Welcome to the Hugo Kauder Society
Symphony No. 1 US premiere
We are proud to have been able to partner with The Orchestra Now, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and several affiliated archives to bring Hugo Kauder’s music back to life.
A good place to start is the video of a conversation that YIVO presented about Kauder’s life and ideas. It’s a fascinating discussion between scholar, biographer, and pianist Dr. Karin Wagner and YIVO’s Director of Public Programs and composer Alex Weiser. Watch here.
YIVO also presented an intimate evening of Kauder works including his 1916 Sonata for Violin and Piano that Kauder then built out to make his first Symphony, along with a selection of his vocal works. A recording will be available in early 2023.
We welcomed Karin Wagner to New York, and attended Kauder concerts at Bard, made discoveries at the Kauder archive at the NY Public Library’s Performing Arts Division, and had planning meetings with Elysium: Between Two Continents for their 3-day Spring 2023 symposium: Innovators in Exile at the Austrian Culture Forum. This will highlight the work of the Kauder and fellow composers who escaped to the US and remade their careers here.
Kauder’s Symphonie #1, written between 1920 and 1921, had its American premiere, played by The Orchestra NOW with Leon Botstein conducting at Bard College on October 29/30. The NYC premiere was at Carnegie Hall on November 3rd. We’re thrilled to share this fantastic review which contains a special shoutout to Society Manager Karl Warner.