Newly restored Music composed at Auschwitz to be played in London The young British composer and conductor
There, he heard of the musical scores and
Leo Geyer (31), who is currently completing his
manuscripts discovered at Auschwitz, that had
doctorate for music and composition at the
not been further studied for almost 80 years. In
University of Oxford, has recently finished
an interview with CNN Geyer said: “I knew
restoring fragments of the music that was dis-
there were orchestras in Auschwitz and that was
covered
of
what we were talking about because, as a
Auschwitz, and will play them with his orch-
musician, it was something I was interested in.”
in
the
concentration
camp
estra in an upcoming performance in London. In total, around 210 musical compositions had been found, though large parts had been destroyed, which made the pieces almost impossible
to
restore.
Geyer
said
that
reconstructing the music was “like trying to remember a novel, word by word, but music is immensely more complicated.” During his work, he returned to Poland four more times and has conducted detailed research into the orchestras at
Nazi concentration camps,
especially the one at Auschwitz. The music will be performed at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London by Geyer’s Constella Music orchestra, under the name “Orchestras of Auschwitz''. Part of the orchestra is Simon Leo Geyer, composer and conductor (Source:baselessfabric.co.uk)
Wallfisch, whose grandmother, Anita Lasker-
In 2015 Geyer travelled to Auschwitz because
stated that she only survived her year at
he was asked to compose a piece in memory of
Auschwitz because she joined the camp
the British holocaust expert Martin Gilbert,
orchestra. In an interview with the Holocaust
who had died earlier that year. As he is not
Memorial Day Trust she said: “as long as the
Jewish himself, he wanted to visit the site to
Germans wanted an orchestra, it would have
experience the necessary “sense of the gravity”
been counter-productive to kill us.”
Wallfisch, is a holocaust survivor. She has
– as he stated – of the work of Gilbert. 2
