Violins of Hope Program

Violins of Hope is a project of concerts based on a private collection of violins, violas and cellos all collected since the end of World War II. Many of the instruments belonged to Jewish musicians before and during the war. Many were donated by or bought from survivors; some arrived through family members; and many simply carry Stars of David as a decoration.

Some of the violins are decorated with six-sided stars that were added by the original violin makers. In the early twentieth century, it was not uncommon for amateur violinists to purchase instruments customized with symbolic inlays.

Growing up in Israel, violinmaker Amnon Weinstein met many Klezmer musicians who had purchased these pre-war instruments specifically for what they proudly identified as Star of David. The more “Jewish” a violin looked, the klezmorim explained to Amnon, the more likely that the local Rabbi would recommend that its owner be hired to play for weddings and the more likely that the performer would receive tips from the celebrants. While the provenances of these instruments are not always clear, they are symbols of Klezmer and other Jewish traditions that were all but completely destroyed during the Holocaust.

All instruments have a common denominator: they are symbols of hope and a way to say, remember me, remember us. Life is good, celebrate it for those who perished, for those who survived. For all people.

Violin-makers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, father and son who work in Tel Aviv and Istanbul, own this collection. They dedicate their expertise and endless love to ensure that those instruments, most of which were rather cheap and unsophisticated, get a new beautiful make-over. Not enough, they also get a fantastic sound worthy of the best musicians and large music halls.

The Nazis used music, and especially violins, to humiliate and degrade Jewish musicians in ghettos and camps. They confiscated many thousands of instruments from Jewish people all over Europe. Our concerts are the ultimate answer to their plan to annihilate a people and their culture, to destroy human lives and freedom.

The sound of violins is often compared to the beauty of the human voice.

When played with talent and spirit, it is known to reach out and touch hearts. This was the role of violins in the war – to touch hearts, kindle hope for better times and spread it around. Wherever there was music, there was hope.

Our violins present the victory of the human spirit over evil and hatred. As many as 6,000,000 Jewish people were murdered in World War II, but their memory is not forgotten. It comes back to life with every concert and every act of love and celebration of the human spirit.

Violins of Hope is not only a memorial to a lost culture and people, but it is also an educational act that reaches young students and adults wherever our concerts are performed. In recent years some of the most celebrated orchestras held Violins of Hope concerts, among them the Berlin Philharmonic, the Cleveland Symphony and many others.

Every concert brings together people of all faiths and backgrounds. Every project is accompanied by an extensive educational program. We visit schools and hold narrated concerts. We tell the histories of some instruments – such as the violin which was thrown out of a cattle train on way from France to Auschwitz; the violin that was buried under the snow in Holland; the violin that saved lives of people who played in the camp orchestra and survived. So many stories, so much history.

Our project offers also an exhibition of over 40 instruments and their individual stories, as was done in Charlotte, NC, in The Maltz museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland, OH, in the lobby of the Berlin Philharmonic, Nashville TN, and many more places.

Saturday, May 20, 2023, at 8:00 PM The Hemmens Cultural Center Matthew Sheppard, conductor

MENDELSSOHN

Sinfonia No. 10 in B minor

MAHLER

Adagietto from Symphony No. 5

SCHULHOFF

Three Pieces for String Orchestra Elegie im Stile Edward Griegs Menuetto im alten Stil Pipa tanzt ~ Intermission ~

HAAS

Study for Strings

TOCH

Dedication

JOHN WILLIAMS arr. Longfield

Theme from Schindler’s List Isabella Lippi, violin

BARTÓK

Romanian Folk Dances

This program is supported, in part, by a grant from the Seigle Foundation

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL Violin I Isabella Lippi Concertmaster Eric Pidluski Joseph Malmquist Carol Dylan Helen Kim Lee Caroline Slack Betty Lewis Paul Zafer Laura Burns Kate Carter Violin II Maria Arrua Asst. Principal Steve Winkler Susan Thorne Cristina Buciu Meghan Lanfear Kathryn Siegel Emily Boone Nina Saito

Viola Loretta Gillespie Principal Becky Coffman Susan Posner Ben Weber Annika Sundberg Jacqueline Scavetta

Cello Nazar Dzhuryn Asst. Principal Sara Sitzer Mark Kuntz Robert Weber Richard Yeo Double Bass Timothy Shaffer Principal Gregory Heintz Susan Sullivan Tracy Dullea Harp Lillian Lau

ESO BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE R. Bert Crossland

DIRECTORS Ross Beacraft* Carlos Chavez Michele Clark Dr. Gene Crume Joyce Dlugopolski Jennifer Fukala Sandra Hagan K. Eric Larson Dr. Thomas Long Mary Maloy

Board Chair

Andre Fiebig Immediate Past Board Chair

Robert Chiappetta Treasurer

Rev. Arlyn Tolzmann Secretary

Dr. Patricia Harkin Governance Chair

Frank Maxson Carole Medal Martin Nobs Patrick Parks Ron Rogers Timothy Shaffer* Dr. Savitha Susarla James Tammi Marc Thayer, CEO* Herman A. Zwirn

* Ex Officio members

HONORARY LIFETIME DIRECTORS Harry ◊ & Phyllis Blizzard

Richard Collins ◊

Edward & Pearle Brody ◊

Ed & Karen Schock Deceased ◊

Dean & Jane Chipman ◊

ADMINISTRATION EXECUTIVE Marc Thayer

Chief Executive Officer

Rebecca DeWane Director of Finance & Administration

ARTISTIC Eric Gaston-Falk Vice President of Artistic Planning & Operations

Rylan Virnig

Community Partnerships & Personnel Manager

Macauley Manzano

Orchestral Librarian & Patron Services Manager

DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING

OPERATIONS

Chuck Kocal

David Goldman

Leslie Antoniel

Eric Block

Director of Marketing

Development Consultant

Daphne Kawamoto Digital Marketing Coordinator

Donna Lake

Public Relations Manager

Erica Warszewik

Box Office Manager

Stage Manager Stage Manager

Elsa Jimenez Translator

LaTrisha Williams In Harmony Program Coordinator

GUEST CONDUCTOR Matthew Sheppard is a Chicago-based conductor and educator. For the 2022-23 season, he is the Guest Resident Conductor at the Bienen School of Music, where he conducts the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Artistic Director of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Hyde Park Youth Symphony, Education Conductor of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago.

As the Artistic Drector of the award-winning Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, Sheppard leads a team of dedicated educators in providing a comprehensive music education to nearly 400 students and families each year. The professional repertoire and thematic curriculum explored each year is designed not only to help student musicians develop artistically and technically, but also to prepare them for a future of complex ideas, creative risk-taking, and leadership as global citizens. This approach led to EYSO being named 2021 Youth Orchestra of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras (ICO) and to Sheppard being awarded ICO Conductor of the Year in 2022.

Sheppard has guest conducted orchestras in North and South America, including the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Paraguay, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra, and the Blue Lake International Youth Symphony.

As a teacher, Sheppard inspires students to nurture a deep love and understanding of music and performing through his own passion, musicianship, and conducting. Sheppard currently serves as president of the IL Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (IL CMP) Committee as it encourages teaching with intention, and performing with understanding.

Sheppard studied with Donald Schleicher as a doctoral candidate in orchestral conducting at the University of Illinois, and before that he earned his master’s degree in orchestral conducting under Gerardo Edelstein at Penn State University.

Past positions include Music Director of the Sangamon Valley Civic Orchestra and Youth Symphony, Orchestra Director at Juniata College, and Assistant Conductor of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Liberal Arts, Music Education, and Violin Performance from Penn State where he studied with Max Zorin.

GUEST SPEAKER Dr. James A. Grymes is an internationally respected musicologist, a critically acclaimed author, and a dynamic speaker who has addressed audiences at significant public venues such as the United Nations Headquarters, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference, and the historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. Dr. Grymes has been featured in interviews by The New York Times, ABC News, and CNN, and has written essays for the Huffington Post and the Israeli music magazine Opus.

He is the author of Violins of Hope: Instruments of Hope and Liberation in Mankind’s Darkest Hour (Harper Perennial, 2014). A stirring testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of music, Violins of Hope tells the remarkable stories of violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust, and of the Israeli violinmaker dedicated to bringing these inspirational instruments back to life. The book, which composer John Williams described as “one of the most moving chronicles in the history of Western music,” presents a new way of understanding the Holocaust and is the winner of a National Jewish Book Award. Dr. Grymes is Professor of Musicology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The ESO is proud to be involved in this community-wide collaboration, including the Gail Borden Public Library and The City of Elgin in presenting Violins of Hope. This is an international project brought to the Chicagoland area by the Jewish Community Center of Chicago.

THANK YOU TO THESE SPONSORS Principal Sponsor – The Seigle Foundation

Concert Sponsor – Florence B. and Cornelia A. Palmer Foundation

In-Kind Sponsor – Elgin Cultural Arts Commission

Other Sponsors

Please visit elginsymphony.org to reserve your seats for the 2023-24 Season!