Join us for an intimate lecture-concert honouring the memory and works made by Jewish composers and artists during the Holocaust.

The Lamm Jewish Library is proud to host several events as part of a special series entitled the Music of Memory. This series will culminate with the Holocaust Memorial with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in October 2024.

ABOUT:

“When this music plays, we know that our comrades, out in the fog, are marching like automatons; their souls are dead and the music drives them, like the wind drives dead leaves, and takes the place of their wills.” - Primo Levi

Join us as we explore the role and impact of popular music in Nazi concentration camps, with a particular focus on the orchestras led by Simon Laks and Alma Rose.

Despite the Nazis banning Swing music, calling it “degenerate music created by Negroes and Jews”, it was wildly popular in Germany, leading to the bizarre situation of Jews being saved by forming swing bands in the camps. Focussing on the Terezin musicians: Czech trumpet player Eric Vogel, Coco Schumann guitar/ drums, Fricek (Fritz) Weiss clarinet, Martin Roman (pianist in the Weintraub’s Syncopators) as well as musicians in other camps. The lecture will bring together their life stories and their music.
 

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER LATHAM OAM:

Christopher Latham OAM, formerly an ACO violinist and festival director, is the Australian War Memorial’s first musical artist-in-residence. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of Canberra, the order of Arts and Letters by France and the Medal of the Order of Australia for his work on music and war. He is making the Holocaust Memorial to mark 80 years since the liberation of the death camps and the murder of the musicians and artists in Terezin. All his work is made to lighten the burden of trauma, and to help those affected, to heal.

DATE & TIME:

Tuesday 19 March 2024 - 6:30 PM
 

LOCATION:

The Lamm Jewish Library of Australia
Address will be sent out to participants prior to event.
 

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