In part three of our series ‘Creative Responses to the Holocaust’, two distinguished string players, Krzysztof Chorzelski (Second Generation) and Laura van der Heijden (Third Generation) will talk about what music and music making means to them in connection with their backgrounds. Krzysztof is a viola player and a longstanding member of the renowned Belcea quartet as well as a chamber music professor. Krzysztof’s mother was smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto in March/April 1943. Laura, a cellist, won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2012 when she was just 15 and has an international career as a soloist and chamber music musician. This year she won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society 2025 Instrumentalist award. Laura is the great-granddaughter of the Dutch conductor Martin Spanjaard who was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942. Both will talk about their backgrounds and life stories and the role music plays in their lives in connection to being Second/Third Generation Holocaust survivors. After their presentations there will be time for your Q & A and a chance to share your experiences of using the creative arts, especially music, to explore and engage with your Holocaust heritage. An Eventbrite link will be available via the Network email newsletter.
Second Generation Network
For the children and families of survivors of and refugees from Nazi persecution