Are you interested in music, World War II-era history, or both? On Friday, November 29 at 8 pm, the University of Michigan Contemporary Directions Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Oriol Sans, will be performing a concert in Hankinson Rehearsal Hall in the Earl V. Moore Building.
The headlining piece of this concert is an arrangement of “Die Schönste Zeit des Lebens,” or “The Most Beautiful Time of Life,” a popular foxtrot of the 1940s. The manuscript of this arrangement was recently discovered by University of Michigan professor of music theory, Dr. Patricia Hall, at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. It was arranged by prisoners at Auschwitz, and performed by the concentration camp’s orchestra. The Contemporary Directions Ensemble’s upcoming performance will be the first time that this arrangement has been heard since World War II.
