Schoenberg on Parnassus

THEATER PERFORMANCE:
Schoenberg on Parnassus

In its American premiere, London opera star Loré Lixenberg headlines a performance adaptation of world-famous scientist, writer and art collector Carl Djerassi’s genre-bending book Four Jews on Parnassus (Columbia University Press). In the book, Djerassi investigates the world of pre-war Vienna by imagining what four seminal Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century -- Arnold Schoenberg, Walter Benjamin, Gershom Scholem and Theodor Adorno -- might have said to one another about life, art, Jewish identity and even chess. This stage-adapted version of the dialogues is a multi-media experience featuring live performances of songs by Schoenberg, projections of the paintings of Paul Klee and new photography by Gabrielle Seethaler. Versions of Schoenberg on Parnassus have been staged throughout Europe, including at Cambridge University, the Freud Museum and the Bayreuth Festival. Djerassi is developing a unique presentation of it for its premiere at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. This production is directed by Isabella Gregor and produced by David Goldman.

The performance will be followed by a conversation with Carl Djerassi and as well as a book signing with Carl Djerassi.
Co-sponsored by the Stanford Institute for Creativity in the Arts and the National Center for New Plays at Stanford with support from the Mechanics’ Institute Library & Chess Room.

Sunday, February 7, 2010
2 PM

Contemporary Jewish Museum
736 Mission Street
(between Third and Fourth streets)
San Francisco, CA 94103

For more information please email info [at] thecjm.org or call 415.655.7800.

$25 General. Museum admission is included in the price of program.