BACKThis morning, David Green will be appearing on Midweek to discuss his grandfather – Ignatz Waghalter.
Waghalter, a German-Polish Jewish composer, was renowned and celebrated during his lifetime for his rich, Romantic works. He was the first Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and introduced many of Puccini’s operas to the German public: he conducted debut performances of both Tosca and La Bohème. Due to his flight from Nazi Germany, followed by a stark change in compositional style after the Second World War, Waghalter’s works were lost and forgotten.
However, a chance meeting between violinist Irmina Trynkos and David Green led to the foundation of The Waghalter Project in order to reincarnate the composer’s repute through the performance and recordings of his works, together with conductor Alexander Walker. The Waghalter Project has recorded a CD of Waghalter’s complete violin repertoire, which has received a coveted “Supersonic Pizzicato” award, and was released on Naxos this October
To hear the personal stories of such an extraordinary musical figure, tune in to Midweek at 9:00 am on BBC Radio 4 here.