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The Lost Music of Auschwitz
LONG-FORGOTTEN MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS BY HOLOCAUST PRISONERS HAVE BEEN RESCUED FROM OBSCURITY.
80 YEARS ON FROM THE LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ, IT’S TIME TO BRING THEM BACK TO LIFE.
Sky Arts released a documentary-film about Leo Geyer's restorations of music written and performed in Auschwitz performed by Constella Music on Jan 20th at 9 pm. It can be watched via this link.
The Lost Music of Auschwitz opera-ballet
To commemorate 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, this new opera-ballet will tell the stories of the prisoner orchestras and feature forgotten and restored music from the camp.
Constella Music is premiering a new opera-ballet production, created in collaboration with acclaimed choreographer Claudia Schreier. Featuring singers, dancers, and instrumentalists on stage, the production harnesses the expressive power of song, movement, and music to reveal the truth about the prisoner orchestras of Auschwitz.
Rather than follow a traditional narrative arc, the production unfolds through a series of vignettes, each capturing astonishing and deeply emotional moments where music became a source of defiance, solace, or grief. These include marching songs embedded with hidden messages for fellow inmates, a sorrowful piece arranged and performed by the women’s orchestra, and a lullaby that clings to the distant memory of home and children.
The production is based on a collection of music manuscripts found in the archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum—written, arranged, and performed by the prisoner orchestras. Damaged and incomplete, these manuscripts have long been overlooked.
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Tickets are on sale now, starting at £22.
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Eighty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, we offer this work as a new way to commemorate the greatest tragedy humanity has inflicted upon itself. Through this production, we gather in remembrance. And together, we strive to be better.
The Story
The brutal realities of Auschwitz often played out against a backdrop of jaunty music. An orchestra of prisoners was forced to entertain Nazi officers and perform as their fellow captives marched to and from work.
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However, as composer Leo Geyer found when he first encountered the musical manuscripts on a visit to the concentration camp in 2015, the prisoners also resisted in subtle ways, weaving in hidden melodies that only their compatriots would recognise.
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One piece titled ‘Futile Regrets’ really resonated with Geyer. “It sent goosebumps down my spine,” he remembers. “I felt it was my duty to finish it.”
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And so began Geyer’s mission to preserve the musical legacy of Auschwitz and honour the victims of the holocaust.
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, was photographed at her home in London, December 2020, by Karen Robinson/The Observer
Auschwitz I Men's Orchestra, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
At one point, Auschwitz had as many as six orchestras that were sanctioned by the SS. It’s difficult to imagine a more macabre setting for music-making, but for some, like Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who played cello, the music literally saved their lives.
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“That I survived nearly one year in Auschwitz is without any doubt due to the fact that I became a member of the camp orchestra. As long as the Germans wanted music they wouldn’t put us in the gas chamber.
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Our task consisted of playing every morning and every evening at the gate of the camp so that the outgoing and incoming work commandos would march neatly in step to the marches we played. We sat out there in all weathers, sometimes in sub-zero temperatures.
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All the works we played had to be arranged and re-orchestrated for our peculiar collection of instruments.”
“In a subtle way it helped me to maintain a shred of human dignity"
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch.
Press Coverage
For all coverage please see our News page
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​​“An incredible documentary”​ - Aida Baghernejad, The Guardian
“Profoundly moving”​ - Dan Einav, Financial Times
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Supporters
Constella would like to thank the following organisations and donors for their generous support of this project.
The Leche Trust
Laurel Bowden
Robrecht Wouters
Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation
David Craigen
Heidi Spiegel
Adrian and Jessica Nussenbaum
Marie Elvire Marteau
Aton Ben-Horin and Devon Reed McCutcheon
The Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust
THIS MUSIC AND THESE STORIES FROM AUSCHWITZ MUST BE TOLD AND RETOLD FOR GENERATIONS TO COME. THEY ARE A WAY TO REMEMBER, TO EDUCATE, AND TO HEAL.
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BY SUPPORTING THIS PROJECT YOU WILL BE HELPING TO PRESERVE AND HONOUR THE CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS THAT EMERGED EVEN IN THE DARKEST TIMES OF HUMAN HISTORY