Many instruments in the Violins of Hope collection, including the one Kay Stern plays, were brought to Palestine by virtuoso violinist Bronisław Huberman, who rescued Jewish musicians and their families from Nazi persecution.
Instruments
The Violins of Hope are instruments owned by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust, some played in concentration camps, and refurbished by Israeli luthiers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein.
Composition History
INTONATIONS: Songs from the Violins of Hope by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer was commissioned to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.
Instruments
Second violinist Dawn Harms plays a violin once owned by Erich Weininger, an amateur violinist from Vienna who played in a clandestine orchestra in Dachau and later entertained fellow prisoners on the island of Mauritius.
Instruments
Daniel Hope plays a violin on this recording that was once played in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Men's Camp Orchestra.
Historical Context
The Violins of Hope project ensures these historical instruments are played again worldwide, having traveled to numerous cities in Europe and the United States since 2008.
Instruments
The violin played by Sean Mori was safeguarded by Elsa Katzenstein, an accomplished violinist from Hamburg, Germany, who brought it with her when she immigrated to America after being expelled from professional life by the Nuremberg Race Laws.
