High school students from across Nassau County experienced history through music at the Violins of Hope Educational Concert on Thursday, March 12, at the Madison Theatre at Molloy University.
Presented by Molloy University, the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center of Nassau County and the Long Island Concert Orchestra, the concert featured instruments from the internationally renowned Violins of Hope collection, restored instruments that once belonged to Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust. In addition to the performance, the program featured storytelling and personal insight from Avshalom Weinstein, master violin restorer and steward of the collection.
“These instruments carry the voices of the past,” said Bernie Furshpan, organizer of the event and vice president of HMTC’s board of directors. “When students hear them played, they are not just hearing music. They are hearing stories of courage, resilience, and the enduring power of culture.”
The meticulously restored violins, violas and cellos from the collection are now being played in concert halls and educational venues globally, breaking decades of silence. Each instrument possesses a powerful, extraordinary history, Furshpan said. Some are marked with carved Stars of David, while others survived the ghettos, concentration camps, and cattle transports of the Holocaust.
“This concert was a living history lesson,” said David Winkler, composer at the Long Island Concert Orchestra. “An encounter with memory through music that reminds students that culture, humanity, and hope cannot be silenced.”
Earlier in the day, the students were introduced to the history behind the instruments and the role music played in survival and resistance during one of history’s darkest chapters. In the evening, a second concert called the Symphony of Hope was held as a fundraiser for the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, HMTC, and The Long Island Concert Orchestra, and Molloy University.
Furshpan, who also collaborated with the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance to organize the Day of Hope concert fundraiser in December 2022 in Jerusalem, believes in music’s capacity to bridge differences and bring people together. He described the academy in Jerusalem as “a perfect example of what coexistence should look like” with Muslim, Jewish, and Christian music students performing together.
“Music unites and heals us,” Furshpan said. “It can help make us more tolerant and empathetic towards other people.”
Furshpan and his team are planning to organize another concert with Molloy University for Long Island students.
“I love working with young people and sharing knowledge and stories that can inspire us to be better,” Furshpan said. “We all need to work together to make this planet a better place to live.”
