… als ob Musik die Welt verändern könnte.

Stefan Litwin is a pianist, composer and teacher. In his activities, practice and reflection, doing and thinking come together. He comes from the (second) Viennese School and therefore prefers music where, according to Adorno, comfort ceases and which, according to Schönberg, "does not want to decorate but to be true", which offers resistance and which - as a player and listener - must be conquered. He asks them about their meaning and their backgrounds and likes to present the answers in lecture-recitals or essays that draw surprising insights from works by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Schönberg, Eisler or the American mavericks Ives, Cage and Rzewski. Litwin is the son of Jewish parents who escaped Hitler's henchmen with luck and courage. His complicated transatlantic family history and reflections on the causes of fascism, intolerance and violence have politicized him and influenced his repertoire and the themes of his compositional works. He has exchanged ideas with and befriended some of the brightest and most critical minds in the music intellectual scene, plays, composes and describes "committed" music and thus opposes views that seek to establish "the political harmlessness of all artistic products".

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