Lunchbox Lecture: Violins of Hope
6Speaker: Avshi Weinstein
Third-generation Israeli violin maker Avshalom “Avshi” Weinstein was trained by his father, Amnon, and began working in their workshop in 1998 as a violin maker and restorer of violins, violas, and cellos. He is trained in the tradition of the Italian Cremonese School of violin makers and the French school of restoration. Avshi has also joined his father at the Keshet Eilon violin and bow-making atelier at Keshet Eilon Master Class for young violinists each summer since 1998. Avshi has also trained with master bowmaker Daniel Schmidt from Dresden since 2009, and opened his own workshop in Istanbul the same year.
Since Violins of Hope became a major force in Holocaust education, Avshi has traveled the world and brought the collection to several US cities. Together with local educators and musicians, he visits schools where youngsters often have their first introduction to the history of the Holocaust and also the opportunity to see and hold an instrument that has survived so much and represents history. Students who play the violin often have an opportunity to play on these treasured instruments. As the collection travels the United States, several instruments have been donated by family and friends. These instruments often need extensive restoration—done in the Tel Aviv workshop—before they become world-class instruments. Silenced by the events of World War II, they have been given voice again and will live on forever to carry the message of survival and resilience.
This Lunchbox Lecture is free and open to the public to attend in The National WWII Museum’s Karen H. Bechtel and William M. Osborne III Media Auditorium. For those unable to make it to the Museum’s campus, the lecture will also be livestreamed on Facebook, Vimeo, and YouTube, and will be available as a recording after the fact on both platforms.
For additional information, please email Maggie Hartley, EdD, Director of Public Engagement, at maggie.hartley@nationalww2museum.org.
This program is proudly sponsored by AARP Louisiana.