The Eastman School of Music Presents 11th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Concert
On Sunday, April 12, 2026, the Eastman community will join the worldwide observance of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) by presenting its 11th annual Holocaust remembrance concert, titled “A Time to Remember…” This concert, taking place at 7:30 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall, features music written by composers who perished in or survived the concentration and work camps of World War II, as well as music written in tribute to those who died.
Wegman Family Professor of Violin Renée Jolles has organized this event since 2014 in honor of her late father, Jerome Jolles, a Holocaust survivor who died in January of that year. This year, Jolles invites a wealth of Eastman faculty members to join her in performing music for strings and piano, including Mikhail Kopelman, violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; Steven Doane, cello; Tony Caramia, piano; Alison Chiang, piano; and Irina Lupines, piano.
Additionally, Eastman students will come together to form the Holocaust Remembrance Chamber Orchestra, conducted by graduate student Brett Miller ’24E. They will perform Jonathan D. Kramer’s Remembrance of a People, a piece he wrote in 1996 in memory of the Holocaust’s victims. Included in the score is poetry by Roger B. Goodman that will be narrated by recently retired Professor Emeritus of English Jonathan Baldo. Other composers being honored at this concert include Erwin Schulhoff, Pavel Haas, Leo Smit, and Robert Starer.
“This special concert gives us a moment to reflect as a community not only on the tragedies that stem from intolerance and hatred, but also on the incredible resilience of the human spirit,” says Jolles. “Even in the most difficult circumstances, human beings find solace in the creation of the arts. Music, in particular, deeply touches the soul with immediacy and strong emotion.”
“A Time to Remember…” is free and open to the public. To learn more about this concert, and other events taking place at Eastman, visit our Concerts and Events Calendar.
Media Only: Lauren Sageer, Associate Director of Public Relations and Digital Content,
(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu
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About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprising more than 170 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, GRAMMY winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members and guest artists present more than 1,000 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, over 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.
About the University of Rochester:
The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.