{mosimage}This week, L.A. Opera launches one of its most unusual endeavors: Recovered Voices. This multiyear project, the result of a $4 million fund largely donated by L.A. philanthropist Marilyn Ziering, resurrects the music of composers affected by the Holocaust — both those who were forced to leave Germany and Austria in the wake of Nazi persecution and suppression, and those who lost their lives in the death camps. The first two inaugural concerts feature selections by Franz Schreker, Walter Braunfels, Ernst Krenek, Viktor Ullmann, Erwin Schulhoff and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, along with a complete performance of Alexander Zemlinsky’s one-act opera Eine Florentinische Tragodie (A Florentine Tragedy), based on Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name.

Recovered Voices is unique not only in its scope, but because of the personal meaning it has for L.A. Opera music director James Conlon, who has been a longtime advocate of these neglected artists. “I devote myself to programming works by this group of composers whenever possible,” he says. “We cannot restore to them their lost lives. We can, however, return the gift which would mean the most to them: to play their music.” Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Wed. & Sat., March 7 & 10, 7:30 p.m.; $15-$125. (213) 972-8001 or www.laopera.com.

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