Our Brundibár-Project
June 2026
Brundibár. An opera and a children's book inspired to our Brundibár. Reading and Gift Project for Children. Because the story of Aninka and Pepíček and the organ grinder Brundibár is a story about the power of friendship and solidarity. This is why we decided to produce a Ukrainian (2024) and a Hebrew edition (2025) of the Brundibár-children's book by Hannelore Brenner (text) and Maria Thomaschke (paintings) first published in September 2023 by Boosey & Hawkes with Co-publisher Edition Room 28. The Ukrainian and Hebrew edition are are part of our Brundibár-project. We give the books as gifts to children in the frame of events - readings or other occasions - to bring them a little joy and courage.
Inspirator of the Project
The project was inspired by the opera director Mstislav Pentkovsky, Riga/Latvia. When he held the first German edition in his hands in September 2023, his first thought was: "I think it would be wonderful if there was a Ukrainian edition to give to Ukrainian children as a sign of solidarity." That was the initial idea, the impuls for the author Hannelore Brenner to initiate a Ukrainian edition. Under the most terrible impression of October 7, 2023, the Hebrew edition followed. An accompanying text in the Hebrew edition (in Hebrew and in German) sheds light on our motives. You can download the German text and our flyer to the project (in English).
Flyer-brundibar_WEB_EN.pdf
PDF-Dokument [826.1 KB]
Songs from the opera Brundibár
The notes of the songs that you find in the children's book are made available by the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes on their website under the link: https://www.boosey.com/brundibar If you want to perform the opera, turn to this music publisher directly. They hold the performing rights. See: Brundibár.
Thanks for Support
Our sincere Thanks go to the Federal Foreign Office of Germany for supporting the production of the Ukrainian and Hebrew editions and for the greeting words from Ambassador Christian Heldt, Special Envoy for Relations with Jewish Organizations, Anti-Semitism Issues, International Affairs of the Sinti and Roma, Holocaust Remembrance.
PDF-Dokument [973.7 KB]
2025. Cooperation with J-Arteck Youth Education Center
On August 18, 2025, the Creative Summer Camp at the J-Arteck Youth Education Center ended this year’s international youth exchange—marking its 20th anniversary—with a performance of "Brundibár: Sound of Hope and Resistance" at the Pfefferberg Theater in Berlin.
The performance was made possible by the Ukrainian and Hebrew editions of the Brundibár children’s book, as many of the participants came from Israel and Ukraine, and the songs were sung in various languages. The project was also part of our Brundibár. Reading and Gift Project for Children.
Booklet (English) for Download.
J-Arteck-Brundibar-Projekt 2025.pdf
PDF-Dokument [3.1 MB]
Patronage Vladimir Jurowski
We are delighted that Vladimir Jurowski, General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera, has taken on the patronage of our project. In his letter to us, he explains the reasons behind his decision.
It is with the greatest gratitude that I am taking on the patronage of this project. The messages of the wonderful children's opera by Hans Krása and Adolf
Hoffmeister are universal and timeless: only together are we strong. We must trust in our strength, in friendship and humanity. Communicating these messages to Ukrainian children and children of all
nations is an important task that I am very happy to support.
I look forward to further contact and exchange and wish the project a great response, support and success.
On April 26, 2026, Vladimir Jurowski sat at the piano when two musical Brundibár readings—in German and Ukrainian—took place at the Pasinger Kulturfabrik in Munich. Vladimir Jurowski also directed the music. The music was newly arranged by Richard Whildst and performed by an ensemble from the State Opera, including our member Susanne Gargerle.
For information on the Munich events:
You find the three editions of the Brundibár children's book on Edition Room 28 where you can order it:
You can read about the motives for our Brundibár project on:
If you are interested in our project, we are happy if you contact us: info@room.net
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