The foundation of the project work is the video production "Luigi Nono - Il canto sospeso", published as a DVD edition with Claudio Abbado, Bruno Ganz, Susanne Lothar, Angelica Ippolito, Gian-Maria Volontè, Ben Kingsley, Umberto Eco and further contributors. The edition is available primarily to schools and educational institutions.

The Nono Project offers young people the opportunity to reflect on the conditions of their own situation. The project should open an access to the important topics of our cultures in Europe. It should help students to find their own way to develop democracy and human rights with regard to their own history and region.

The video productions in German, Italian, Polish, French, Dutch and English are available to pupils, teachers and multipliers in the educational sector. They should lead to an interdisciplinary dialogue. In this dialogue, education is taught and learned. Peace is educated and the awareness of the inalienability of human rights is developed.

The production is based on the composition "Il canto sospeso" by Luigi Nono. He selected ten last letters from resistance fighters for his choral work, which was commissioned by the WDR in 1956. These were written by young people, men and women from Greece, Russia, Poland, Italy, Bulgaria and Germany who resisted the Nazis and were murdered by the Wehrmacht in 1942 / 1943.

The letters are testimony of humanity and tolerance, of love and hope. They contain messages that still today give young people living example of values, culture, education and responsibility for their own actions and for the well-being of others.

Recordings

"Luigi Nono - Il canto sospeso"
Concept: Claudio Abbado, Jürgen Petzinger

• German
  With Claudio Abbado, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin (Rehersals Dietrich Knothe) and the soloists Barbara Bonney, Susanne Otto and Marek Torzewski. Speakers: Susanne Lothar, Bruno Ganz. Preface: Umberto Eco. For German-speaking schools und educational institutions (VHS/DVD 50 min - Sound: Sony Classical)
• Italian
  with Claudio Abbado, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin (Rehersals Dietrich Knothe) and the soloists Barbara Bonney, Susanne Otto and Marek Torzewski. Speakers: Angelica Ippolito, Gian Maria Volontè. Preface: Umberto Eco. For schools in Italy, dedicated to Scuola di Pace Montesole in Marzabotto/Provincia di Bologna (VHS/DVD 50 min - Sound: Sony Classical)
• English
  with Claudio Abbado, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin (Rehersals Dietrich Knothe) and the soloists Barbara Bonney, Susanne Otto and Marek Torzewski. Speaker: Ben Kingsley. International version in English language. Created in cooperation with Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD), Akademie für Tonkunst Darmstadt and the Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt INMM (released in January 2002 as "Darmstädter Edition") (DVD 45 Min. - Sound: Sony Classical)
• Dutch
  with Claudio Abbado, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin (Rehersals Dietrich Knothe) and the soloists Barbara Bonney, Susanne Otto and Marek Torzewski. Speaker: Pia Douwes. (DVD 45 Min. - Sound: Sony Classical)
• French
  with Claudio Abbado, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin (Rehersals Dietrich Knothe) and the soloists Barbara Bonney, Susanne Otto and Marek Torzewski. Speakers: Pupils of Lycée de l'Essouriau Les Ulis, France (DVD 45 Min. - Sound: Sony Classical)
• Polish
  with Claudio Abbado, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin (Rehersals Dietrich Knothe) and the soloists Barbara Bonney, Susanne Otto and Marek Torzewski. Speakers: Pupils of II Liceum Ogólnokształcące w Świdnicy, Poland (DVD 45 Min. - Sound: Sony Classical)
• German
  with Claudio Abbado, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin (Rehersals Dietrich Knothe) and the soloists Barbara Bonney, Susanne Otto and Marek Torzewski. Speakers: Pupils of Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium Berlin-Wilmersdorf (DVD 45 Min. - Sound: Sony Classical)

For additional versions (Greek and Russian are currently being considered), Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas has has taken over the patronage.

DVD Releases

• "Luigi Nono - Il canto sospeso" - Darmstädter Edition 2002
  includes the first three recordings in German, Italian and English. Released in cooperation with cooperation with Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD), Akademie für Tonkunst Darmstadt and the Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt INMM.
• "Luigi Nono - Il canto sospeso" - Edition EU 2004
  includes the first three recordings in German, Italian and English. Released in cooperation with Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung.
• "Luigi Nono - Il canto sospeso" - Edition EU 2013 Auswärtiges Amt
  includes the first three recordings in German, Italian and English. Released in cooperation with the German Federal Foreign Office under patronage of Dr. Guido Westerwelle.
• "Luigi Nono - Il canto sospeso" - Edition EU 2017
  includes the three recordings with french, polish and german students. Released under patronage of Piotr Fedorowicz (District Governor of Świdnicy) and Dietmar Woidke (Prime Minister of Brandenburg state)

The letters are read in the German version by Susanne Lothar and Bruno Ganz, in the Italian version by Angelica Ippolito and Gian Maria Volontè and in the English version by Ben Kingsley. In the other versions, the letters were read by students of the respective schools in the context of the project work.
The concert part of the video "Luigi Nono - Il canto sospeso" was recorded in the Berlin Philharmonie and enriched with images of contemporary history from World War II, Auschwitz and with works by Francisco de Goya, Pablo Picasso, Otto Dix, and Alberto Giacometti.

• Zum Nonoprojekt