The composer Viktor Ullmann was born in Teschen (near today’s border between the Czech Republic and Poland) in 1898. After studies with Arnold Schoenberg in Vienna, he was appointed conductor at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, where he worked for ten years under the direction of Alexander Zemlinsky until he took a position at the Staatstheater Zurich. His compositions were performed to high acclaim; twice he won the coveted Hertzka Prize.

After 1933, his professional life turned increasingly difficult. He eventually returned to Prague, where he made a living by giving private piano lessons and writing music criticism. In 1942, he and his family were taken to the concentration camp of Terezin, where he continued to compose and, ironically, created some of his most beatuiful works. On 16 October 1944, however, shortly before the ghetto premiere of his opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis, he was transported, along with his family and many of his fellow musicians, to Auschwitz, were most of them perished in the gas chambers.

Music in Terezín:
A VIKTOR ULLMANN CENTENNIAL
Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 2-7, 1998 

In early October 1998, the community of Ann Arbor celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Viktor Ullmann with a series of events involving faculty, students, and alumni of the University of Michigan's School of Music, members of the Jewish communities, members of the Anthroposophic Society of America, and other Ullmann enthusiasts.

Sunday, 9/27	8:00 p.m. "Terezin 1944: The Emperor of Atlantis and Its Composer" First Unitarian Universalist Church, Washtenaw Avenue		The Klein Lecture, Talk and introduction to the centennial		Dr. Siglind Bruhn, musicologist, organizer, V. Ullmann Centennial
Saturday, 10/3	8:00 p.m. Macintosh Theater School of Music		Concert performance of the opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis		faculty, students, alumni, and guests of the School of Music; Bradley Bloom, conductor
Sunday, 10/4	4:00 p.m. Recital Hall, School of Music		Chamber Concert with Ullmann compositions from the two Terezín years		Freda Herseth, mezzosoprano; a graduate string quartet: Robert Kolben, piano; Elaine Sargous, recitor; Siglind Bruhn, piano
Monday, 10/5	8:00 p.m. Rudolf Steiner House 1923 Geddes Ave		Mini Symposium "Viktor Ullmann"		Marcus Gerhardts, Dornach, "Ullmann and Anthroposophy" Robert Kolben, Munich, "The Emperor of Atlantis: A Late Mystery Play"
Wednesday, 10/7	4:00 p.m. Recital Hall, School of Music		Vocal Recital and Choir Concert		Freda Herseth, mezzosoprano; Julia Broxholm, soprano, Siglind Bruhn, piano; members of the Zamir Choral, Benjamin Cohen, conductor

Der Kaiser von Atlantis: Provokation in Terezin
(article, German)