On January 20, 2024, the kick-off event for the new transatlantic concert and discussion series Opera and Democracy, dedicated to the democratic potential of the opera – an art form that was also a great passion of Thomas Mann, took place in Los Angeles. Through various events in the USA and Germany, the series, developed by the Thomas Mann House and musicologist and 2023 Thomas Mann Fellow Kai Hinrich Müller, explores how opera can contribute to a diverse and inclusive democratic society.

The successful launch at the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles, where works by Kurt Weill, Lily Reiff, Richard Wagner, and Edmond Dédé were performed by the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra and renowned cellist Jan Vogler, followed by a panel discussion with Alex Ross, Kira Thurman and Daniela Solomon Levy, three renowned intellectuals of the international opera discourse, also resonated in the German media landscape.

→ To the Podcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur

→ To the article in the FAZ

Following the series' kick-off at the Thomas Mann House in January, the German premiere is now quickly approaching. On March 3, the second event in the series will take place in Munich, titled "Opera & Democracy: Den gewaltsam Verstummten zuhören …: Music and conversation about composers who were murdered during the Nazi era," in cooperation with the Bavarian State Opera and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.

→ To the event series