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Lest we forget – Siemens to honor work of “ostracized” musicians with 3D recording 

In addition to the Piano Concerto Opus 25, the new recording, which comprises an audio CD and Blu-ray, includes Ullmann’s piano sonatas No. 3 (1940) and No. 7 (1944), which were recorded by Annika Treutler in the Church of Jesus Christ in the Dahlem district of Berlin. The album will be released on the Berlin Classics label (Edel) on January 31, 2020.
“My aim is to make Ullmann’s music as highly regarded and as well-known as the work of those of his great contemporaries who were not persecuted. The work deserves it! In his music, Ullmann developed a very special language and a tonality all his own,” said Annika Treutler in tribute to the composer. 
Commenting on the project, Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG, said: “January 27, 2020 is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The immeasurable evil suffered by the many victims of the German concentration camps and of Nazi crimes in general is an immediate part of our history and must never be forgotten. With this gesture, Siemens would also like to make a contribution in this regard.”
Stephan Frucht, Artistic Director of the Siemens Arts Program, added: “I believe we have a duty to give voice to the artists who were not allowed – or were no longer able – to express themselves during their lifetimes. These include the many Jewish artists who never had the freedom necessary to fully unleash their creative potential.”
The Nazi’s crimes, which also led to Ullmann’s early death, made it impossible for an entire generation of musicians to express their artistic abilities. The pianist Annika Treutler and the conductor Stephan Frucht aim to honor Ullmann’s work as a composer and keep the memory of that work alive. As a result, the project will – in addition to the music recordings – include an audiovisual art installation, lectures, concerts and events.
About Viktor Ullmann
Viktor Ullmann (1898-1944) was an Austrian composer, conductor and pianist. In 1942, he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he managed to produce an important part of his work. There, he wrote Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of Atlantis), Die Weise von Liebe und Tod (The Way of Love and Death) and Piano Sonata No. 7, which is also included on the present recording. On October 18, 1944, Ullmann was murdered shortly after his deportation to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Most of his early work has been lost. The surviving compositions include four piano sonatas, two operas and the Concerto Opus 25. Ullmann composed this concerto in 1939 while still in Prague. He was denied the opportunity to realize his plan to perform the piece in Theresienstadt. It premiered in 1992 in Stuttgart. 

Going Digital against oblivion - tribute to the murdered composer Viktor Ullmann

75 years ago, the composer Viktor Ullmann was murdered in Auschwitz. The Siemens Arts Program wants to keep alive the memory of Viktor Ullmann, representing numerous artists who were expelled and murdered by the National Socialists. We hope that Ullmann's music will be (re)discovered by many people all over the world. Therefore, we have started an audiovisual art project with the pianist Annika Treutler and the media artist Alexander Stublić.

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Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of power generation and distribution, intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, and automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Through the separately managed company Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is shaping the world market for passenger and freight services. Due to its majority stakes in the publicly listed companies Siemens Healthineers AG and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital healthcare services as well as environmentally friendly solutions for onshore and offshore wind power generation. In fiscal 2019, which ended on September 30, 2019, Siemens generated revenue of €86.8 billion and net income of €5.6 billion. At the end of September 2019, the company had around 385,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet www.siemens.com.
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Konstanze Somborn 

Siemens AG

Werner-von-Siemens-Straße 1                       
80333 Munich
Germany

+49 (89) 636 36641

Anke Bobel 

Siemens Arts Program

+49 30 386-20278