Peter Ury was born in Ulm in 1920 as the child of the Jewish pediatrician Sigmar Ury and his wife Fanny Hedwig. He is one of many Jewish composers, mostly unknown today, who had to leave Germany for England in 1939 due to persecution by the National Socialists.
In his texts and works, Peter Ury deals with his escape from Germany and his religious background. A large part of his musical output consists of song compositions for voice and piano. His estate includes settings of poems by Else Lasker-Schüler and Erich Fried, with whom he was also friends.
The concert provides unique insights into Peter Ury’s compositional and musical-dramaturgical work. The focus is on his work “Judas Kiss”. Ury’s interpretation of the biblical story and ideas for the rehabilitation of Judas Iscariot are illustrated using archival documents and surviving songs.
