WSO concert pays homage to those perished in the Holocaust

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This article was published 04/12/2022 (1427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s profoundly moving concert titled “Violins of Hope” paid homage to those who perished in the Holocaust, while it celebrated the inextinguishable light of hope as expressed through the power of music.

Saturday night’s program led by Daniel Raiskin and with support by the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba featured WSO concertmaster Gwen Hoebig and First Violinist Sonia Lazar performing on two precious violins once belonging to Jewish musicians murdered by the Nazis during the darkest days of World War II.

The fiddles are now part of a private collection of string instruments amassed since the end of World War II, lovingly restored by Israeli-raised father-and-son luthiers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein as their ongoing passion project of concerts and educational outreach activities called “Violins of Hope.”

The well-orchestrated evening seamlessly hosted by James Manishen and Shelley Faintuch — the latter a child of Holocaust survivors — also featured fascinating backstories on the project itself, as well as harrowing tales of resilience with slides and recorded film clips projected onto a large upstage screen.

The mostly older audience of 1,602 was first treated to Prokofiev’s “Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34,” originally scored for clarinet, string quartet and piano. Principal clarinettist Micah Heilbrunn held his own as featured soloist, despite the overall performance feeling strangely tentative for this composer’s idiosyncratic music that typically sizzles and pops.

Then it became time for Lazar to take the stage for two works performed on the “Klezmer” violin. She immediately drew listeners in during her soulful interpretation of Joseph Achron’s “Hebrew Melody, Op. 33,” her warm, singing tone including a pleasing vibrato evoking the rich lyricism of Jewish cantorial music.

John Williams’ iconic theme song “Schindler’s list” from Steven Spielberg’s 1993 historical film needs no introduction, with Lazar delivering its sweeping melodic lines with heartfelt sentiment, receiving extended applause from the clearly moved crowd.

The first half of the program also included Hoebig’s performance of Marc Lavry’s “Three Jewish Dances,” brought to life on the second star of the night, the “Hecht” violin, boasting its own Canadian connection. Its previous owners, Alex and Fanny Hecht, then living in Germany during WWII, entrusted the instrument to their friend Helena Visser for safekeeping, out of a realized fear of being deported to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Visser’s daughter, also named Helena, kept it for 74 years, ultimately gifting it to the Weinsteins after discovering the Hecht family’s tragic fate.

Notably, Helena Visser (now Bosse), and family members, including her daughter-in-law Janet Warkentin-Bosse, received prolonged applause after being introduced as the special invited guests. The weekend crowd also included Brigitte Didieu from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights where the “Hecht” violin will be displayed until March 2023.

Hoebig immediately dug into the first of Lavry’s three movements: “Sher (Scissors Dance),” followed by the more sedate “Yemenite Wedding Dance,” before its finale “Hora.” Her spirited performance, bursting with the unbridled joy of life as Fanny’s fiddle sang again, earning a rousing standing ovation including cheers of bravo.

One of the night’s most powerful moments — and there were many — came as a visibly moved Raiskin read a deeply personal statement about the ongoing atrocities in Ukraine, noting history was repeating itself as another genocide in-the-making, before launching into Ukrainian composer’s Myroslav Skoryk’s simply titled “Melody.”

Another came during Rudolf Sieczynski’s “Vienna, My City of Dreams,” a lushly romantic waltz evoking kinder, gentler times of a pre-war Europe. Hearing how violinist Alma Rosé performed its lead part in her orchestra at Auschwitz; the musicians literally playing for their lives by pleasing the Nazis, chilled to the bone, instilling harrowing subtext into the waltz’s unabashed lyricism.

The evening closed with Brahms’ “Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90,” an arguably cryptic choice with no overt connection to the otherwise, heavily Jewish-themed program. One might surmise the quintessentially German composer’s music was chosen as a bridge to the other works; while never absolving the evil of future generations, at least offering a measure of solace — and perhaps, even a peace offering — through the enduring lingua franca of music.

The concert is available on demand via mywso.tv. For tickets or further info, see WSO’s website.

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