Violins of Hope new compositions will be released January 27

By Jenna Vetsch

(AJNews) – In a video on the National Music Centre (NMC) website, Daniel Pelton, the National Music Centre’s Violins of Hope Artist in Residence, shares the story behind his new album inspired by the novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz. The award-winning saxophonist and composer from Calgary, who leads The Daniel Pelton Collective, a group of rotating musicians that perform his original works and arrangements, was given a week to record new works using historic string instruments from the Violins of Hope collection – once owned by Holocaust victims and survivors, and now lovingly preserved by third generation violin-maker Avshalom Weinstein.

After reading the story of Lali Sokolov and Gita Furman from The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Daniel Pelton needed to process, musically, the strong emotions the novel evoked. He chose to sit down at the piano and recall his studies on music theory. Using the 12-note music scale, Pelton translated the numbers tattooed on Lali and Gita into notes, which revealed a call-and-response composition. “It sounds like a question and an answer,” he observed as he played the singular notes. This led to the creation of what would become a 12-minute piece for a chamber orchestra entitled, 34902-32407. It portrays Lali and Gita’s seemingly impossible love story. What began as a simple storytelling from a single keyboard, grew into a beautifully dimensional piece during his residency at Studio Bell, home of the NMC in Calgary.

“These instruments and the music performed on them are a tangible, physical connection to the history and legacy of their owners. I didn’t expect the journeys of so many violins in the collection to be so well catalogued, as though their caretakers through the years knew of their importance,” Pelton shared.

Eric Auerbach, one of the violinists performing Pelton’s arrangements, says that “it’s a very unique experience to play modern music written recently about a time period.” Using instruments from the same time in history, and creating sounds that the story is about, adds another layer of depth.

As an artist of Jewish heritage, Pelton found deep meaning in using the Violins of Hope collection to bring Holocaust stories of the past to life through music. Pelton’s powerful pieces, recorded with Calgary’s premiere string ensemble Kensington Sinfonia, will be released on January 27, 2025, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Pre-save the album here.

Special thanks to Calgary Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation for making this residency possible.

Jenna Vetsch is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.