Joza Karas Has Died

Joza Karas, Czech musician who lived in the U.S. since 1958, has died. He was a wonderful violinist and conductor, who lived in Bloomfield, Connecticut, a suburb of Hartford. It was my pleasure to meet Mr. Karas, at his home, because my parents knew him and adored him. Later, I bought his book, "The Music of Terezin", which describes the music-making at a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovaki during World War II. Mr. Karas researched music written by composers who were held in concentration camps. He discovered over 50 such compositions. He formed a string quartet whose main purpose was to perform works which were composed in the concentration camps.

From the New York Times newspaper of December 6, 2008:

"Joza Karas, a musician and teacher who became a sleuth in his quarter-century search for the music and stories of composers who managed to do masterly work in a Nazi concentration camp, died on Friday in Bloomfield, Conn. He was 82. . . ."

To read more, go here: Article About Joza Karas

Here is another obituary from The Washington Post

One of the works he conducted at the American premiere in 1975 is called "Brundibar", a children's opera in two acts. Later, Mr. Karas conducted a version in Czechoslovakia, which is published as a CD. Originall, in the camp, "Brundibar" was used as a show piece for visiting dignitaries of the Red Cross to show them how wonderful everything was at the camp. However, there was a subversive message in the story: The starving children decided to imitate Brundibar, the organ grinder, in order to get money. But, Brundibar stole the money back. He representated Hitler. In the end, the children were victorious and Brundibar was vanquished.

This is a picture of the children who performed Brundibar at the Nazi camp.

Here is an excerpt from the Brundibar (Act 1 Scene 1)