Music played on violins that survived Holocaust tunes in Knoxville students to history

Violinist Kevork Esmeryan picked up the violin to play a few plaintive notes of a song called "Love's Sorrow." 

The University of Tennessee School of Music student picked Austrian composer Fritz Kreisler's work to play on the violin that had belonged to Holocaust survivor Manfred Katz. 

Esmeryan, who came from Bulgaria to study violin at UT, performed briefly during a Tuesday's "Violins of Hope" lecture at Fulton High School.

"A violin is like a person. Each has a different personality," he said. 

Esmeryan's two performances were brief interludes during a presentation by "Violins of Hope" violin maker and restorer Avshi Weinstein. 

Worn, damaged, now restored

In the 50-minute presentation, Weinstein shared the history of some violins that his father, Amnon Weinstein began restoring in the 1990s. The instruments were played by Jews during the Holocaust. While the instruments — often weather-damaged and worn — survived, not all their owners did.

Weinstein encouraged the Fulton students, as well as children visiting from two area Montessori schools, to visit the University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery exhibit showing 38 of the restored violins. The exhibit is at the 106 S. Gay St. gallery through Jan. 27; admission is free.

Some of the violins also will be played by Knoxville Symphony Orchestra musicians in concerts at 7 p.m. Jan. 23 and Jan. 24 at the Tennessee Theatre, 604. S Gay St. Tickets are $40, $70, $90 or $150 at violinsofhopeknox.com. Proceeds support the event and exhibit organizer the Stanford Eisenberg Knoxville Jewish Day School.

Weinstein's presentation is one of 30 he will give this month. On Tuesday, he shared stories of the violins he carried into the assembly. 

Each violin different, priceless

Among the violins shown Tuesday was one that belonged to an unknown klezmer Jewish folk musician. The instrument with a Star of David on its back had been damaged by rain and snow, Weinstein said. 

The klezmer musician's violin played again Tuesday. Esmeryan picked it up, tuned it and then performed a fragment of Tchaikovsky's often-played Violin Concerto. 

Some of the violins restored by Violins of Hope once were used by musicians to survive the Holocaust. Some played their instruments in concentration camp orchestras. Others played to earn enough food to keep their families alive.

"They were used as a means to survive, which is very important," Esmeryan.

"How do you put a price on a violin like that? It saved a family," Weinstein said after the presentation. "It's priceless."