The Siegmund Seligmann Foundation is a foundation under civil law with legal capacity. The foundation’s purpose is the idealistic and financial promotion of art and culture, research, education as well as religion and international understanding in the field of sacral Jewish music. For this reason, the Siegmund Seligmann Foundation has acquired the Villa Seligmann and established a place of encounter and research, that is operated by the Siegmund Seligmann Society e.V.
Board of Directors
Dr. Reinhard Geck, Chairman Retired lawyer and tax consultant Robert Cholewa, Deputy Former Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Mittelstand Commerzbank AG Michael Wieck, Treasurer Lawyer and notary, Wieck & Hölscher law firm
Board of Trustees
Dr. Sabine Johannsen, Chairwoman
Lower Saxony State Secretary for Science and Culture a. Dr. Franz Rainer Enste, Deputy Chairman
Dr. Franz Rainer Enste, former Deputy Chairman Commissioner of the Lower Saxony State Government against Anti-Semitism and for the Protection of Jewish Life Dirk Roßmann Founder of Dirk Rossmann GmbH Prof. Dr. Joachim Schachtner State Secretary in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture Martin Kind Managing Director of KIND GmbH & Co. KG Hans-JürgenDuensing Former member of the Executive Board of Continental AG
Volker Alt Chairman of the Management Board of Sparkasse Hannover
Herbert Flecken Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack GmbH & Co. KGDr.Johannes Janssen Director of VGH-Stiftung and Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung Prof. Dr. Jascha Nemtsov Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar History of Jewish Music Andrea Rey-Suter Seligmann family Heinz-Gerhard Wente Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Salzgitter AGLauraBerman Director of the Hanover State Opera Ronald Clark Director of Herrenhäuser Garten (ret.)
Prof. Andor Izsák, Honorary President
Former Director of the European Center for Jewish Music
Claudio Esteban Seleguan, Honorary Member of the Board of Trustees, Seligmann family Managing Director Pelikan Group GmbH
The Siegmund Seligmann Society e.V.
The Siegmund Seligmann Society is a registered non-profit association pursuing the promotion of research and culture, education as well as religion and international understanding in the field of Jewish music in accordance with the funding objectives of the Siegmund Seligmann Foundation. To this end, cultural events such as concerts, lectures and exhibitions with the content of Jewish music are organized and carried out by the association’s office. The office is institutionally funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and, since 2021, by the City of Hannover.
Board of Directors
Robert Cholewa – Chairman
Former Chairman of the Management Board of Mittelstand Commerzbank AG Dr. Reinhard Geck – Deputy Chairman
Michael Wieck Lawyer and notary, law firm Wieck & Hölscher Anne Remmers Advisor at the State Chancellery of Lower Saxony Daniela Finkelstein Head of Göttingen office Netzwerk für traumatisierte Flüchtlinge in Niedersachsen e. V. (Network for traumatized refugees in Lower Saxony)
Management and artistic direction
Eliah Sakakushev-von Bismarck has been Artistic and Managing Director of Villa Seligmann since 2018. His extensive responsibilities include artistic planning, business administration, fundraising, public relations, and event management. He was the director and initiator of various chamber music festivals in Germany, Spain and Bulgaria. He turned to music at an early age and attended a special school for professional musicians. At the age of 16 he became a student of cello at the University of Music in Vienna. He completed his concert examinations at the Musikhochschule Mannheim. He has performed on international stages as a chamber musician, orchestral cellist and soloist. Appointments as solo cellist in orchestras have taken him to Spain, Germany, Brazil and New Zealand. Eliah is fluent in six languages. He lives in Hanover with his wife Caroline von Bismarck and two children.
International Artistic Advisory Board
Prof. Dr. Edwin Seroussi (Israel, USA)Hebrew University Jerusalem University of Pennsylvania Prof. Dr. Jascha Nemtsov (Germany) Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar University of Potsdam University of Lüneburg Concert pianist Prof. Dr. Sarah Ross (Germany) European Center for Jewish Music, Hanover University of Music, Dance and Media Prof. Dr. Mark Kligman (USA) University of California in Los Angeles – The Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience Dr. Mark Kligman (USA) University of California in Los Angeles – The Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience Benjamin Maissner (Canada) Cantor Emeritus Holy Blossom Temple Toronto Yair Harel (Israel) The Piyyut Database The Jerusalem Massortiyut Conference Concert musician, singer Matt Austerklein (USA) Cantor, musicologist
