>> Funding for "Dreams of Hope" is provided by UAB Medicine and these additional supporters.

♪♪ >> It is amazing how we think we know a thing and we don't.

I was asked to get involved in Violins of Hope Birmingham and was commissioned to write a piece for the opening concert and produce the opening concert.

One of the things that struck me most about working on this project was how I thought I knew a lot about the Holocaust.

I had always watched movies about various sufferings around the world, the plight of the Jewish people, plight of those from The Congo in Africa, persecution in the Middle East, and, of course, our own history in this country.

We get caught up in our own lives, struggles, and -- if we want to even call them struggles -- and really are not in tune with, let's just say, true suffering of other people.

For me, this was truly an eye-opening experience.

I had no idea that it would have the impact on me that it did.

So, imagine a musician who probably had a wonderful life in Europe.

Many of the most important violinists in that period were Jewish musicians, and they were in some of the most important orchestras in Europe.

Now, all of a sudden, maybe even abruptly, made to play in a concentration camp for maybe the SS guard, but also to entertain them, and many of them knowing that their own survival was based on one thing, that they could play an instrument, many times as they saw, perhaps, people they knew or family members being herded off to be slaughtered.

That is kind of tough to imagine.

But they represent, now, restoration, reconciliation, hope for the future, where they once represented destruction, defeat, and death.

And I can't think of a better vehicle for doing that than what the Weinsteins have been able to do by restoring each of these instruments with the care that they have.

Amnon has this amazing workshop that has been passed down to him from his father.

>> Amnon has a passion for everything he does.

I mean, he doesn't do things that are not passionate.

And music, of course, and violin-making, violin restoring, today, is his biggest passion.

If there's a Magen David, the Star of David, on the violin, the passion grows.

If there's a story connected to the violin, he could work with it and restore it and fix it and play with it and scratch it forever.

[ Scratching ] It's a work of the heart.

It's not only his skill, technical skill, but it's also a work of love.

>> My father and my mother came over to Israel in '38, to Palestine in this case.

From the family that -- All the families had.

My late sister and my late mother, one day, were sitting down and trying to see how many people, and they arrived to numbers like 380, 360, 400 people that the Germans killed.

After the war, there were only three people from all this family -- my mother, my father, and a brother.

That's all.

We are looking all the time for another survivor, and until today, we didn't find one.

Violins of Hope actually began because of my father.

People came to my father with German instruments that they had in their possession, because they came to Israel with German violins, violas, cellos, and others, and they told him very simply, "If you're not buying this violin, viola, cello, we are going to break it.

We cannot play on it anymore."

The importance of the project Violins of Hope is to give life to the people that are not with us anymore and to bring the issue everywhere in the world, because to do a concert about what happened in the Holocaust is much easier than to go and to do a lecture.

If people will start to pay attention like what we are doing to bring it to the knowledge of everyone, pay attention to the suffering, pay attention to the atrocities, pay attention that people that can kill because you have another color, because you have another ideas, because you have another religion -- if people will begin to think about it, what this is doing to the humanity, then we have done something great.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> ♪ Lord, I will lift ♪ ♪ Mine eyes to the hills ♪ ♪ Knowing my health ♪ ♪ Is coming from you ♪ ♪ Your peace ♪ ♪ You give me ♪ ♪ In times of the storm ♪ ♪ You are ♪ ♪ The source of my strength ♪ ♪ You are ♪ ♪ The strength of my life ♪ ♪ I lift my hands ♪ ♪ In total praise to you ♪ ♪ You are ♪ ♪ The source of my strength ♪ ♪ You are ♪ ♪ The strength of my life ♪ ♪ I lift my hands ♪ ♪ In total praise to you ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ [ Music stops ] [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ >> When it came to bringing Violins of Hope to Birmingham, there's absolutely no one more important than Sallie.

Without her, her vision, what she saw when she first heard about Violins of Hope and what it could mean for the city of Birmingham, it would not have happened.

>> I'll never forget that I was at work and I got an e-mail from a friend with a link.

She doesn't usually send me stuff, so I was really intrigued.

So I clicked on it, and it was a news segment from the "CBS Sunday Morning" program about an event called Violins of Hope Cleveland.

And I can't really explain what happened to me when I saw that.

It was such a vast learning tool, and these violins that did survive tell the story of what happened individually during the Holocaust.

It didn't tell you about 6 million Jews were murdered.

It is more like 6 million stories.

So, initially, I just thought, "I need to bring them to Birmingham."

>> When Sallie called me the first time, I said, without even knowing in this moment exactly what it is, first of all, yes, that I was taking her up, and then I said, "Of course."

>> The interesting thing is that he -- And his wife was there, Assi, and she was so excited at the idea of coming to Birmingham, Alabama.

>> To me, Birmingham and Alabama are very meaningful -- not even because of the violins but now, of course, it's with the violins.

When I heard that there's this woman, Sallie Downs, who wants to bring Violins of Hope to Birmingham, I said to Amnon, "I don't care how and when.

We have to do it."

>> It was a very important moment for me -- and for us all -- to come and to do this project in Birmingham because of the story.

>> Birmingham is well-known throughout the world for the Civil Rights struggle, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, the march in Selma, the Freedom Riders.

I mean, they knew all of that and they thought of all places that Violins of Hope should be, they need to come to Birmingham.

>> Human-rights struggles, wherever they occur in the world, have common threads, and that, of course, would be true of the struggle that's called forth in the Violins of Hope program, as well as the struggle for human rights that has occurred here in Birmingham.

The Violins of Hope brings to mind a story about a hideous time and oppression of a people.

In Birmingham, Alabama, when we talk about any struggle for human rights, we think about the Civil Rights struggle in Birmingham.

They both encompass very common threads -- the hope of people, the strength of people, the desire to overcome.

>> And I'm not trying to take away from anything that anyone else has done or will do, but this place, Birmingham, is unique.

I don't think any other city can capture the essence of the Holocaust, of suffering, of survival like Birmingham can and Birmingham did, so I think that's what made the concert being here and the violins being in Birmingham -- made it that much more unique to any other venue where the violins have been featured.

♪♪ >> ♪ Holy ♪ ♪ Thou art holy ♪ ♪ There is none beside thee ♪ >> ♪ Perfect is thy majesty ♪ >> ♪ Love and purity ♪ ♪ Love and purity ♪ >> ♪ Though your skies clouded with fear ♪ ♪ And your victory seems so near ♪ ♪ But remember ♪ ♪ Thou art holy ♪ ♪ He can do all things ♪ ♪ He can do all things ♪ >> ♪ Holy ♪ >> ♪ Holy, thou art holy ♪ >> ♪ Lord, you're holy ♪ >> ♪ Holy ♪ >> ♪ There is none beside thee ♪ >> ♪ Perfect is thy majesty ♪ >> ♪ Love and purity ♪ ♪ Love and purity ♪ >> ♪ God is holy ♪ >> ♪ Holy ♪ >> ♪ God is holy ♪ >> ♪ Holy ♪ >> ♪ My God is holy ♪ >> ♪ Holy ♪ >> ♪ God is holy ♪ ♪♪ >> Sallie knew this was going to be such a huge undertaking, and if she was going to be successful, she was going to need some key people in our community to help bring it to pass.

>> When I first started working on this project, I put together what I considered key people to guide me.

>> When Sallie came to us, we were not familiar with the Violins of Hope.

She was passionate and persistent, and we fell in love with the project, but it was, we could see, going to be a huge time commitment, and we declined at first.

>> And we continued to think, "What can we do as individuals to perhaps do something to make a difference?"

>> And the violins that had been played during the Holocaust by musicians that perished in concentration camps seemed to be the embodiment of hope from tragedy.

>> And then it dawned on us that it was really right in front of us.

It was the Violins of Hope, so we called Sallie back.

She came over.

We discussed it and then agreed that it was appropriate and that we were prepared to throw ourselves into that initiative.

>> With plans under way to bring Violins of Hope and the Weinsteins to Birmingham, there was still a need to find a venue to host the event.

But when everything was considered, there was really only one place it could be held, and that's the historic 16th Street Baptist Church.

>> I consider 16th Street Baptist Church to be a national/international landmark, one of those touchstone places in our nation where people intentionally come.

When the committee started meeting, trying to identify a space for the public concert, I felt that it was important to consider 16th Street Baptist Church.

>> The obvious choice was the 16th Street Baptist Church because of its history of the bombing and killing of the four little children in the '60s.

And I'd say the parallels between the Civil Rights struggles and the discrimination and murder of the Jewish people, it just made sense.

>> The 16th Street Baptist Church is very symbolic for America's black community and especially for Birmingham's black community.

To fully understand that, you have to understand that the institution that we, as African-Americans, have had always, sometimes the only institution we've had, the only institution from which we could draw our strength as a people was the Black Church.

We understand why the violence was directed at the church, because we were trying to create, for us, participation in our government.

And so, yes, indeed, 16th Street Church is very, very significant to us.

It's an important part of African-American history in this country.

>> Other buildings, other churches were bombed, experienced violence, but none like 16th Street Baptist Church, and none stand, I think, as a symbol of resilience and hope as 16th Street Baptist Church continues to stand today.

>> ♪ I love the Lord ♪ ♪ He heard my cry ♪ ♪ And pitied every groan ♪ ♪ Long as I, I live ♪ ♪ And troubles rise ♪ ♪ I'll hasten to-o-o-o ♪ ♪ His throne ♪ ♪ Oh, I love the Lord ♪ >> ♪ I love the Lord ♪ >> ♪ I sure do ♪ ♪ I surely do love the Lord ♪ ♪ He heard ♪ >> ♪ He heard my cry ♪ >> ♪ He heard my cry ♪ ♪ And He pitied every groan ♪ ♪ Yes, He did ♪ ♪ Every ♪ ♪ Every groan ♪ ♪ Long as I live ♪ ♪ Long as I live ♪ ♪ Long as I, I live ♪ ♪ And troubles rise ♪ >> ♪ And troubles rise ♪ ♪ I'll hasten to-o-o-o ♪ >> ♪ Hasten to His throne ♪ >> ♪ You know I can go ♪ ♪ I'll hasten ♪ ♪ I'll hasten to ♪ >> ♪ His throne ♪ >> ♪ It's His dream and not mine ♪ >> ♪ I'll hasten to His throne ♪ >> ♪ I'll hasten ♪ ♪ I'm gonna run ♪ ♪ I know I can go ♪ ♪ I know I can go ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ I'll hasten ♪ ♪ I'll hasten to His throne ♪ ♪♪ >> Sallie had reached out to me a half-year before, and it was one of those things where I didn't see the e-mail.

And I guess she assumed that I wasn't interested.

Had not met her, and about a month and a half, two months before our opening the event, she reached out to me and said, "I've been trying to find you."

>> I didn't know Henry at the time, and he didn't know me.

And, so, it's very hard to get to Henry.

All I know of Henry Panion was -- I went to a Stevie Wonder concert, and Henry was the arranger and the conductor, and so, to me, Henry was amazing, you know, truly amazing.

>> And Sallie is just persistent.

She, for lack of a better way to explain this, just kind of wasn't interested in hearing no, just really wanted to know what we could do and how we could do it.

And I would ask, "Well, what do you want?"

She said, "Well, I want you to do whatever you would do."

>> We didn't want to give him direction on what it was going to be.

We wanted him to have the creative wherewithal to decide what it needed to be.

>> And I said, "What do you mean?"

She said, "I want you to produce this whole event."

I said, "You want me to produce the whole event?"

>> He says, "It's six weeks away, and I'm doing this and I'm doing this, and --" And I really -- My heart was sinking, thinking, "Oh, I just want him so bad to do this."

>> After I had met with Sallie and a few other committee members, I told them I needed about a week to kind of really make a decision if I was going to be able to do it well.

>> And I remember Jeffrey asking me, "You think he's going to do it?

You think he can do it?"

And I was going, "Trust me on this.

Henry Panion has a reputation.

You get out of Henry's way and let Henry just create."

>> The first thing I wanted to look at was Dr. James Grymes' book the "Violins of Hope" and just to get into the history of that.

I am not Jewish, so I don't know their culture beyond what most people know, right?

And so I really wanted to know if there are elements of their music, if I was going to write a particular piece, how I could write some music that would be reflective of the Jewish people.

>> I sent him movies.

I gave him books.

I gave him all kinds of things.

"Here, look at this."

>> One of the things I looked at were some of the historical shows on World War II, Some of the most classic movies, like "Playing for Time," "Schindler's List."

And I had seen "Schindler's List" before, but it was as if I was watching this movie for the first time.

And all of this took place within a week, just to really see if I could transition my state of being to really be able to take on -- make a decision in a more informed manner.

>> The weekend comes and goes.

Monday comes and goes.

And I refrained from calling Henry, because I didn't want to push him.

And I think I heard from him on Tuesday.

And he started asking me questions about the project, and I knew, right then and there, he was in.

>> You know, once you agree to do anything, particularly produce an event like this, that the reality sets in.

Now you have to go and do it.

What songs were we going to perform that night?

Did I have music in my library that I could incorporate?

And I did.

Who would be the artists that I would want to appear?

What's the nature of the event?

How would it be inclusive, with perhaps even dance, but choral and orchestral and instrumental?

Who are those people?

By the time I was getting ready to say I could do this -- or would do this -- I had begun to think about what the show would be.

For me, I have to write when I'm inspired or write wherever I'm inspired.

So, many times, I won't be at the university.

From there, it could be at midnight working, or I may be in my pajamas in the piano room at home.

There's no meetings, no return phone calls.

But it's probably similar for many artists, but that's what happens for me.

The process, for me, of writing any composition involves putting together the palette that you want to have -- rhythms, tempo, mood, all those elements that would go into a composition.

I didn't want it, necessarily, to be sad and morbid.

I wanted it to speak to hope or at least convey thoughts of hope.

So one of the things I did was to pull a theme from "Avinu Malkeinu," which is a Jewish prayer that is used, I believe, in High Holy Days of the Jewish faith.

And it speaks to God our healer, God our restorer.

And the prayer is much deeper than that, but it is a major theme.

And I didn't want it to be prominent in the piece, but I wanted it there in subtle ways.

But it's not about that.

It's about the violins, again, and the emphasis did not need to be on an instrument playing a common theme, as it were, but more or less about what the instrument itself could do.

How had it been restored?

Had it been restored to a point that it was able to play certain types of music?

Could I have an instrumentalist who was almost a virtuoso?

Will they play the instrument and not damage it in a certain way?

Was it strong enough now to play in certain registers without the strings being broken?

So all these things were in my mind, but I wanted to write a piece that would really demonstrate the beautiful sonority of the instrument.

Then I wanted the orchestra to be able to support that instrument, sometimes play along with it, as if it was on a journey with this instrument, but also other times where it was just simply there, letting it speak for itself.

The process of putting on a production like this, particularly in the short period of time that we had -- or any period of time, really -- involves trying to get all the players in the places where you need to have them when you need them, making sure that the choreographer has space to dance and that we have the music exactly as it's going to be written for her to create choreography.

The choir -- making sure that the choir had music that we were going to sing and had time to rehearse it.

But even the orchestra, making sure I could identify and put together the orchestra that I wanted for this particular event.

One of the most challenging aspects of this was -- I had to let the violinist know that I would give her excerpts from the work as I was composing it and that there may be changes.

And there were.

>> I would record me actually playing it.

I would send it to Dr. Panion and also ask him questions on the score.

But he would listen to it, make audio comments, send that back to me, and also revise the score and... >> So, I would give her a couple of measures here or there and say, "I might change the phrasing of this, maybe rewrite it.

It just depends on how I'm working."

I knew I wanted to write a piece that would focus clearly on one of these violins.

I didn't know if she would be available, but I couldn't think of a more perfect person to represent that night and be featured than Caitlin Edwards.

>> When Dr. Panion first contacted me, I was super-excited and very surprised, because I had heard about, you know, Violins of Hope.

There was a video circulating on Facebook with Amnon Weinstein talking about Violins of Hope.

And I watched the video like years before Dr. Panion contacted me, and when he did, I was like, "Whoa!

I get to take part in this, and Birmingham was taking part of this?"

It was very surprising, and I felt honored.

>> Just the thought of her being in the 16th Street Baptist Church, a place where four young African-American girls had died, it seemed poetic.

>> When Caitlin came to town, Henry brought Caitlin to the Alys Stephens Center to look at all of the violins so that she could pick which violin she was going to use to perform Henry's composition.

>> They had all the violins that Amnon had restored, and Amnon was on the stage, Dr. Panion, Avshi, his son.

>> Amnon was so taken by Caitlin.

>> Wonderful girl, and she played very, very good.

She's studied in the best schools in the States.

♪♪ >> There is a lot of history behind these violins.

They were played by people in the camps during the Holocaust, so that's a part of history that many people, you know, read about.

We read about it in books and see documentaries and videos about it, but to actually hold that piece of history in my hand and to have the opportunity to play -- it was very special.

>> Having this experience has been perhaps one that I haven't really thought about and to this degree, as if I'm learning all over again about a most significant and not-so-distant past.

How can anyone even walk down the street with a swastika?

So, through education, through me becoming educated about the Holocaust, through a simple artistic endeavor, it has changed and impacted me in a way that I just never really thought about before.

So by the time we had our rehearsal and all these elements had been brought together, from the very first downbeat, I could tell what the concert was going to be like.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] When I go back to the very first meetings, where I was asked to get involved in this production, my listening to various music, watching certain movies, reading certain books -- all of that was validated, in a very, very strong way, by some of the comments and just the responses that I got immediately after the concert and still get.

>> The people in attendance there came from all walks of life, and you also have people that might have never seen a classical-music concert before, And people were really impressed.

It was just such a beautiful event, and people were definitely impacted.

>> There have been so many e-mails and Facebook posts written about this particular concert that we've compiled them in a little booklet about that evening.

>> Amnon was -- I knew that he expected it was going to be good, but I don't think he had any idea about the power of what the Wednesday night program, "Dreams of Hope" -- what it ended up being.

>> In the premiere, the beginning was just excited.

When I've seen all the people that are coming to the concert and I've seen the chorus, the orchestra, the players, this was a moment that I will never forget all my life.

>> When we heard "Dreams of Hope," I heard "Avinu Malkeinu."

The way the music went was Jewish and black and beautiful, and it was like a stream or something.

And I asked Henry Panion, after the concert -- I said, "Am I crazy or is it true that I heard 'Avinu Malkeinu' in it?"

He said, "Yes."

>> He incorporated tunes from our High Holiday, the most important day of the year, Yom Kippur, in the Jewish religion.

It was surprisingly perfect.

>> This is beyond imagination.

You know, think about it.

You are in a church, playing Jewish music, playing by Afro-American, written by Afro-American, conducted by Afro-American.

The soloist is a woman, Afro.

And then the orchestras are where European, we are calling, yeah?

I don't know what you can do more.

Impossible to do the same concert in Carnegie Hall.

And I hope that it will happen there one day.

>> For me, fairly familiar with the history of Birmingham, it was moving.

First of all, a capacity crowd.

Where?

16th Street Church, a symbolic place about relations, human relations, in our city.

There we are all together.

The diversity that we experienced that night affected me, in that it brought forth some serious understanding of where we are going in terms of seeing ourselves finally, at last, as a community, as one community.

Not your community.

Our community.

Everybody -- That's what the Violins of Hope was about.

That was what "Dreams of Hope" was about.

Look -- we're one people.

>> I felt that Violins of Hope in and of itself was certainly an educational experience for our community.

One of my goals for Violins of Hope Birmingham was to inspire and empower people to create love, cooperation, and helping each other.

You know, being good human beings and creating a better world.

>> That's why we became involved.

It gave us an outlet.

Now I think I better understand how you can take action and what it can lead to.

>> I think we have to remind people that there's always hope, that good can always overcome evil when good people get together and are determined that we can -- that things can change, that there is progress.

We have to keep pushing.

We have to keep the voices of hope out there.

Those voices have to be heard.

Tell it in the stories on the Violins of Hope, tell it in the "Dreams of Hope," but tell the story and point out how we continue to progress.

>> I think that one of the most important things that can come from Violins of Hope Birmingham would be for what we've learned about the history and the plight of not only the instruments, but their owners, their suffering, and the millions of people who lost their lives in this event.

One of the most important things that can come from this is for all of us, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our backgrounds, our walks in life, to be able to come together to make our society and our community, to make the world a better place.

And we hear that.

We've heard many, many songs and events about making the world a better place, but it starts right where you are, right where you are in your little confine.

And if each one could just reach out and be the difference maker right where they are, then we'll begin to make long and lasting changes throughout the world.

I am now honored that Gail and Jeffrey Bayer, Sallie Downs, reached out to me to be involved.

I am hopeful through this process, even.

I am rejuvenated, revived, and I do believe that through something as simple as a piece of music for one purpose, and that is to make not only Birmingham but the world a better place.

♪♪