| In the beginning, we were planning
to make a recording of the Mauthausen Cantata during the performance
on 7.5.1995 at the former concentration camp and to publish it as a historical
document. After the experience of the liberation commemoration in Mauthausen - the place, the people, the speeches and the music - we felt we had to do more than just overcoming the past. And thus the idea to internationalise and generalise the "Mauthausen Project" was born. On the one hand something more concrete, almost a homage, to the many - mostly Jewish - victims in the countless concentration camps of the Nazis. On the other hand, the acceptance of the "Mauthausen Phenomenon" as something that concerns us and our future directly: the Hebrew outcry, the English ballad. Thus the idea of a MAUTHAUSEN TRILOGY nearly forced itself upon us. In less than two months, the Hebrew and English version of the Mauthausen Cantata were created - thanks to the help of Elinoar Moav Veniadis, Julie Dennis and Nadia Weinberg. They now stand side-by-side with the live version by Maria Farantouri, who was the first interpreter of the work that launched her great career as a singer thirty years ago. We wish to thank the composer who entrusted us with the production
of this outstanding historic document, as well as Simon Wiesenthal who
kindly made available to us his speech at Mauthausen and the drawings
and collages he created during his imprisonment at the concentration
camp. We are also grateful to Elinoar Moav Veniadis and Julie Dennis
for the translations of the texts, to Ina Koutoulas for the layout of
the booklet and to all the others who co-operated in this "production".
© Asteris Kutulas & Alexandros Karozas |
