In a related vein as LA Opera Music Director James Conlon's project "Recovered Voices" to express the myriad silenced during the Nazi regime, comes a new project that is worthy of endless merit.
Begun in 1991 by Italian pianist and composer Francesco Lotoro and Professor David Meghnagi, the project is a compilation of forgotten and unheard musical works that were furtively penned by prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps and various WWII interment and prison camps from 1933-1945, men and women who eventually died in the camps before their works could be realized. The majority of materials was found in Terezin, a death camp where most of the Czech Jews were killed during WWII.
This collection of precious scraps of paper has slowly evolved into a viable oeuvre of musical history. The compilation of sheet music, letters, and photos will formally exhibit and find a home in Italy this September at Università degli Studi Roma Tre. The Roman University expects a vast collection of over 4,000 papers and 13,000 microfiches. Lotoro has already recorded five CDs of the anticipated 32-set collection. He said:
“We are trying to right a great wrong: These musicians were hoping for a musical life for themselves, and they would have had it if their destiny had been different."