Born in Vienna in 1894, Wilhelm Grosz enjoyed an excellent education. After studying composition with Richard Heuberger and Franz Schreker, he graduated from the Academy of Music with honors in 1919. In the same year, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed two of his orchestral pieces. After a brief stint as a conductor, Grosz ventured into a career as a freelance pianist and composer. As early as 1922, he incorporated jazz elements into art music in his “Jazzband” Sonata for violin and piano. His dance grotesque “Baby in der Bar” and the operatic burlesque “Achtung, Aufnahme” were also in keeping with the New Objectivity zeitgeist. From 1927, Grosz lived in Berlin, where he enjoyed success as a conductor, piano accompanist, composer, and arranger at the Ultraphon record company.

When Adolf Hitler came to power, he was persecuted in Germany as a Jew and returned to Vienna. But even there, the Grosz family no longer felt safe and decided to move to London in 1934. The composer was able to earn a living with hits such as “Isle of Capri.” On the recommendation of his school friend Erich Wolfgang Korngold, he traveled to New York in May 1939. His onward journey to Hollywood was delayed by the outbreak of war. Wilhelm Grosz died unexpectedly on December 10, 1939, as a result of a heart attack and was subsequently forgotten.

Gottlieb Wallisch (piano) and Malina Höfflin (mezzo-soprano) will perform a selection of Grosz's works from the period between 1920 and 1938/39, and Albrecht Dümling will welcome Grosz expert Thomas Gayda for a talk.