Past events

POSTPONED: War of the Romantics - A Story in Words and Music

Sunday, March 15, 2020, at 3:00pm

The event has been POSTPONED  due to concerns related to coronavirus. All tickets will be refunded. We are working to identify a date to reschedule. Stay tuned for more info and stay healthy. 

Following its 2019 Philadelphia premiere and sold-out performances, War of the Romantics comes to NYC to tell the story about the most intense creative schism in the history of classical music and how our favorite Romantic composers became entangled in it. Guided by the vibrant, highly entertaining 19th century music critic, Gerhard Denhoff, we get an intimate look at those composers—not only as brilliant musicians, but above all, as people—imperfect, unvarnished, and profoundly human. Through an innovative approach that marries music with theater, the audience is transported directly into the fervency of the times. The performance is richly illustrated with the most beautiful musical selections of the Romantic period. Musical time travel—only better.

War of the Romantics 

- A Story in Words and Music

See trailer of the show HERE

Sunday, March 15, 3:00 p.m. 

The Kosciuszko Foundation: 15 E 65th Street, New York, NY 10065

A wine reception will follow the presentation.   

Tickets: $20 - KF Members/ $25 - Seniors, Students/ $30 - Regular Admission

Schumann, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Wagner - their music was divine; their lives were anything but.

War of the Romantics tells the story—in words and music—about the most intense creative schism in the history of classical music. During this period, composers, musicians, and audiences alike took sides in a dispute about the meaning of music—a dispute that grew to surprising intensity, complete with a war of words in the press and highly charged public demonstrations in concert halls—not unlike what occurs in today's politics! 

Through an innovative approach that marries music with theater, the audience is transported directly into the fervency of the times. Guided by the vibrant, highly entertaining 19th century music critic, Gerhard Denhoff, we get an intimate look at our favorite composers—not only as brilliant musicians, but above all, as people—imperfect, unvarnished, and profoundly human. Their music was divine; their lives were anything but. One part history, one part music, one part humor, and—as one would expect from the Romantics—drama. War of the Romantics is richly illustrated with a program of Romantic works that epitomize the intense emotions of the era and of the composers themselves. 

By inviting the audience to travel between past and present, reality and imagination—all on a firm foundation of historical facts—War of the Romantics creates an opportunity for a deeper appreciation of music in the context of its era in an intimate salon-style setting. The blurring of the lines between time and space combines what the audience is experiencing now with what the audiences experienced then. Musical time travel—only better.

War of the Romantics was written and directed by Ella Remmings. The cast features an award-winning international ensemble of creative artists, actors and musicians, including two Polish-born artists. 

John Hawthorn as Gerhard Denhoff

Katarzyna Salwinski, Pianist

Adelya Lindsay, Violist/Violinist 

Michal Schmidt, Cellist/Pianist 

Ella Remmings, Playwright and Director

The NYC performance of War of the Romantics has been produced by Image Makers Productions™, 62 Central Avenue, Berwyn, PA 19312. All rights reserved.

John Hawthorn, actor and baritone, plays the lead role of Gerhard Denhoff. His prior acting credits include Feste, the Jester in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Galileo in Bertolt Brecht's Life of Galileo, and Cajetan in John Osborne's Luther. John has been a singer since the age of eight, performing across multiple countries and continents. This long tenure gives him the unusual distinction, for a baritone, of once having sung soprano in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater.

John holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from McGill University and has worked as a content expert and presenter in the field of scholastic and academic testing. He successfully combines his interests in logic and philosophy of science with the love of cooking, gardening, walking, and bread-making. John is a native of Cheshire, United Kingdom. War of the Romantics marks his North American debut.

Ella Remmings is a Philadelphia-based author, playwright and director of Polish descent. She contributes to Arianna Huffington's Thrive Global and has published essays and opinion pieces on topics ranging from medicine and technology to folk beliefs. She especially enjoys writing about people and places—from salt-of-the-earth women in flowery babushkas to stiff-collared executives behind their mahogany desks. She spent several decades hanging out with both types. 

In addition to writing and directing War of the Romantics, which premiered in Philadelphia with a series of sold-out performances and is currently on a multi-city tour, Ella authored a full-length stage play, Gadius, and several collections of stories. In her former life, she was a healthcare executive, business writer, and editor-in-chief of several multilingual publications. She is a lifelong music and theater lover and—on occasion—performer and actor. www.ellaremmings.com

Katarzyna Marzec-Salwinski is a concert pianist based in Philadelphia. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras and chamber ensembles in Europe, United States, Middle East, and Japan. Equally versed in the solo and chamber repertoire, Ms. Salwinski has appeared in many concerts and concert series, including several  performances at Carnegie Hall, live recordings for radio and television, "Mostly Music" at NEIU in Chicago and "Concerts at One" in New York, performing under the batons of Jerzy Kosek, Luis Biava (of Philadelphia Orchestra), David Schrader and Jonathan Moser. Ms. Salwinski is a co-founder and Artistic Director of Fine Art Music Company (FAMC), a chamber music ensemble that regularly presents thematic programs in intimate salon settings, featuring accomplished musicians from the Philadelphia area. 

Adelya Lindsay is a prizewinning Russian - American violist and violinist. Her numerous awards include top awards at the "Andrey Korsakov All Russian Music Competition", "Eugen Coca International Music Competition", and "Togliatti International Competition", as well as the First Prize and Special Prize for the best performance of a commissioned work at the national "J.S.Bach Competition". In November 2016, Adelya Lindsay was announced the First Prize winner of the "American Protege International Competition", and a winner of the prestigious "The American Prize Competition". The former award won her an opportunity to give a solo performance in Carnegie Hall in December 2016. Adelya Lindsay returned to Carnegie Hall in June 2019 for a solo performance as a top winner of the LISMA International competition (August 2017). As a winner of Beverly Hills National Auditions (May 2018) she successfully toured California with concerts in May 2019.

Michal Schmidt, described as "an inspired and inspiring musician, a captivating artist"  is an Israeli musician who is active as cellist and pianist. She is a member of numerous performing ensembles including Philadelphia's Network for New Music, Piano4,Trio Camille, Trio MiReSol and Trio Tiadam in Israel.

Ms. Schmidt  majored in both piano and cello at Tel Aviv Univeristy's Rubin Academy of Music and on a scholarship from the Israeli Arts Council she continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England. There, she received Artist Diplomas with Distinction on both instruments in a single year.

In the US Michal studied at the Curtis Institute of Music under cellist David Soyer (The Guarneri Quartet), she recieved her Masters in Cello Performance at the University of the Arts under Lorne Monroe (principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra) and her doctorate at Temple University, under the tutelage of Jeffrey Solow.

Featured visuals:

(In the event poster) Ride of the Valkyries by William T. Maud, 1890

Chopin's Concert by Henryk Siemiradzki - Chopin sitting at the piano at Prince Radziwiłł's salon, 1829.

The NYC performance of War of the Romantics has been produced by Image Makers Productions™, 62 Central Avenue, Berwyn, PA 19312. All rights reserved.

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