Credit: LBSO
After a 20 month pandemic related hiatus of presenting live concerts the Long Beach Symphony (LBSO) is back and will offer two aesthetically unforgettable performances on January 8 and 9 – Violins of Hope and Songs and Stories of Hope at the local Performing Art Center’s Terrace Theater and Beverly O’Neill Theater. These programs will feature instruments that were once played on by Jewish Holocaust victims of Nazi era concentration camps and ghettos, many of which miraculously survived.
LBSO President Kelly Ruggirello Lucera describes that importance of hosting these concerts in the community and beyond. “Each of these Holocaust-surviving instruments serves as a powerful reminder of an unimaginable experience while also serving as a testament to the perseverance and resilience of the human spirit. Today, especially as we continue to endure an historic pandemic Long Beach Symphony is proud to share timely and inspirational messages of hope, strength, and endurance through musical performances featuring the Violins of Hope.”
Over the past 30 years over 68 of these instruments - mostly concert and klezmer-type violins with a smattering of violas and cellos found their way to Amnon Weinstein’s luthier shop in Tel Aviv where he and son Avshalom have been restoring them. Lucera points out that about 60 instruments are part of the touring collection and that LBSO musicians will use 13 of them – 11 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello with 8 violins on display in the lobby. She adds that the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles is currently featuring an exhibit of different instruments from the collection.
These instruments might have become suspended in the tragic stories of their owners until Weinstein launched the Violins of Hope Project. The venture offers audiences the opportunity to hear them played at international concert venues and in the US by accomplished artists such as Shlomo Mintz. LBSO’s upcoming programs will feature globally acclaimed artists such as violinist Niv Ashkenazi and cellist Cecilia Tsan (LBSO Principal Cellist) in a fascinating selection of repertoire that includes:
Bach’s Concert for Two Violins, Barber’s Adagio for Strings, the 4th movement of Laks’ third string quartet (he was a former composer, violinist and conductor of the Auschwitz concentration camp orchestra), Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Williams’ Theme from Schindler’s List and Mozart’s Requiem – featuring mezzo Teresa Buchholz, soprano Liv Redpath, tenor Jason Francisco, baritone Mark Walters and Long Beach Camerata Singers conducted by LBSO’s Eckart Preu.
Lucera comments that a series of week-long Violins of Hope theme educational events were planned in association with Long Beach Unified School District, California State University, Long Beach and Alpert Jewish Community Center of Long Beach. However, do to pandemic concerns these will be rescheduled for the Spring. “A thorough and comprehensive curriculum guide was created by Violins of Hope Los Angeles County Chair Susanne Reyto and will be made available to all high school educators,” says Lucera.
Over 5 million globally have fallen victim to Covid-19 and more people perished as a result of Nazism atrocities so it seems an appropriate fit that the Requiem Mozart left unfinished in 1791 would adorn the first concert and Bruch’s Kol Nidrei the second program (Songs and Stories of Hope) along with appearances by James Grymes author of Violins of Hope (HarperCollins, 2014) and Avshalom Weinstein – both of whom will provide commentary about the collection of Holocaust fated instruments subsequently given identity names based on markings or provenance such as The Dachau Violin, A Violin Dedicated to American Soldiers, The Heil Hitler Violin, The Wedding Violin and Violin With a Star of David.
“We are honored to be joined by Avshalom Weinstein who is planning to attend both LBSO concerts. Avshi is a third-generation Israeli violinmaker who travels the world with the collection to share messages of survival and resilience,” observes Lucera. The Violins of Hope concert was originally scheduled for April 25, 2020 so this represents a welcome homecoming for LBSO.
“As an 87-year-old cultural institution serving the greater Long Beach/South Bay region the Long Beach Symphony has been both humbled by and honored to receive such extraordinary outpouring of support from our patrons, donors and city entities that enabled us to re-open and serve our community once again. We are eager to resume our much-loved educational programs serving 24,000 students annually and until such time live, in-school and field trip performances can resume we look forward to presenting virtual concerts in conjunction with online curriculum to support music education in our schools,” comments Lucera.
As Hans Christian Andersen once said, Where words fail, music speaks.