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  • Over the years, ideastream’s Listening Project has expressed an interest in your thoughts about our region’s biggest assets and challenges - and now we’d like to update the survey.

  • This page is for members of the media to use in reference to Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust.

    Media Contact:
    Marissa Norris, Communications Coordinator
    216.916.6318 | marissa.norris@ideastream.org

    Documentary Vitals:
    Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust
    Directed by Lance K. Shultz
    A WVIZ/PBS ideastream Production

    Approved Logos:


    Click on logo for full-size version.

    Approved Images:

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    Klezmer music students Danny and Darby showing off the restored Violins of Hope they had the opportunity to learn the history of and play for Cleveland community members.

    The violins were put on display in a special exhibit at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland.

    Some of the Violins of Hope on display at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.

    Community members had the opportunity to learn about the history of the violins and see them up close while on exhibit.

    The Cleveland Orchestra played a concert featuring the violins and honoring the work of Amnon Weinstein, who was in the audience.

    The performance was held at the opening of Silver Hall in the Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.

    Violin virtuoso Shlomo Mintz was the featured soloist of The Cleveland Orchestra concert.

    Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst conducted the concert highlighting the violins.

    About the Documentary:
    Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust, narrated by Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody, is a documentary featuring Israeli violinmaker Amnon Weinstein and his efforts to restore violins recovered from the Holocaust. Some were played by Jewish prisoners in concentration camps; others belonged to the Klezmer musical culture, which was all but destroyed by the Nazis. From their amazing stories and Weinstein’s mission to collect and restore the instruments comes the inspiration for this one-hour documentary. For more details on the documentary, view the fact sheet.

    About the Violinmaker:
    Amnon Weinstein, one of the most respected violinmakers in the world, has spent the last two decades locating and restoring violins that were played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. His work began with locating violins that were silenced by the Holocaust and painstakingly piecing them back together so they could be brought to life again on the concert stage. Learn more about his journey here.

    About ideastream:
    ideastream is the consolidation of eight different programs and services that had previously been independently managed: WVIZ/PBS, with 4 channels of public TV service, and  training for teachers and caregivers in the use of technology for education;  90.3 WCPN, Northeast Ohio’s NPR news and public affairs station; WCLV Classical 104.9, Civic Commons, a community engagement platform; management on behalf of Ohio’s public broadcasting stations of the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau and The Ohio Channel, a statewide public affairs television channel available by broadcast and on the web; management on behalf of a consortium of local K-12 school systems of NOTA (North Ohio Technology Association, a broadband interactive distance learning network for K-12 schools) and SMART (Science and Math Achievement Required for Tomorrow), a professional development program for teachers.

  • This fact sheet includes film details on the Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust.

    Media Contact:
    Marissa Norris, Communications Coordinator
    216.916.6318 | marissa.norris@ideastream.org

    Title:
    Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust

    Directed by:
    Lance K. Shultz

    Narration:
    Adrien Brody

    Attribution:
    A WVIZ/PBS ideastream Production

    Television Premiere:
    Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, at 9 p.m. on WVIZ/PBS – Cleveland

    Duration:
    56:46

    Acclaim:
    Awarded Best Documentary by the VIFF 2016 Vienna Independent Film Festival

  • For Jews enduring utter despair and unimaginable evil during the Holocaust, music offered haven and humanity. The strains of a beloved song supplied solace, even if only for a few moments. The chords also provided a vital reminder that even the most brutal regime could not rob them of their faith. No matter what, their souls could be free.

    In some cases, the ability to play the violin spared Jewish musicians from more grueling labors or even death. Nearly 50 years ago, Amnon Weinstein heard such a story from a customer who brought in an instrument for restoration. The customer survived the Holocaust because his job was to play the violin while Nazi soldiers marched others to their deaths. When Weinstein opened the violin’s case, he saw ashes. He thought of his own relatives who had perished, and was overwhelmed. He could not bring himself to begin the project.

    By 1996, Weinstein was ready. He put out a call for violins from the Holocaust that he would restore in hopes that the instruments would sound again.

    All photography by Debra Yasinow.

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