‘East West Street : A song of Good and Evil’

Directed by Nina Brazier
Written by Philippe Sands
Performed by Katja Rieman, Philippe Sands, Laurent Naouri and Guillaume de Chassy

East West Street: A Song of Good and Evil is an acclaimed piece inspired by human rights lawyer Philippe Sands’ prize-winning book East West Street (Penguine/Randomhouse 2016), which explores the origins of genocide and crimes against humanity. Focussing on the remarkable, connected stories of his grandfather and three key individuals in the Nuremberg Trials - Cambridge academic Hersch Lauterpacht, Polish prosecutor Raphael Lemkin, and Hitler's lawyer Hans Frank – the performance is based on the words, images and music that connected the men, from Bach and Beethoven, to Rachmaninov and Leonard Cohen. This extraordinary work is narrated by Sands and award-winning German actress Katja Riemann, accompanied by leading bass-baritone Laurent Naouri and renowned jazz pianist Guillaume de Chassy and is directed by one of Britain's leading young directors of opera, Nina Brazier.

This event is part of the eight edition of the International Chair for the History of the second World War at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, which honours yearly the author of an original contribution in the field with the Baron Velge Prize. Philippe Sands earns recognition this year both for his book East West Street and for the piece brought to Brussels on this occasion.