Jun 4, 2026, 6:30 PM – 8 PM

Presentation: O Lungo Drom (The Long Road) with composer Ralf Yusuf Gawlick

Ceija Stojka, *Untitled*, 1996. Acrylic on silver paper, 27 ½ x 39 ⅜ inches (70 x 100 cm). Collection Antoine de Galbert, Paris. Photo: © Célia Pernot. © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Bildrecht, Vienna

Join us for a special presentation and talk with Ralf Yusuf Gawlick, a German-American composer of Romani-Kurdish descent, on his Romanes oratorio, O Lungo Drom (The Long Road).

O Lungo Drom (The Long Road) is an authentic testimony of the Sinti and Roma people, whose journey since time immemorial has been shrouded by poetic and popular imagination. O Lungo Drom sets the words of thirteen different Roma and Sinti poets and writers in ten languages and Romanes dialects featuring the writing of activist and artist Ceija Stojka.

Ralf Yusuf Gawlick

Ralf Yusuf Gawlick is a German-American composer of Romani-Kurdish descent whose works span solo, chamber, orchestral, electro-acoustic, film, and choral music. His compositions often explore his complex heritage while engaging rigorously with the Western canon, earning international acclaim from audiences and critics. Works such as Herzliche Grüße Bruno ~ Briefe aus Stalingrad, Missa Gentis Humanæ, Kollwitz-Konnex, Kinderkreuzzug, and the autobiographical string quartet Imagined Memories highlight his stylistic range. His latest oratorio, O Lungo Drom (The Long Road), commissioned by the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien, is dedicated to Romani Rose, while his forthcoming opera Die Ursitory marks the first operatic setting of Matéo Maximoff’s pioneering Romani novel by a Romani composer. Published exclusively by Universal Edition, his music is performed worldwide and recorded on Musica Omnia, Perfect Noise, and Decca Eloquence. He teaches at Boston College and lives in Newton, MA, with his wife and fellow musician, Basia.

Ceija Stojka: Making Visible is made possible by Phileas - The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art; the Robert Lehman Foundation; the Republic of Austria’s Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS); and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Support for the exhibition catalog is provided by Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.

Special thanks to the Ceija Stojka International Association.