During the recent lockout of a musical group with which I happen to have a tangential, though significant, connection, I asked, as a part of their family, so to speak, for their help in coming forward with die zauberflote at the level of the press. That seemed to me to create a win-win situation — something this group could really use right now.
However, that request was declined, and so now I am moving forward on my own. I will be scheduling concerts in the near future, to formally share die zauberflote and its extraordinary significance with the common people of the state of Minnesota — the salt of the earth, so to speak. I will also begin to address the issues that have prevented me from coming forward before now. I will also do my best to put die zauberflote of the 21st century and Wolfgang Mozart of the 18th century in context. A more profound mystery in the history of classical music I will defy anyone to present.
My concerts at this point will include only music of other locked-out performers. Of course, that means the music of Wolfgang Mozart who was indeed locked-out of the respect and affluence that he deserved by those who despised him and caused his untimely death. They will also, I hope, include the music of some of those musicians, especially women who composed, who were sucked into the wicked vortex of the Holocaust and its horrible camps. What I have suffered is merely superficial to what those courageous and brilliant women did. One example is quote from the astounding violinist Alma Rose, niece of our beloved Gustav Mahler, who created an orchestra in Auschwitz, keeping many women alive, with urged them to do their best with this gruesome reminder — “play well or we go to the gas”.
Le Chant du Rossignol...(song of the nightingale) 