Breaking the Silence

Irpin after it was liberated in March 2022.
Th. July 16, 2026
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Thomas Mann House (1550 N San Remo Drive, CA 90272)

A Literary and Musical Evening with Ukrainian Author Margaryta Surzhenko, Luis RosaLebron, and Andrew Krastins.

Language: English ・ By Invitation Only

Info

Join us in the living room of the Thomas Mann House for a literary recital and musical performance curated by 2026 Thomas Mann Fellow & Ukrainian author Margaryta Surzhenko. The evening will explore the relationship between silence, war, memory, and the struggle to regain one’s voice after trauma. Bringing together Surzhenko’s prose and autobiographical storytelling with live music by pianist Luis RosaLebron and violinist Andrew Krastins. Through readings and musical performances, the evening will explore what it means to speak when silence itself can feel both comforting and dangerous.
 
During her time in Los Angeles, 2026 Thomas Mann Fellow Margaryta Surzhenko reflects on her experiences with the war in Ukraine and the peculiarities of her life in Germany. She processes these thoughts in prose form, focusing on advocating democratic values and a culture of communication that connects people. Surzhenko will read from previously unpublished new work, accompanied by original music composed by RosaLebron and Krastins in response to her literary texts and performed on Thomas Mann’s historic Faustus piano. Acquired during Mann’s exile from Germany in the 1940s, the instrument serves as a material reminder of displacement and artistic resilience, creating a connection between different experiences of war, exile, and the healing power of art.

Participants

Margaryta Surzhenko

Margaryta Surzhenko is a writer. She graduated from the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (IAPM) in Kyiv in 2012 with a degree in political science and published her first book about the war in Luhansk in 2014. In 2015, she founded a website featuring innovative fairy tales, which brings together more than 300 texts. Margaryta Surzhenko has published five novels. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, she has been living in Germany and teaching creative writing. During her time in Los Angeles, Margaryta Surzhenko reflects on her experiences with the war in Ukraine and the peculiarities of life in multicultural Germany, adding a transatlantic perspective. She processes these thoughts in prose form, focusing on advocating democratic values and a culture of communication that connects people. Surzhenko is a 2026 Thomas Mann Fellow.

Luis RosaLebron
Luis RosaLebron is a composer, pianist, piano historian, and restorer of historic instruments, born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, into a family of amateur musicians and music lovers. His body of work consists of String Quartets, Piano Sonatas, violinpiano Sonatas, Songs, and currently crafting his first Symphony. In addition to composing and collecting exclusive music-related memorabilia, he also coaches college-level music students in score interpretation, with a strong commitment to engaging directly with the composer’s original intentions. A violist as well as pianist, RosaLebron is known for his unique compositional voice, which explores refreshing compositional aesthetic and the expressive possibilities of harmonic tension.
Andrew Krastins

Andrew Krastins is a violinist, scholar, and collector whose work bridges musical performance, historical research, and cultural preservation. Based in Los Angeles, he has a longstanding interest in American cultural history, particularly the musical traditions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. An avid collector of historical scores, recordings, and archival materials, he is deeply committed to preserving and reanimating the material history of music. In addition to his performance work, Krastins has supported scholarly initiatives dedicated to historical collections and archival engagement. His musical interests range from classical repertoire to lesser-known historical works, reflecting a broader fascination with the relationship between music, memory, and cultural transmission. His performances are marked by a deep sensitivity to musical storytelling and historical context, making him an especially compelling collaborator in programs that connect literature, history, and live performance.