»In many countries, music was the force that reunited artist-emigrants who had been scattered« reads the programme for the recital by Berlin pianist Elżbieta Sternlicht, who comes originally from Warsaw.
The concert was dedicated to emigrants and to a dark time that must »never happen again«, even if its ghosts seem to be rising up more and more frequently these days.
Back then, several Jewish musicians from Germany and Austria emigrated to Japan, where they established themselves as composers, conductors and pedagogues.
The influence of these Jewish-German musicians on the local musical landscape – and on Japanese composers, in particular – is undisputed.
This was also clearly audible in the programme of the two piano recitals by Elżbieta Sternlicht.
The Berlin concerts in 2016 revived the memories of Jewish composers, conductors and pedagogues whose work had a significant impact on the artistic development of music in Japan.
Ludwik Lewin
Słowo Żydowskie, Warsaw, October 2017