
A.J. Goldmann

By A.J. Goldmann
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Berlin Celebrates Amalia Beer
Amalia Beer was one of 19th-century Berlin’s preeminent salonieres. The Brothers Grimm and Humboldt, the poet Heinrich Heine and composer Felix Mendelssohn were all regular guests at her famous soirées. On May 6, this vanished world was briefly resurrected in the confines of the Berlin Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Hall with a program that combined music…
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News Nazi Hunter Runs for German Presidency
Over decades, together with her husband, Serge Klarsfeld, Beate Klarsfeld has forged a name for herself as a fearless Nazi hunter, one whose achievements include bringing to justice Klaus Barbie, the so-called “Butcher of Lyon.” During this time, she has also been a staunch defender of Israel. But today, Klarsfeld is engaged in quite a…
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Culture Berlin Film Festival Gets Serious, Mostly
After an impressive few years of Israeli films showcased prominently at the Berlin Film Festival, there was a conspicuous dearth of Israeli fare this year. The Berlinale, which ran from February 9 to 19, has a reputation for tackling political issues. This year, it decisively chose to highlight films from hotbed countries, including Egypt, Yemen…
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The Schmooze Berlin Celebrates Louis Lewandowski Festival
This past weekend in Berlin, eight choirs from four continents took part in the first ever Louis Lewandowski Festival, named for the famed music director of Berlin’s New Synagogue in the late 19th century. The choristers hailed from Jerusalem to Johannesburg and Boston to Zürich, with detours to Strasbourg, Toronto and London. The headlining group…
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Culture Mixed Metaphors, Conflicts and Sex at Venice Film Fest
For the 11 days of the 68th Venice International Film Festival, which ran in September, the stars walked the red carpet of the Palazzo del Cinema, the main cinema venue adorned with flags of the 35 countries represented at this year’s installment of the world’s oldest film fest. From the middle of the building billowed…
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Culture Todd Solondz Unpacks Misery in Suburbia
“I have a weak character,” Todd Solondz said, bending forward in his chair. “When people like my movies, it makes me happy, and when they don’t, it makes me sad, and I wish I didn’t care.” My eyes lingered on the director’s small shock of gray hair, his vintage-looking shirt and his yellow Converse shoes….
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The Schmooze New Beginning in Brandenburg for Composer Joseph Achron
The virtually forgotten Lithuanian-Jewish composer Joseph Achron (1886-1943) is getting a premiere this weekend in the German city of Brandenburg an der Havel. As part of their season-long exploration of music suppressed by the Third Reich, the Brandenburg Symphoniker, conducted by Robin Engelen, will present the first German performance of Achron’s third violin concerto (and…
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Culture ‘Bach’ to the Future With Wanda Landowska
When Virgil Thomson saw Wanda Landowska perform at New York’s Town Hall in 1942, he wrote in the New York Herald-Tribune, “She plays the harpsichord better than anybody else ever plays anything.” The same year, The New Yorker’s Robert Simon added: “When I’ve heard Mme. Landowska play harpsichord music, the same music has never seemed…
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