­har­mon­ic Orches­tra will fol­low.

WHAT:            Spe­cial Dis­cus­sion and Musi­cal Per­for­mance, The Arts in Vien­na: A Proud His­to­ry, A Painful Past

WHO:  
Oliv­er Rathkolb: One of Austria’s most influ­en­tial and pro­lif­ic his­to­ri­ans
Clemens Hells­berg: The Vien­na Philharmonic’s chair­man and first vio­lin­ist
Ran­dall Hansen: Direc­tor, Cen­tre for Euro­pean, Russ­ian and Eurasian Stud­ies
Valentin Inzko: Aus­tri­an High Rep­re­sen­ta­tive for Bosnia and Herze­gov­ina
Car­ol Off: Mod­er­a­tor and host of CBC Radio’s, “As It Hap­pens”

MUSIC:            Music: Vien­na Phil­har­mon­ic Cham­ber Ensem­ble

WHERE:          CBC Glenn Gould Stu­dio

WHEN:            Mon­day, March 17, 2014

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For press inquiries, press pass­es, or request for inter­views, con­tact:

David Nay­man
Chu­mir Foun­da­tion for Ethics in Lead­er­ship
Tel: 416–720-8891
david.nayman@utoronto.ca