Watch me speak about the orchestras in Auschwitz.

Watch me tell the amazing story of Motele Schlein, a 12-year-old partisan who blew up a Nazi Soldiers Club using explosives he had hidden inside his violin case.

Watch me speak about Ernst Glaser, the Jewish concertmaster of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra who used his musical influence to escape a Nazi riot during a concert in Bergen in 1941.

Watch me introduce a performance of “Zol shoyn kumen di geule,” written by Holocaust survivor to express hope and optimism for a better future.

Watch me read about Shimon Krongold’s Violin, which along with a pre-war picture of Shimon holding the instrument is the only item of Shimon’s legacy that survived the Holocaust.

Watch me read excerpts from the fifth chapter of Violins of Hope. Chapter 5 discusses Feivel Wininger, who was able to spare sixteen family members and friends from starvation by playing the violin during the Holocaust.

Watch me introduce a performance of the Kirkenes March, composed by an exiled Jewish musician to celebrate the first Norwegian town to be liberated from Nazi tyranny. At the premiere of the Kirkenes March, the violin was played by Ernst Glaser, who is the subject of Chapter 4 of Violins of Hope.

Watch me read excerpts from the fourth chapter of Violins of Hope. Chapter 4 discusses Ernst Glaser, the Jewish concertmaster of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra who used his musical influence to escape a Nazi riot during a concert in Bergen in 1941.

Watch me introduce a performance of “Three Warsaw Polonaises,” a work that was played by Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz. Since Polish music had been forbidden by the Nazi regime, the musicians would play the polonaises in secret. For the prisoners, playing the polonaises was not just a way of remembering their homeland. It was a way to show that they would not completely bend to Nazi prejudices.

Watch me introduce a performance of the “Dachau Song,” which was composed by Herbert Zipper in Dachau. Inspired by the “Work Makes You Free” sign that welcomed the prisoners back to camp every day after twelve hours of hard labor, the Dachau Song sarcastically encouraged them to “stay humane,” “be a man,” and “work as hard as you can,” regardless of the harsh realities of camp life.