Classical Music Stars Pay Tribute

The documentary Orchestra of Exiles includes many interviews with people who represent the living legacy of Bronislaw Huberman and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra: members of the Israel Philharmonic, relatives of the original orchestra members, a renowned violinmaker and the most respected soloists of our time. Each of these classical music stars pay tribute to Huberman’s musical prowess and speaks with admiration of his fervent dedication to a humanitarian cause in the years before Europe erupted into World War II and the Holocaust.

Attesting to Huberman’s foresight, violinmaker Amnon Weinstein says, “Sometimes there are people who can see the future. And Huberman had it… he understood what’s going to happen.” To add perspective on Huberman’s fame and place in society in the first half of the 20th century, the violinist Ivry Gitlis quips: “He was like Frank Sinatra of our time.”

More About the Musicians in the Film

Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, teacher, and conductor, considered to be one of the preeminent violinists of the century. Perlman has received four Emmy Awards and 15 Grammy Awards, and he was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2003. He also performed the violin solos on the score for Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, composed by John Williams. Outside of performing, Perlman devotes a significant amount of time to education, instructing students at the Perlman Music Program and at the Juilliard School. For more information visit www.itzhakperlman.com

 

Zubin Mehta is an Indian born conductor and Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO). He is one of the most sought after conductors in the world and has served as music director for several of the world’s finest orchestras including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic. As Music Director for Life, Mehta has led over 3,000 concerts with the IPO to date. He began as music director in 1969 and celebrated his 70th birthday the same year as the orchestra’s, in 2006. For more information visit www.zubinmehta.net

 

Pinchas Zukerman is an Israeli-born violinist considered to be one of the preeminent violinists of our time. Zukerman first began playing the violin at eight years old and the prodigious young musician attracted the attention of violinist Isaac Stern and cellist Pablo Casals. He went on to study at the Juilliard School and now teaches at Manhattan School of Music. Zukerman is also much in demand as a conductor and was appointed Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra in 1998, where he remains today.

 

Joshua Bell is a Grammy Award-winning American violinist who currently plays the Stradivarius violin once owned by Bronislaw Huberman. Bell is a critically acclaimed classical recording artist, whose album Romance of the Violin was named the Billboard 2004 Classical CD of the Year, and Bell himself was named the Classical Artist of the Year. For more information visit www.joshuabell.com

 

Leon Botstein is an American conductor and scholar who serves as president of Bard College. He has done much research and writing in the worlds of music, history, culture and education. Botstein is the music director and conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and is Conductor Laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

 

Amnon Weinstein, violinmaker

Amnon Weinstein is an internationally renowned violinmaker. From their shop in Tel Aviv, Amnon and his son make and repair violins brought in from all over the world. For the past 20 years Weinstein has been locating and repairing the violins made by the Nazis for the sole use of Jewish musicians playing in concentration camp orchestras. Through his organization, Violins of Hope, Weinstein has taken these instruments around the world in a series of exhibitions, performances, and educational programs that has explored the history of music and art in the face of oppression.