English Section

Restored music composed by Pole at Auschwitz premiered on YouTube

23.10.2024 08:00
A recording of "Kołysanka" (Lullaby), written in 1941 by Polish composer and conductor Adam Kopyciński during his imprisonment at the Nazi German concentration camp of Auschwitz, is set to be premiered on Wednesday.
Entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp with the infamous Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Sets You Free) sign.
Entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp with the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) sign. Photo: PAP/Andrzej Grygiel

Performed by Polish pianist Mateusz Borowiak, the piece will be streamed via the website and YouTube channel of Constella Music, the creative powerhouse founded by British composer Leo Geyer.

The recording is part of Geyer's project The Orchestras of Auschwitz, which will culminate in a series of performances next year in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Geyer has been studying the long-forgotten musical compositions and arrangements by Auschwitz prisoners for over eight years, as part of his doctorate at Oxford University.

Adam Kopyciński, born in 1907, held the post of conductor of the men’s orchestra in Auschwitz.

After the war, he became the founder and conductor of the symphony orchestra in Wrocław, southwestern Poland. He died in 1982.

(mk/gs)