The 2011 Grammy awards are just days away, and one North Texan's nomination shines a light on music that was buried decades ago. A University of North Texas piano professor has been nominated for a Grammy for a piece of music that was originally composed by Paul Kletzki.
The music takes us back to another time, a time of suffering and persecution.
"They might have been a composer who was thrown into a concentration camp and killed, or it might be someone like Kletzki who had to flee Germany and lost everything," Banowetz said. "I feel the music should be performed. I feel it should be heard."
The Lost Composers Project is doing just that, giving life to music obscured by the Holocaust. Banowetz is one of the UNT professors involved in the project, and he's been nominated for a Grammy. With the help of an orchestra, Banowetz revived music of the Jewish composer Paul Kletzki.
"There is no question that his music has a tremendous significance," Banowetz said.
"It came from the basement of a bombed out hotel in Milan," UNT professor and the Lost Composers founder Timothy Jackson said. "The boxes he put his music survived the rubble, but it wasn't until 20 years later that they were dug out."
Jackson said Kletzki is one of ten composers whose music has been found. "Their music really did have something important to say about the times and the circumstances," Jackson said.
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He hopes Banowetz's Grammy nod will generate interest in the project."A lot of these composers suffered from neglect. Their music wasn't known," Jackson said.
It's a prestigious nomination, and they hope it brings justice to music that is finally being hear.
