VIOLINS of HOPE CLEVELAND of the highlights of the unprecedented effort. Members of the violin, viola, and cello sections have agreed to play on instruments restored by Weinstein. The concert, which marks the first time Israel Philharmonic music director Zubin Mehta has conducted at Severance Hall, is exactly the sort of event Weinstein had in mind when he began his restoration project, which now numbers about sixty violins. “Amnon’s view has always been that it is the playing on these instruments that matters most,” says Bogomolny. “It is the voices of those silenced by the Nazis that can only be heard by the playing, and the message is that as long as this music is heard, we realize that the Nazis, no matter how hard and how viciously they tried, could not wipe out the music and culture of the Jewish people.” In another historic performance earlier in the fall, on September 27, members of The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst played on Weinstein’s violins in a concert dedicating Silver Hall at Case Western Reserve University’s newly-renovated Maltz Performing Arts Center. The concert featured Israeli virtuoso Shlomo Mintz and was held on the site of Temple-Tifereth Israel, once the spiritual home of the late Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. Rabbi Abba Silver, father of the late Rabbi Daniel Silver, was also a leading figure in the drive to establish the state of Israel. are only one part of the diverse musical and educational efforts coordinated in tribute by the seven major Cleveland partner institutions — Case Western Reserve University, The Cleveland Orchestra, Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Cleveland Institute of
THESE CONCERTS
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Music, Jewish Federation of Cleveland, ideastream (the parent organization of Cleveland’s public television and radio stations), and the local chapter of Facing History and Ourselves. Also participating are more than a dozen affiliate institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra. It is the sort of grand effort that captures something about Cleveland that sometimes gets lost in all the debates about our region’s challenges and strengths — a spirit of cooperation and generosity that makes the Northeast Ohio community special. T H E C O L L A B O R A T I O N , which has re-
sulted in hundreds of events, was the brainchild of Bogomolny. But Bogomolny quickly won vital support from other community leaders, beginning with Milton and Tamar Maltz. This remarkably generous couple immediately agreed to mount a major multimedia exhibition of the violins at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood. Dozens of other community leaders also made meaningful contributions to this project. A partial list would include Case Western Reserve University president Barbara Snyder, Jewish Federation of Cleveland president Steve Hoffman, Cleveland Institute of Music president Joel Smirnoff, and Mark Swaim-Fox, director of Facing History and Ourselves. The three-month Violins of Hope Cleveland exhibit, which features 18 of Weinstein’s violins and one from Yad Vashem, is attracting thousands of visitors — including students from Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, and Columbus.
Community & Music
The Cleveland Orchestra