321

The city of Cologne will celebrate 1,700 years of Jewish life in the year 2021: the history of the oldest Jewish community north of the Alps dates back to 321. To mark this, the Gürzenich Orchestra will dedicate its New Year’s concert in Cologne Philharmonic Hall to Jewish composers, telling exciting, entertaining and varied stories in music: the spectrum encompasses greats of the 19th century such as Giacomo Meyerbeer and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, a composer like Erwin Schulhoff, who paid with his life because he was of Jewish descent, or those like Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Kurt Weill, who were able to flee Nazi terror in Europe in the 20th century. With clarinettist Sharon Kam and singer Tora Augestad, two fascinating soloists will enrich the programme; the young conductor Joshua Weilerstein will conclude with original Jewish-American sounds.