Marcel Tyberg MUSICAL Legacy Fund
The Foundation’s Marcel Tyberg Musical Legacy Fund was established in 2005 to preserve the original musical scores of Marcel Tyberg, to promote their performance, publication and recording, and to introduce his extraordinary music to national and international audiences.
Marcel Tyberg (1893-1944) was born in Vienna, Austria. Both of his parents were classical musicians. He distinguished himself as a conductor, pianist, and teacher but is now principally remembered as a composer. His compositional works include piano sonatas, liturgical music, string ensemble works, lieder (with settings of German and English poems), dance music (under the pseudonym Til Bergmar) as well as three symphonies ‘on the scale of Mahler.’ Tyberg’s music has only recently re-emerged although his life echoes that of countless composers and musicians targeted by the Nazi regime in 1930s and 1940s Europe.
After the death of his father in 1927, Marcel moved with his mother to Abbazia, then in Nothern Italy, now the city of Opatija in Croatia. As World War II intensified, Tyberg feared persecution due to his Jewish ancestry. Anticipating his likely deportation by the Nazi regime, he entrusted his catalogue of works to a dependable friend, Dr. Milan Mihich. Soon thereafter, Tyberg was arrested in a night raid and sent via cattle car from Abbazia to the camps of San Sabba and subsequently Auschwitz, where he was murdered on December 31, 1944.
In 1945, following the end of the War and the occupation of Abbazia by the Communist Yugoslavians, Dr. Milan Mihich and his family fled to safety in Milan, Italy. The family was only able to take their most precious family possessions, but thankfully, they saved the entirety of Tyberg’s catalogue. In 1948 Dr. Mihich died, and the music and related responsibilities were left to his son and Tyberg’s former harmony and piano student Enrico Mihich, then a medical student at the University of Milan. Dr. Enrico Mihich later came to Buffalo to join the research team at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He had an illustrious career as a groundbreaking scientist at Roswell becoming internationally recognized for his many contributions to the field of immunotherapy. He retired in 2010 and passed away in 2018.
Dr. Enrico Mihich was a lifelong lover of classical music and opera and was the faithful custodian of the originally handwritten scores composed by his beloved teacher, Marcel Tyberg. Together with the Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra music director JoAnn Falletta, he brought this magnificent and inspiring music back to life. Thus fulfilling the commitment made by this father so many years before.
On September 13, 2022 the Artists of the Florestan Recital Project performed The Marcel Tyberg Legacy Concert: Piano and Vocal Music at Kleinhans Music Hall
The Tyberg Musical Legacy Fund
In order to obtain the funds required to transcribe the manuscripts for performance and recording, Dr. Mihich and the Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies organized the Marcel Tyberg Musical Legacy fund. Advisory Committee consists of Peter Fleischmann, Chair, Sylvia Mihich, JoAnn Falletta, Daniel Hart, Lucinda Hohn, Zachary Redler, Alison d’Amato, Aaron Engebreth, & Irving Levy, Executive Director.
Tyberg’s two piano sonnatas were premiered in 2006 at Temple Beth Zion in Buffalo, New York featuring pianist Katya Grineva. His third symphony was performed in concert by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008 and his second symphony in 2011. Both works have been included in the Buffalo Philharmonic’s multi-year recording project of Tyberg’s works on the international NAXOS label, recording and publishing the music of Marcel Tyberg.
Pianist, Alison d’Amato and Baritone, Aaron Engebreth
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
JOANN FALLETTA, MUSIC DIRECTOR
Multiple Grammy Award-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center, and Artistic Adviser of the Hawaii Symphony. Recently named as one of the 50 great conductors of all time by Gramophone Magazine and among the top 10 conductors today by David Hurwitz of ClassicsToday.com, she is hailed for her work as a conductor, recording artist, audience builder and champion of American composers.
As Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American ensemble and has been credited with bringing the Philharmonic to an unprecedented level of national and international prominence. The Buffalo Philharmonic has become one of the leading recording orchestras for Naxos, with two Grammy Award-winning recordings.
After earning her bachelor’s degree at Mannes, Falletta received master’s and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School. She was appointed Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998. Working with Dr. Enrico Mihich, she has been an enthusiastic champion of Marcel Tyberg’s music.
Since the Tyberg Legacy project’s founding in 2005, JoAnn Falletta has been an enthusiastic champion of Marcel Tyberg’s music. She remarks, ” Thanks to Dr. Mihich, I discovered a treasure. Tyberg, while honoring classical Germanic tradition, pointed the way to a new era. His musical language is strong, individual and compelling. It certainly deserves to be widely heard and appreciated.”
For more information, visit www.joannfalletta.com.
The Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies would be honored to assist you and your family in preserving your legacy.