Art in the Shadow of Death

About the lecture: In 1943, two prisoners at the Theresienstadt concentration camp--Viktor Ullmann and Peter Kien--wrote the subversive opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis. The panelists will discuss adapting this work into a graphic novel, Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis, and back again into an acclaimed fusion of music and comics with the Louisville Orchestra.

About Adam Millstein: Adam Millstein is a Los Angeles based violinist who holds an Artist Diploma and Masters of Music Degree from the Colburn School where he studied with renowned pedagogue Robert Lipsett. He attended the University of Michigan for his Bachelor of Musical Arts Degree. He is the Program Manager of the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices. This is a unique resource at the Colburn School in Los Angeles that promotes the study and performance of music by composers suppressed by Nazi policies. He acted as curator for the Initiative’s 2021 Schulhoff and More project where he organized and performed on filmed recordings of composer Erwin Schulhoff’s music, some of which is on the album “Shapeshifter: Music of Erwin Schulhoff” for the Delos Label. He has also recorded music of Franz Schreker, Pál Hermann, and Mieczysław Weinberg. Mr. Millstein also actively curates and produces concerts including a filmed Recovered Voices performance for the Library of Congress. He has appeared as guest lecturer at Arizona State University’s Genocide Awareness Week in 2023.

About Patrick Lay: Patrick Lay is an internationally published cartoonist from Northwest Ohio. Patrick earned a B.S.F.A in Oil Painting from Valparaiso University and an MFA in Comics from the California College of the Arts. Patrick is currently an Adjunct Professor at Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, teaching Comics and Narrative Practice 1 & 2, Visual Story Fundamentals, and Self Publishing.  His most recent book, Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis, with writer David Maass, is available from Dark Horse Comics/Berger Books nationwide and in Czech from Comics Centrum. It was listed in the New York Public Libraries Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2024, was a runner up for Best Original Graphic Novel of 2024 from IGN, and is a preliminary nominee for the 2024 Bram Stoker Awards. Patrick has been self-publishing for 10 years, including webcomics, all-ages sci-fi adventures, and multi-media comic experiences.

About Dave Maass: Dave Maass is the writer of the graphic novel Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis. Maass is director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where he researches government surveillance and the "virtual wall" at U.S.-Mexico border. He also teaches students how to investigate technology as a scholar in residence at the University of Nevada, Reno Reynolds School of Journalism. Originally from the Phoenix area, Maass has reported for alternative newspapers across the Southwest and was a San Diego Comic-Con correspondent for Rolling Stone, Motherboard, and SyFy Wire.