Amnon Weinstein has spent the last two decades lovingly restoring violins that survived the Holocaust. He dedicates this important work to the 400 relatives he never knew. Although many of the musicians who originally played the violins were silenced by the Nazis, when a bow moves across one of these instruments today, their spirit lives on. The historic violins have been played in concerts from Jerusalem to Berlin and Charlotte, NC, and provide a rare opportunity to explore unique stories behind each instrument and the individuals who owned them. Approximately 20 of the violins will be part of this 4,000-square-foot exhibition that illustrates both the strength of the human spirit and the power of music.
The poignant multimedia exhibition is being co-curated by James Grymes, professor of musicology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and author of the recently released book, Violins of Hope: Violins of the Holocaust—Instruments of Hope and Liberation in Mankind’s Darkest Hour. It is part of Violins of Hope Cleveland, a community-wide collaboration that aims to inform, educate and inspire through a diverse range of performances, lectures, an exhibition and other public programming. Violins of Hope Cleveland partners are The Cleveland Orchestra, Case Western Reserve, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Facing History and Ourselves, ideastream, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage. For more information, please visit violinsofhopecle.org.
