Samy Molcho

Samy Molcho (born 1936) is an Israeli mime and an expert in body language communication. He was professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts and at Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, Austria until 2004.

Samy Molcho

He studied dance and mime in Israel. From 1952 he was a dancer at the city theatre of Jerusalem. In 1956 he became a solo dancer (modern dance) in Tel Aviv. In 1960 his first mime performance took place. He performed in more than 50 countries on four continents. In 1987 he did his last tour as a mime. Since then he has been concentrating on body language communication. He has published several books and has held many workshops.^[1] He is a practitioner and exponent of the Barrault-Marceau classical style of mime.^[2]

He is now a citizen of Austria. He has been married since 1978 and has four sons.

Biography^[3]

Samy Molcho, born 1936 in Tel Aviv, has added purely psychological and dramatic elements to the art of mime. As a delegate in the frame of cultural exchange, he successfully represented Austria in many countries. Since 1978 he is married to German-born Haya Heinrich. He has four sons, Nuriel, Elior, Ilan and Nadiv.^[4] Since 1980 Samy Molcho teaches at the International Summer Academy for Mime and Body Language in Vienna, with over 180 national and international participants each year.

Molcho has been on the stage since the age of ten. He studied classical, modern and far-eastern dance as well as the techniques of mime in Israel. He graduated from an actor's school as well as from a seminar for directors and drama and was – from 1952 – dancer at the Jerusalem Dance Theatre of Rina Nikowa. From 1956 he was solo dancer for modern dance in Tel Aviv.

Samy Molcho as a young Israeli mime artist, 1960

He worked as an actor at the Cameri Theatre and at the Israelic National Theatre Habimah. 1960 he had his first one-man mime performance in Tel Aviv.

Samy Molcho has performed in theatres all over the world, including the Piccolo Teatro in Milano, Akademie theater in Vienna, Royal Opera in Stockholm, Schiller Theater in Berlin, Royal Court in London, Royal Schouwburg in Amsterdam, Civic Theatre in Johannesburg, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico, Queen Elizabeth Playhouse in Vancouver and the Schauspielhaus in Zurich.

Since that time he has performed in over 50 different countries on four continents. He was invited to perform at festivals like the Holland-Festival, Viennese Festival, Spoleto, the festival weeks of Zurich, the Israel Festival for Music and Drama and others.

Samy Molcho created the first Mimo-vision for the Austrian TV, which was awarded with the first prize at the International TV Festival in Prague (1964).

1963

• Choreography for the ballet "Berschit" (At the Beginning) for the German Ballet-Ensemble, which was recorded from the German TV after a huge cess in Germany and on an international tour.

1964

• Director of the German world premiere of J. Genet's "The Negroes".
• Co-starring as the Japanese in S. Wincelberg's "Kataki" on a tour through Europe, with Hans Lothar.
• Choreography and directing motion for H. Zusaneck's "World Theatre", which was shown in Vienna on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Burgtheater.

1965

• Second Mimo-Version as the Austrian contribution for the Golden Rose of Montreux, in which Samy Molcho played 37 different characters – the "Do-It-Yourself-Show".

With this show, Austria gained the acknowledgement and the honour of the critics. UNESCO ordered a thesis from Samy Molcho about his Mimo-vision (1965), which was the theme for the International Congress of Mime and Dance on TV in Salzburg.

1966

• Directs E. Ionesco's "The Chairs" and N. Gogol's "The Gamblers"

1967

• In the connection with the Viennese Festival Weeks he directs "Les Portraits" to the music of Professor Peer.
• Another Mimo-Vision for the Austrian TV, "Sorry, don't have time", adapted from the Time Destruction Manifest by Leherb.

1968

• Directs E. Kishon's "Wedding Certificate" in Vienna.
• Acts in and directs in Wincelberg's "Kataki" in South Africa. This production was awarded with the Critic's Price for best production of 1968.

1969

• Mimic interpretation for ARD-TV of "The four characters" by Hindemith.

1970

• Under by Maestro Zubin Mehta with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Samy Molcho introduced the audience to the works "Autumn" from "The four seasons" by Vivaldi as well as "Hiroshima" by Penderecki. This audio-visual concert was a huge success.

In 1973 the same experiment, this time with "Pictures of an exhibition" and others with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was carried out in the USA.

1971

• Production of an Italian Renaissance Evening in Israel.

1972

• Director for the musical "Godspell" for the productions in Germany and Switzerland.

1973

• Director for "Waiting for Godot" in Bremen and Handke's "The Ward Wants to be Guardian".
• Together with Ronconi, Choreography and directing motion in "The birds" at the Wiener Burgtheater.
• Plays the part of the dancing teacher in Molière's "The Commoner as Noble Man" at the Wiener Burgtheater.

1974

• Director of the musical "Who knows Jürgen Beck" in Münster.
• Director of the show "Kikerikiste" for the German TV.
• Participated in and directed "Kataki" in Germany and Switzerland.

1975

• Director "August, August" in Münster.

1976

• Director of the musical "Showboat" with Mary Ross in the leading part.
• Director of Goldoni's "Servant of two Masters" for the Festival in Friesach.
• Winner of the golden medal at the International Yugoslavian Contest for Mime and Monodrama

1977

• Director of Goldoni's "Venetian Twins" at the Ensemble Theatre in Vienna.
• Vocation for teaching at the Academy of Music and Acting at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna.
• Manager of his own school for mimes in Vienna.

1978

• Director of the world premiere of Arik Brauer's musical "Seven at one blow" on the occasion of the Viennese Festival Weeks.

1979

• Director of the German world premiere of Arrabal's political comedy "Steal A Little Billion From Me" at the Städtischen Bühnen Münster.
• Director of the opera "Giovanni Battista" by Alessandro Stradella at the Stadttheater St. Gallen.

1980

• Director of the opera "Giovanni Battista" at the Stadttheater Bern.
• Producer of the Baroque Festival at the court of Max II Emanuel on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the House of Wittelsbach.
• On the occasion of the Munich Opera Festival 1980 "I Trionfi di Baviera" at the Alte Residenztheater and the Cuvilliestheater in Munich.
• Director of Goldoni's "Servant of Two Masters" at the Stadttheater Aachen.
• Since 1980 he held body language lectures and seminars all over the world, including at the European Management Symposium in Davos, seminars for multinational companies, as guest lecturer at the Austrian Diplomatic Academy, at the Institute for Psychosomatic Research, in front of therapeuts, doctors, airliners, insurance companies etc.

1983

• New publication of the book "Body Language" by Samy Molcho at the MOSAIK publishing house.
• Production of the opera "The Gardener for Love" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the Städtischen Bühne Hagen.

1984

• Director of A. Schnitzler's mime "The Veil of Pirette" for the Biennale in Venice.
• Played the part of Mimo in Luciano Berio's opera "Un Re in Ascolto" in Salzburg and Vienna, directed by Prof. Götz Friedrich.

1985

• Director of the "Caucasian Chalk Circle" at the Landesbühne in Wilhelmshafen; he was awarded with the first price for directing.

1986

• He participated in the TV-production "A long, silent way", a German-Czech co-production about the classical mime, starring Marcel Marceau, Ladislav Fialka and Jean-Louis Barault.

1987

• Worked on his book "Magic of Silence"
• Mime-Farewell Tour through Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, Israel and Austria

1988

• His books "Body Language as Dialogue" and "Magic of Silence" were published by MOSAIK.

1989

• Body language seminars and lectures all over the world.

1990

• His book "Partnership and Body Language" was published by MOSAIK.

1991

• Body language seminars and lectures all over the world.
• Worked on his book "Body Language of Children"

1992

• Body language seminars and lectures all over the world.
• In October, his book "Body Language of Children" was published by MOSAIK.

1993 + 1994

• Body language seminars and lectures all over the world.

1995

• In July, his video "Body Language" is published by the publishing house MODERNE INDUSTRIE.
• Worked on his book "All about Body-Language", which was published in September of the same year by MOSAIK.

1996

• Worked on his video "Body Language of Children"
• Directpr of the tour production "I'll Get Off And Produce My Own Show", starring Anja Kruse.
• Received the Austrian Honorary Cross for Science and Art, 1st grade.

1997

• In January, his second video "Body Language of Children" was published by the MVG publishing house.
• His books were translated into twelve languages.
• Held body language seminars and lectures all over the world.

1998

• Held body language seminars and lectures all over the world.
• In November, his first CD-DOM "A-Z about Body Language" was published by Navigo.

1999–2002

• Held body language seminars and lectures all over the world

2003

• Launch of his new book "Body Language of Celebrities" which was published by Random House/Bertelsmann, Munich.

2004

• Worked on his book "Body Language of Success"
• Received the Grand Silver Medal of Merit from the Republic of Austria

2005

• Launch of his new book "Body Language of Success" which was published by Ariston, Munich.
• Launch of his new book "Body Language of Children" which was published by Ariston, Munich.

2006

• Launch of his new book "ABC of the Body Language" which was published by Heinrich Hugendubel, Kreuzlingen/Munich.
• Launch of his new DVD "Samy Molcho Live" which was published by mvg, Munich.
• Admission into the German Speakers Hall of Fame

2007

• Launch of his new DVD ROM "Samy Molcho Body Language of Success 2.0" which was published by USM, Munich.
• Launch of his biography "Samy Molcho ...And A Drop of Eternity" which was published by Amalthea, Vienna.

2008

• Received the IIR Excellence Award
• Received the Golden Medal of Merit of the land Vienna
• Launch of his new book "The 1 x1 of Body Language of Children" which was published by Heinrich Hugendubel, Kreuzlingen/Munich.

2009

• Launch of his new book "Embrace me, but do not touch me – Body language of relationships of nearness and distance" which was published by Ariston, Munich.
• Launch of his new DVD ROM "Samy Molcho Body Language of Success 3.0" which was published by USM, Munich.

2010

• Held body language seminars and lectures all over the world

Decorations and awards

• 1987: Silver Medal for Service to the City of Vienna
• 1996: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class^[5]
• 2004: Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria^[6]
• 2006: Entry into the German Speakers Hall of Fame
• 2008: IIR Excellence Award
• 2008: Golden Medal of Honour for Services to the City of Vienna

References

1. "Samy Molcho". Pantomime-mime.com.
2. Annette Bercut Lust. From the Greek mimes to Marcel Marceau and beyond. Scarecrow Press, 2002. page 15.
3. http://www.samy-molcho.com/lw.htm
4. Karin Schuh. "Familie Molcho: Der Clan, der Wien zu Tel Aviv macht". Die Presse. 31 December 2010.
5. "Reply to a parliamentary question" (pdf) (in German). p. 1028. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
6. "Reply to a parliamentary question" (pdf) (in German). p. 1623. Retrieved 13 January 2013.

External links

• Official website (German)