Herbert Zipper

Herbert Zipper (April 24, 1904 in Vienna, Austria – April 21, 1997 in Santa Monica, California) was an internationally renowned composer, conductor, and arts activist.

He grew up in an affluent Jewish family in Vienna, the cultural center of Europe, where he and his family rubbed shoulders with many of the leading writers and artists of the time. On May 27, 1938, Herbert and two of his brothers were arrested in their home and sent to Dachau concentration camp. [cite web |url=http://www.americanfilmfoundation.com/order/herbert_zipper.shtml |title=Never Give Up |accessdate=2008-06-11 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=americanfilmfoundation.com] Zipper would spend a horrifying year in this camp, but instead of sinking into despair, he used the experience to develop his character and his love for humanity, often volunteering for the most demeaning of jobs. It also became a time for him to explore the true meaning of art in human lives, and he discovered not only the immense power of the arts, but the joy of giving. While in Dachau, Zipper used music and poetry to bolster the spirits of the other inmates. He eventually gathered a group of approximately 14 prisoner musicians and instruments to form a motley crew orchestra for which he composed music. The orchestra held secret rehearsal and concerts on Sundays in an unused latrine. Zipper said that the concerts were not for entertainment, but a means of keeping alive some small measure of civilization and of restoring value to their lives. While at Dachau, Zipper encountered the poet and writer, Jura Soyfer, whom he had known in Vienna. Together they wrote a song “Dachau Lied,” that was passed through the camp and eventually made its way to other camps providing strength and hope to the prisoners.

On September 23, 1938, Zipper was transferred to Buchenwald because of overcrowding at Dachau. Zipper and his brothers were fortunate that during their arrest, their father Emil Zipper had been in London trying to secure documents for the family to leave Austria. Emil was eventually able to secure the release of his sons. Zipper and his brothers were released on February 21, 1939 and returned home to Vienna. Zipper and one of his brothers traveled to join the rest of the family on March 16 in Paris. On May 3 of that year, Zipper received a call from the Philippines asking if he would accept the position of conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. Zipper’s fiancé’, renowned dancer Trudl Dubsky, had been working in Manila since 1937 and had recommended him for the post. Zipper accepted and joined Trudl in Manila, where they were married on October 1, 1939.

Although the orchestra was of poor quality, Zipper’s skill and enthusiasm soon led to successful concerts. Then disaster struck. The Japanese invaded Manila, and Zipper found himself a prisoner again. After a short stay, he was released, and he and Trudl spent the next few years helping friends and trying to stay alive, having lost what few belongings they had accumulated. Zipper made many friends while in Manila, including General MacArthur’s wife, who helped him organize a victory concert after the Allies liberated the island.

In 1946, Zipper and his wife joined the rest of his family in the United States. His main reason for the trip was as a fundraising mission for the Philippine Cultural Rehabilitation Program that he had helped start. After only a few months, he received word that the program had been put on hold. While that project stalled, Zipper became burdened for what he saw as a deficit in arts education in U.S. schools and embarked on what would be his major life work — to help start community arts programs. In 1947, Zipper was offered a teaching post at The New School for Social Research in New York that had been founded in 1918 by Alvin Johnson, as one of the country’s first adult education centers. Over the next few decades, Zipper went on to start many community art centers throughout the country. He also worked on reviving the disbanded Brooklyn Symphony, a group which had not been active since their conductor Sir Thomas Beecham returned to England. Zipper’s role of conductor with the Brooklyn Symphony focused much of their work on school outreach programs while Zipper became increasingly involved in championing racial equality, social justice, and environmental causes.

In 1953, Zipper took the position of director of the Winnetka School of Music in Chicago where he worked during the main school year and then returned to Manila each summer to conduct a summer concert series. Winnetka was a community art school that served children and adults in afternoon and evening programs. In 1954, through a large fundraising effort, the school was moved to a better location, expanded, and renamed the Music Center of North Shore. Through this school, Zipper organized a professional orchestra whose purpose was to play concerts in public schools. In 1972, Zipper took a job in California as the project director for the School of Performing Arts at USC. His beloved wife and partner Trudl died in 1976 of lung cancer. Despite his grief, Zipper continued his zeal for the arts and in the early 1980s began trips to China where he served as a teacher, arts advocate, and conductor. Zipper remained active in the arts until his death in 1997 at age 92.

ources

* Cummins, Paul. "Dachau Song: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper"

External links

* [http://www.nationalguild.org/publications/Zipper.htm Biography at nationalguild.org]
* [http://www.zipperhall.com/ Herbert Zipper Concert Hall at The Colburn School]