EMERGING FROM THE SHADOWS: REDISCOVERING THE LEGACIES OF WEINBERG AND KORNGOLD

How do artists keep creating even in the darkest of times? How did the life-altering events of World War II shape our musical landscape up to today? This documentary uncovers the poignant stories of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Two 20th-century composers of profound artistry, whose legacy is only recently being rediscovered after having been overshadowed in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The film follows the album recording of Four time GRAMMY®-nominated US-conductor Constantine Orbelian, chief conductor of the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, and Israel-based cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper who hope to facilitate the transcendence of the two composers’ legacy: Out of the shadows and towards the recognition their music deserves. In adjacent segments we delve into the history of Weinberg’s and Korngold’s very contrasting lives. Born respectively in Warsaw and Vienna and bound by their Jewish heritage, both composers were forced to flee the horrors of the Holocaust during World War II: Weinberg finding refuge in the far eastern part of the U.S.S.R. before resettling to Moscow, while Korngold fled to the USA and established himself as a film score composer in Hollywood. In today's turbulent times, 80 years after the end of World War II, the documentary "Emerging from the Shadows" reminds us how artistic resilience and integrity are values worth fighting as much as ever.