November 2012

Author and Villa Aurora Fellow Daniela Dröscher will read from her latest novel, POLA. She describes the exciting life of Pola Negri, one of the most dazzling figures of silent film in Hollywood and Berlin.

In the second half of the evening, she will be joined by the Berlin band Frantic Ground.

The event is organized by Johan de Blank and Michael J. Stephan as part of the “Literarische Freiheit” series.

Venue: SODA Salon, Kulturbrauerei Berlin, Knaackstraße 97, Berlin.

Concert featuring DANIEL SERAFIN & JASNA POPOVIC. Followed by Reception for the Artists.

Daniel Serafin was born in Vienna to a German father and Austrian mother.He is a graduate of the Vienna Conservatory, and continued his vocal studies in Salzburg, Paris and at Juilliard. Serafin has been praised as a young artist of outstanding promise, both at home in the classics and modern works.His repertoire spans from Puccini to Mozart and Benjamin Britten, but he feels equally comfortable in an Offenbach Operetta or singing Tango music.

He enthusiastically studies and performs the music of composers who fell victim to the Nazi era. His song recital “Persecuted Composers, Persecuted Music” features works by Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Berg, Zeisl, Schoenberg and Mahler. After initial concerts at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York and at Villa Aurora, Los Angeles, Mr Serafin will perform this program in Boston, Miami and Tel Aviv.

For more information: www.DanielSerafin.com

Jasna Popovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, where she received her first piano lesson at age six, and later attended the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, Germany. The recipient of numerous awards, she has performed at festivals throughout Europe, most notably in Germany, Austria and Italy. An avid promoter of Serbian composers, Popovic is the co-founder of a new organization for artists interested in international exchange of culture. In additition to her own career as a soloist, she is a sought-after accompanist for singers and enjoys participating in chamber music ensembles. Jasna Popovic resides in New York City.

Presented by the Austrian-American Council West, the Austrian Consulate General and Villa Aurora

Villa Aurora. 520 Paseo Paseo Miramar

Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Tickets are:

$10 (Friends of Villa Aurora)

$20 (General)

11. November, 15:00 Uhr

On November 14 starting at 8:00 p.m., Villa Aurora Night will take place at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. Works of the artists, who stayed at Villa Aurora in Los Angeles in 2011 and 2012 will be presented via video documention along with those, who will be travelling to Pacific Palisades in 2013. The evening will be featuring Michael Maierhof at the grand piano as well as Dietrich Brüggemann. They and DJane Christine Lang will give the event a transatlantic spirit.

Like no other venue Tempelhof Airport represents the historically unique relationship between Germany and the United States. From June of 1948 to May of 1949, during the blockade of West Berlin, American planes supplied West Berlin with food and other vital items, at times in 90-second intervals.

The event will take place in hall „Ankunft Europa" (Arrival Europe)

Since 1995 Villa Aurora has engaged in a transatlantic dialogue, enabling up to 16 artists yearly to live and work as fellows in Los Angeles. The program is supported by the Foreign Office and the Federal Commission for Culture and Media. In addition Villa Aurora Forum Berlin organizes lectures, concerts, exhibitions and film screenings to present the works of the fellows in Germany.

PROGRAM:

7:30 p.m.: Doors open
8:00 p.m.: Program begins

Opening Remarks
Philip D. Murphy (American Ambassador to Berlin)
Dr. Ingeborg Berggreen-Merkel (Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media)
Dr. Michael Naumann (former Secretary of State for Culture and Media)

Stunt-Flying
Michael Maierhof, splitting 36.4  for piano, sonic motors, vibrating systems and tape (Premiere)
Dietrich Brüggemann, silent film une partie d'auto plus live accompaniment
Video-Documentation of works by fellows 2011 to 1013
DJ Christine Lang

Venue:
Hall „Ankunft Europa" (Arrival Europe) at the Tempelhof Airport in Berlin)

Enter through main entrance: Tempelhofer Damm.
Paid parking available.

More than 400 guests from the cultural world, politics and business celebrated Villa Aurora Night on November 14th at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.

Right out front the party the legendary „Rosinenbomber“ (Candy Bomber) reminded the attendees of the close relationship between the Unites States and Germany, alive and well at Villa Aurora through its cultural and artistic fellowship program.

U.S. ambassador Philip D. Murphy paid tribute to the work done by Villa Aurora: “In my opinion, artists are in unique positions to help people to listen and learn and share. And so, I would like to thank the Villa Aurora Forum and its supporters for the opportunities it provides to young German artists to do just that. (…) Thank you for the contributions you have already made to the German-American partnership. I am sure the best is yet to come.” (Read more)

Dr. Ingeborg Berggreen-Merkel, representing the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media gave a special mention to the film fellows, whose films have been attracting international attention.

Former Secretary for Culture and founding member of Villa Aurora, Dr. Michael Naumann, traced the arc from the opening of the artists’ residence to today, and reminded the guests of Feuchtwanger and other exiled writers, who found a new home in the USA.

Around 50 fellows, spanning from 2011 to 2013, were represented with a selection of their work in a video documentation. Filmmaker Dietrich Brüggemann, whose film „3 Zimmer, Küche, Bad“ premiered in German movie theaters in October accompanied the silent slapstick „Une partie d’auto“ on the piano. Hamburg-based composer Michael Maierhof premiered his work splitting 36.4 for grand piano, sonic motor, vibrating systems and additional sounds, not playing the keys, but the strings inside the body of the instrument.

DJ Christine Lang managed the rest of the night spinning dance music.

Once again Airport Tempelhof, home for Villa Aurora Night 2012, proved to be another mile stone for ongoing and active transatlantic relations.