Sunday Salon

When music hurts! Playing Wagner in Israel- Pro and con can art transcend prejudice?
Moderated with Jason Calloway, Cellist of the Amernet Strong Quarter

Following last month’s screening of the documentary Wagner’s Jews, we invite you to join a discussion exploring the following:

Art has long been regarded as a universal language, one that speaks across cultural, historical, and ideological boundaries. Yet history reminds us that art does not exist in a vacuum; it is inevitably shaped by the moral and political contexts in which it is created and received.

This tension becomes especially poignant in the case of Richard Wagner, one of the most influential composers of the 19th century and also a notorious anti-Semite whose writings later resonated with Nazi ideology.

The controversy over performing Wagner’s music in Israel, a nation profoundly marked by the Holocaust, raises deep ethical and aesthetic questions. Can music so closely associate with such a painful history be separated from its creator’s prejudice? Or should art always be considered inseparable from the moral character of its maker?

While our discussion will focus on Wagner’s legacy, these questions extend far beyond one composer. They challenge us to consider how we respond to artists and artworks that reflect bias, intolerance, or moral contradiction in our own time.

RSVP to Etta Gold, [email protected]

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