March 9, 2020
Join Associate Professor of Music Amy Wlodarski for a guided tour of the Violins of Hope exhibit.
Join Associate Professor of Music Amy Wlodarski for a guided tour of the Violins of Hope exhibit, during which she will help provide contextual information, share related testimonial stories from victims who participated in the music and be available to answer specific questions. Professor Wlodarski is a leading expert in the field of Jewish music, having written extensively about how music advances our understanding of the Holocaust as a tragic human event in world history. Her award-winning book, Musical Witness and Holocaust Representation, detailed how classical music has participated in important conversations about music, history and trauma, and her latest scholarship explores the many meanings music held for inmates within the Jewish ghetto of Terezín, a deceptive propaganda initiative used by the Nazis to mislead the international community as to the scope of the Holocaust. Violins of Hope shares the stories of Jewish resistance fighters and tales of loss and reunification following the war. The exhibition showcases approximately 20 of the 70 instruments in Ammon Weinstein’s collection of violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. Weinstein began collecting and restoring the violins more than 20 years ago, and his collection is dedicated to the 400 family members he lost in World War II. Since the war, the instruments have been played by prominent musicians in venues worldwide, giving voice not only to the owners of the violins, but also to the millions of Jewish people who perished. After touring the exhibit, we will gather at Max’s Opera Café to continue the conversation by sharing and processing our reactions to and impressions of the exhibit. Please register by Thursday, March 5.
Further information
- Location: Veterans Gallery, War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
- Time: 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
- Cost: Free