The Long Live Life! Concert, produced on the occasion of 2021 International Holocaust Remembrance Day by Fondazione Istituto di Letteratura Musicale Concentrazionaria and by INTERGEA, is conceived as a tribute to the memory of those men and women – from whatever nationality, culture and social background – who lost their lives and were deprived of the most basic human rights during their imprisonment in concentration camps.
Long live life! is the title of a play written in Theresienstadt (original title in Czech: Ať žije život!) by the comedian, conductor, poet, writer and actor Karel Svenk. Svenk died right after the evacuation of the Meuselvitz Camp (April 1945) while he was on his way back to Prague.
The Concert is meant to stand as a print of this outstanding musical heritage that has been brought to light by Francesco Lotoro. In the last 33 years, the Italian pianist has recovered more than eight thousand musical scores composed in the camps: a legacy that deserves to be studied, performed and disclosed, as it preserves the precious footprints of those living beings who hoped for a better future by making music.
The concert brings back to life several pieces of music created by people who have been able to overturn the reality of lager and gulag: the musicians who produced music in the fields were not only gifted with genius and talent but also with immeasurable faith in humanity and unshakable trust in mankind; this concert is therefore an opportunity to reciprocate their trust by letting their music resound as an expression of human ingenuity and an instrument of resistence.
This event was kindly supported by Herzog Centre TCD and Holocaust Awareness Ireland.
The link to see the concert will be made available HERE on the 27th of January.