Amerika Haus Reopening

Amerika Haus, April 16, 2012

Amb.Eacho at the Amerika Haus

Good evening. Welcome back to the Amerika Haus.

I am delighted to be here to celebrate our official reopening with all of you. The recent renovation to this US-owned building gave me a chance to learn a bit more about it’s history:

Our Amerika Haus in Vienna was first opened on April 15 in 1946. So, yesterday was the 66th anniversary. Alles gute!

The first Amerika Haus was located at Kärntner Street 38, and the official name was U.S. Information Center. The idea was to inform Austrians about different aspects of the United States: culture, sports, technology, science, politics, and so on. There was a lending library with 500 books, including some for children, a music library, a news room, and rooms for exhibitions and performances. It was open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and had about half a million visitors every year. On the opening day, over 8000 visitors were registered.

In 1957, the Amerika Haus needed more space and moved to the Opernring-Hof. By that time the library had grown to 40,000 books, 300 magazines and newspapers, including a microfilm archive of the New York Times, over 130 reading desks, and an extensive collection of musical and jazz music. Many people first came across the music of artists such as Cole Porter and George Gershwin at our Amerika Haus.

Eventually, in 1971, the Amerika Haus moved here to Friedrich-Schmidt-Platz 2, a house built in 1882 by the architects Dionys Milch and Heinrich Hellin. Until the end of the 1990s it maintained a lending library open to the public on a daily basis. Of course the demands changed over time, just like the budgetary allotment. What has not changed is that the Amerika Haus is a place where Austrians and Americans meet and exchange ideas, and learn about each other. We are proud of this institution, and we are proud that is located here in this beautiful building, in the center of a city so rich with culture, history, and stunning architecture. As mentioned, the Amerika Haus has also traditionally been a place to present jazz music.

The reopening now in April provided an opportunity to highlight a global initiative that promotes the recognition of jazz as America’s original music. This initiative is called Jazz Appreciation Month – or short: JAM.

All over the world, schools, organizations, private persons, even governments, celebrate JAM with events ranging from free concerts to educational programs. April is the perfect month for this celebration because the birthdays of several Jazz legends fall in April: Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock, and many others were all born in April. Jazz Appreciation Month concludes on April 30 with International Jazz Day, proclaimed by UNESCO in November 2011.

Jazz is considered not only an important American contribution to the world from an artistic point of view. Jazz has also helped bringing together diverse cultures. It’s has been a vector of freedom of expression; a symbol of unity and peace.

In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Jazz speaks for life.”

This year, Jazz Appreciation month highlights Frank Sinatra. In 1945, Frank Sinatra took a bold stand for human rights using music and film to promote respect for others as an ideal of American freedom and civic pride.

Sinatra took the song "The House I live in,” produced a short film and made it into a national appeal to a post World War II weary America to unite and remember the freedoms the nation had fought for. Frank Sinatra is featured on this year’s Jazz Appreciation Month poster. We have a few extra copies of the poster. Please feel free to take one.

I would now like to introduce tonight’s jazz musicians. We have an Austrian-American duo: Francesca Kelly and Markus Gaudriot. Francesca studied voice at Northwestern University School of Music. She is a specialist in oratorio but also in Jazz standards, which she has performed around the world.

Markus Gaudriot trained at the Conservatorium in Vienna. He has already worked with numerous local and international artists including Oskar Klein, Martin Spitzer, and Tom Henkes.

Before I pass on to them, I want to thank all people who were involved in the renovation and modification of the Amerika Haus: the local companies and workmen who finished it on time. And our Facility Maintenance and Public Affairs Office who delivered a first-rate display of teamwork on this project. Well done all!

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming. I hope you enjoy the evening. Please give a warm welcome to Francesca Kelly and Markus Gaudriot.