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Daniel Pelton Reclaims Humanity with “Violins of Hope”
On January 27, 2025, marking the 80th anniversary of the Auschwitz-Birkenau liberation, Canadian saxophonist and composer Daniel Pelton released a musical work connecting history, memory, and hope.
The three-piece EP Violins of Hope, played by The Daniel Pelton Collective with Calgary’s National Music Centre, functions as both memorial and recovery, showing how human creativity survives attempts to destroy it.
The project began through an unusual mix of personal loss, historical awakening, and artistic chance. Five years before the release, during the winter of 2019-2020, Pelton experienced a painful breakup. In his words: “I had been very dramatically dumped and was going into my first Albertan winter alone, really leaning into the melancholy and the gratuitous sadness of it all.” This difficult period pushed him toward Holocaust literature, specifically Heather Morris’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
The novel, which tells the true story of Lale Sokolov and Gita Furman who met as inmates in Auschwitz and later married, sparked something profound in Pelton. Despite being of Jewish heritage through his mother, Pelton had not been raised with strong connections to Jewish traditions or cultural identity. Reading about these Holocaust survivors prompted what he describes as his “first reckoning” with his Jewish identity: “Oh, I am Jewish. And for me to be here, all of these things had to happen, and what does that mean for me?”
This personal awakening happened just as the “Violins of Hope” collection, instruments once owned by Holocaust victims and survivors, arrived at Calgary’s National Music Centre in 2024. The collection, preserved by father and son luthiers Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, travels worldwide as physical connections to Holocaust history. When the National Music Centre announced a recording residency for musicians to work with these instruments, Pelton saw it as fortuitous: “Oh my goodness, I couldn’t have planned for this better.”
The “Violins of Hope” collection comprises instruments with varied histories: some belonged to musicians who performed in camp orchestras as a means of survival, others were discovered in the rubble of concentration camps, and some were abandoned by survivors who could no longer bear to touch them after liberation.
A notable instrument in Pelton’s recording is known as “the Auschwitz violin.” Its history shows the complex feelings survivors had about their instruments: after liberation, its owner, who had played it to survive while fellow inmates were killed, gave it away immediately, saying he “never wanted to see a violin again.”
Another instrument in the collection that moved Pelton was a child’s violin displayed in the exhibit (though not played in the recording). This small violin had belonged to a young boy in a Jewish ghetto who would pretend to play it for entertainment after its strings had broken, with no means to repair them. Such stories humanize the statistics of Holocaust victims, transforming them from numbers to individuals with dreams, talents, and creative spirits.
The collection also includes instruments intentionally left unrestored as historical monuments. One violin bears a swastika and “Heil Hitler” inscription secretly drawn inside by a German luthier who was repairing it for a Jewish musician in the 1930s—kept in its violated state as evidence of the antisemitism that permeated society.
The heart of Pelton’s project grew from a novel composing method. Struck by the tattoo numbers forced on Auschwitz inmates, a Nazi method to erase human identity, Pelton converted the tattoo numbers of Lale Sokolov (34902) and Gita Furman (32407) into musical notes.
With a system matching numbers to notes on an A-minor blues scale, he found these number sequences created a natural musical dialogue. This held deep meaning for Pelton: “I figured in the camps, the Jews were given their tattoos as a way of saying ‘You’re not a person, your name doesn’t matter anymore, you’re just a number…'” By turning these dehumanizing marks into music expressing the full range of human feeling, Pelton crafted an act of recovery: “I thought if I could take that and get all this expression out of them, then that would be a reclamation of the dehumanization of the tattoos.”
The resulting 11-minute piece “34902-32407” forms the EP’s emotional center. Using just six notes from the tattoo numbers, the music explores many emotions while keeping to this strict limit, reflecting how human dignity survived within the camps’ harsh boundaries. A key moment occurs when trumpeter Jon Day breaks past the six-note restriction in his solo, representing freedom both musical and historical.
The EP’s three compositions flow across genre boundaries, reflecting Pelton’s belief that human expression cannot be contained within a single musical tradition. The influence of Frank Zappa, whom Pelton cites as his primary musical influence, is evident in this cross-genre approach. Just as Zappa moved freely between rock, jazz, and orchestral compositions, Pelton’s work refuses to be limited by traditional boundaries.
“Klezmer Dances II,” the opening track, stems from Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in C# Minor, written after the Dresden firebombing during World War II. The music starts with war’s tension and drama before shifting to Jewish Klezmer folk music usually played at celebrations. This contrast honors Holocaust victims’ complete lives beyond their tragic ends, celebrating their culture while recognizing their pain.
The EP ends with Pelton’s version of Oscar Peterson’s “Hymn to Freedom,” which moves from string playing to New Orleans dixie-style jazz. This shift from formal classical sounds to free jazz mirrors the path from imprisonment to freedom, both actual and artistic. Pelton explains: “To me it represents the literal freedom of the survivors once the camps were liberated, as well as the more figurative freedoms in regards to jazz and improvisation.”
The project prompted Pelton and his sister to investigate their own family’s Jewish history, uncovering connections to the Holocaust that had remained largely unexamined. They learned that their great-grandfather on their mother’s side was the only one among his many siblings to flee Europe before the war, escaping to Venezuela while the rest of his family perished. Their grandfather (or “Zadie”) later made his way to Montreal as a young teenager, establishing the family’s Canadian roots.
These genealogical discoveries led to greater understanding of more recent discrimination as well. Pelton learned that his great-uncle Meyer was denied entry into McGill University’s engineering program due to Jewish quotas—even after World War II had ended. These revelations underscored for Pelton that antisemitism was not just a European phenomenon or solely a historical concern but had shaped his family’s experience in Canada within living memory.
The timing of the Violins of Hope release in January 2025 carries particular weight. Beyond marking the 80th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation, it arrived in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attacks and subsequent conflict in Israel and Gaza, which had intensified discussions about antisemitism globally. Pelton notes: “We’re seeing growing antisemitism and Holocaust denial across Canada and across the world,” adding that “a lot of people are feeling that the liberation of Auschwitz was really not far away.”
He referenced local tensions in Calgary, where “our mayor here in Calgary decided to not go to Hanukkah after October 7th… the first time a mayor has declined in however many decades.” These contemporary circumstances added urgency to the project’s message of remembrance and vigilance against hatred.
Pelton articulates this urgency in stark terms: “Releasing this album on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is not only a tribute to the victims of the most horrific genocide in history, but also a powerful reminder. We say ‘never forget’ not only to honor the dead, but to warn the living. Eighty years is not a long time. We are not at all different from the people in Germany who became Nazis, or the people who suffered under them.”
The creation of Violins of Hope involved navigating both emotional complexity and practical constraints. Pelton assembled a chamber orchestra that included strings from the “Violins of Hope” collection alongside saxophones, brass, and percussion. The entire project, from rehearsal to recording, was compressed into a single week at the National Music Centre.
“It was a lot of me running rehearsals and trying to be as musically attentive as possible, while also trying to really dig into the soul of things,” Pelton explains of the intense recording period. This tight schedule meant that much of the emotional processing had to happen after the project’s completion, as the immediate focus remained on successfully executing the musical vision.
The project also demonstrates Pelton’s compositional approach, which draws from an unexpected source of inspiration. He recalls a university composition class where his professor, Juno award-winning composer Alan Gordon Bell, helped a student develop musical ideas based on the dimensions of a teacup she had been drinking from. This lesson in finding musical material in everyday objects or numbers stuck with Pelton, ultimately informing his approach to the tattoo numbers years later.
Throughout the interview materials, Pelton reflects on his musical identity and aesthetic orientation. As a saxophonist trained in both jazz and classical traditions, he expresses particular frustration with the “esoteric and intentionally antagonistic” nature of much contemporary classical saxophone repertoire. Rather than feeling constrained by genre expectations, Pelton embraces a more inclusive approach: “Why would I only be able to find human expression in classical music or only be able to find human expression in jazz music? It’s everywhere.”
This artistic freedom honors Frank Zappa, Pelton’s main musical influence. He values Zappa’s mix of entertainment with technical skill: “Frank always prioritized entertainment, and his music was so dense and so technical a lot of the time, and even quoting Stravinsky and Ives all the time, but he’d do it in a stadium rock show and people would go nuts for it.”
Pelton criticizes academic music culture for its insularity: “People get stuck in this loop of playing music taught to them by their professors for people who also went to class with their professors… new ears don’t ever get in there.” This view shapes his Violins of Hope project, which mixes serious historical material with accessible music.
A key theme in Pelton’s thoughts is his focus on both Holocaust darkness and continuing hope. The project’s name, Violins of Hope, captures this dual nature—instruments that saw terrible suffering now make beauty and preserve memory.
Pelton articulates this balance when discussing “Hymn to Freedom”: “I want listeners to imagine the joy of getting your freedom back after it was taken from you, and the duty we have to enjoy ours, and do everything we can to maintain it.” He adds: “I hope that the instruments enjoyed their time being played in this piece that only acknowledges the light and leaves the darkness behind.”
The insistence on finding light amidst darkness reflects a broader theme in Jewish responses to tragedy. When asked about this duality, Pelton notes: “I think it’s admirable that we’re not stuck in the darkness and that we do make efforts to keep our heads up and keep our humanity.”
Through Violins of Hope, Daniel Pelton adds to vital Holocaust remembrance work as survivors die and direct accounts grow scarce. The actual instruments in the “Violins of Hope” collection offer physical links to history after human witnesses are gone.
The project works as both memorial and caution. As Pelton states: “Not repeating their actions is a choice we have to make actively and repeatedly, otherwise we aren’t counting away from the last horrors, but toward the next ones.” By changing prison tattoos into music, using camp instruments for celebration, and turning family history research into human connection, Violins of Hope does the vital work of memory: making sure the Holocaust is not merely recalled, but experienced, comprehended, and never repeated.
How one composer spent four decades forging a distinctly Québécois path through the experimental music landscape
When Joane Hétu picks up her alto saxophone, she claims territory. At sixty-six, the Montréal composer, vocalist, and saxophonist has spent forty years carving out space for experimental music in Québec, building institutions and communities that define the province’s musique actuelle scene.
Her latest recording, Elle a son mot à dire, captures Hétu leading Ensemble SuperMusique through thirteen of her compositions from across two decades. The album opens with “Elle n’a pas de mot” (She has no words)—a brief ambient piece that stacks wordless singing atop a chorus of “whirly tubes,” ribbed hoses spun above players that pirouette through the harmonic series. An apt introduction to an artist who has spent her career finding new ways to give voice to the unspoken.
Finding Her Voice in the Underground
Hétu’s path began in the early 1980s with avant-pop groups like Wondeur Brass, Justine, and Les Poules. These bands merged the pluralist ethos of New York’s downtown scene with European progressive sensibilities while maintaining something distinctly Québécois. “I was very young, in my twenties, and this fusion happened quite instinctively, without real premeditation,” she recalls. Through connections to figures like Zeena Parkins, Ikue Mori, and Fred Frith, and the Recommended Records network, these groups found their place in an international experimental music community.
Even while performing with these bands, Hétu was thinking beyond individual artistic expression. In 1980, she co-founded SuperMusique with Danielle Palardy Roger and Diane Labrosse. Eight years later, they organized a Festival of Innovative Women Musicians, devoted entirely to women’s groups working in avant-garde music—a radical curatorial gesture that signaled Hétu’s growing interest in building infrastructure alongside making music.
“We were connected to the New York scene,” Hétu explains, “but we wanted to create something here, something that would support the community we were building in Montréal.”
From Performance to Institution
The instinct to support that community would shape Hétu’s career as much as her compositions. By 1998, she had taken on co-direction of Ensemble SuperMusique, transforming the organization into one that explicitly welcomes “emerging artists, mid-career artists, and major figures alike.” Where many experimental music scenes fragment along generational lines, Hétu has consistently worked to bridge those gaps.
“This intergenerational cohabitation is a great richness for us,” she explains. “It opens perspectives, stimulates listening, and provokes essential exchanges.”
On Elle a son mot à dire, this collaborative philosophy becomes musical practice. In “Mot elle a,” vocalist Sarah Albu’s written part interweaves with improvised percussion, creating what Hétu calls “flexible, malleable” pieces that depend on interpretation. “For now, I only have one recording, but I hope it will live through other recordings and interpretations,” she says. “This is one of the objectives of open scores: to encourage multiple and living interpretations.”
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The Economics of Experiment
Running an experimental music organization led Hétu deeper into the infrastructure questions that determine which music gets heard and preserved. As founder and longtime president of DAME Records (Distribution Ambiances Magnétiques Etcetera), she took on the less glamorous work of documenting and distributing Canadian experimental music—a role she maintained for three decades.
“I’ve always had a passion for sound recording,” she reflects. “From 1985, I got involved in Ambiances Magnétiques, then DAME took over.” The work came with unexpected costs. “After my daughter’s birth in 1990, I was looking for a certain stability, knowing that tours would be more difficult. Naively, I believed that having a record label would offer a form of security. It was quite the opposite. This enterprise cost me a lot in creative time. Looking back, it’s perhaps what I regret most: having carried it for so long, for thirty-three years.”
Despite the personal sacrifice, DAME has documented a vital chapter in Canadian music history, providing a platform for artists like Jean Derome, Pierre-Yves Martel, Tim Brady, and dozens of others who might otherwise have remained unrecorded. “DAME documents this precious musical heritage and ensures that these musics are represented, supported, available, and that this artistic history is accessible,” Hétu explains.
Claiming Creative Territory
The questions of space and belonging that drove Hétu’s institutional work find their most direct artistic expression in her concept of territory. The idea runs through much of her work, most explicitly in her piece La femme territoire ou 21 fragments d’humus. For Hétu, territory encompasses everything from the intimate to the political: “the Earth, my room, Quebec, my soul—a woman who becomes vastitude.”
“In it, I take a position, as a woman, on my territory—intimate and collective,” she explains. “I doubted while writing it; I had trouble trusting myself. Today, I’m happy with the path traveled and with this work.”
The territorial thinking extends to her approach to voice and instrumentation. Hétu never formally learned to sing, drawing from influences like Tenko, Phil Minton, Jaap Blonk, and Paul Dutton. “I have a deep love for the voice and its noise-making potential. It’s visceral and fundamental to me,” she says. In her work with La chorale bruitiste JOKER, founded in 2012, she explores what collective vocal improvisation can accomplish using techniques like soundpainting.
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Seasons of Composition
Hétu’s relationship to place extends to her famous engagement with Québec’s harsh winters. Where others see obstacles to cultural life, she found creative catalysts. Her trilogy Musique d’hiver emerged from the practical reality that “January, February and March are rather quiet in the record industry, which leaves time to compose.” But the relationship between season and creativity runs deeper than scheduling.
“I love winter, I love the sound, the cocoon effect it produces,” she explains. The final piece in the trilogy, Récits de neige, focused specifically on snow’s geometry: “I hoped to compose 30 short pieces that musicians could amalgamate as they want, like snowflakes, which each have a different geometry.”
Building for the Future
Today, as Hétu approaches her fifth decade in music, she remains committed to the experimental principles that have guided her career while grappling with new challenges facing the experimental music community. “I believe the public has the capacity to welcome innovation,” she argues. “But it needs tools, which are becoming scarce: radio broadcasting, interviews, production support, and venues dedicated to new music.”
Her work with Ensemble SuperMusique continues to demonstrate that experimental music can build lasting institutions and communities. Recent projects include ongoing workshops in graphic scores and conducting gestures, international collaborations, and regular concert series that have sustained the musique actuelle community for decades.
“I respond to the call, to the impulse of the moment. I am still, fundamentally, the same composer,” Hétu admits. Viewed across four decades, her work reveals a consistent thread: the understanding that experimental music concerns itself with creating the conditions for a community of artists to flourish.
In an era when funding for experimental music remains precarious and cultural institutions focus on measurable outcomes, Hétu’s approach offers a different model. Her career demonstrates that sometimes the most radical act is creating space for other voices to emerge, building the infrastructure for artistic communities to sustain themselves across generations. After four decades, Joane Hétu still has something to say. She’s still creating spaces for others to find their own voices within the experimental music territory she has helped map. In Québec’s cultural landscape, that may be her most enduring composition.
“One of the most unforgettable moments of the Festival was the electrifying performance by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue”
The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal took place from June 26 to July 5, 2025, in the Quartier des Spectacles. The 45th edition of the world’s largest jazz festival was a resounding success, attracting jazz enthusiasts from around the globe.
The Heart of the Festival
Located in the heart of downtown Montreal, the Festival site becomes a meeting place for jazz lovers worldwide for ten days. The area is closed to all vehicular traffic and remains open until midnight, allowing visitors to enjoy close to 150 indoor concerts and more than 350 free, open-air shows presented on the specially redesigned Quartier des Spectacles.
A Personal Journey
As a jazz fan and festival enthusiast, I had always intended to attend the Montreal Jazz Festival. Despite missing several chances, I finally managed to go this year, although for a shorter time than I would have preferred, from June 30th to July 3rd.
Arrival and First Impressions
I enjoyed a pleasant 5-hour Via Rail train trip from Toronto to Montreal, arriving around 2 PM. After settling into my Airbnb, I found the jazz festival site and met up with Danilo Navas, the editor-in-chief of That Canadian Magazine. We eagerly waited for the first act to perform on the TD Stage, a free concert by UK tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia.
Garcia and her band delivered an energetic and incredibly enjoyable set that featured music from both of her recordings. This is an artist I will be watching more closely.
One of the most unforgettable moments of the festival was the electrifying performance by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. This mind-bending concert had everything thrown into the mix, creating an explosive fusion of world jazz, funk, and New Orleans soul.
The unbridled excitement and energy from the stage were infectious, drawing the audience in and making them an essential part of the show. The crowd danced, cheered, and grooved to the irresistible beats, unable to resist the magnetic pull of Trombone Shorty’s music.
After this exhilarating experience, the only thing left to do was find a chill spot to unwind and bask in the afterglow of this burst of New Orleans magic.
Canada Day Celebrations
On July 1st, Canada Day, I took a walk to Old Montreal to check out the celebrations. The area, reminiscent of Europe, was closed off to most traffic, allowing visitors to enjoy the numerous restaurants with patios and sidewalk cafes. I indulged in a coffee and biscotti at one inviting cafe before making my way back to the jazz festival area, with a brief stop in Chinatown for some delicious dumplings and soup.
Memorable Performances
This Canada Day was my most active in terms of concerts, with three free shows happening almost consecutively at outdoor venues.
The Sugar Darlings: Miche Love, a key figure in the Montreal blues scene, captivated the audience with her powerful and soulful voice, supported by the electrifying solos of Paul Lucyk on guitar and Kaven Jalbert on saxophone.
Julien Fillion Band: This lively quartet, led by the talented Julien Fillion on saxophone, guitar, and keyboards, delivered an energetic performance to a rain-soaked crowd. The show must go on despite the unpredictable weather challenges.
Endea Owens & the Cookout: Detroit-raised recording artist, bassist, and composer Endea Owens captivated the audience with her soulful singing and jazz and soul-infused playing.
My Last Full Day at the Festival
My last full day at the festival was spent exploring the grounds and soaking in the vibrant atmosphere of the Montreal Jazz Festival, discovering the many facets of this grand celebration.
Christine Jensen Quartet at Le Studio TD
One of the last jazz concerts I attended was at an indoor venue that offered a free performance by the Christine Jensen Quartet, which featured alto saxophonist Christine Jensen. This outstanding group of world-class musicians includes Jim Doxas on drums, Gary Versace on keys, and Adrian Vedady on contrabass. The quartet played tunes from Jensen’s latest recording, “Day Moon,” released in 2023, as well as selections from her other quartet albums.
A Memorable Experience
In summary, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal is an excellent event held at a captivating venue, offering a wonderful experience with many free concerts and more. I look forward to returning and delving even further into the modern music of our era.
Editor’s Note: We will publish our photo gallery from the 45th Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in a separate post in the next few days.
Luminato at Harbourfront – June 15, 2025
Somd’agua: A Dance Migration Performance
A mesmerizing collaboration featuring Esie Mensah, Alex Oliver, Reimundo Sosa Reinoldes, and Adrianna Yanuziello, Somd’agua provided a profound exploration of Afro-Brazilian culture. The performance artfully depicted the sacred connection between the deities Oxum and Yemanjá through movement and rhythm.
The fusion of powerful singing, chanting, and dynamic Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian percussion created an immersive backdrop for the dancers’ graceful movements.
As the river meets the sea, the performers wove their magic, creating a flowing exchange of energies that stirred deep emotions and evoked memories of distant lands.
The natural setting of Harbourfront Centre enhanced the experience, with the breeze from Lake Ontario and passing tall ships complementing the performance’s aquatic themes. The audience’s enthusiastic participation peaked during the climactic duet, where the dancers achieved perfect harmony.
Santé! By Cirque Kikasse
Quebec’s innovative circus troupe transformed a food truck into an extraordinary performance space.
Their show seamlessly blended fast-food preparation with spectacular acrobatics, showcasing remarkable athleticism and gravity-defying feats both on and above their unique mobile stage.
Musical Performances and Workshops
Afro-Indigenous roots of Colombia Cumbia workshop with Beny Esguerra
Beny Esguerra, the Juno-nominated multi-instrumentalist, delivered an engaging exploration of Afro-Colombian rhythms. Accompanied by his daughter, who acted as her father’s assistant. She helped distribute percussion instruments.
Esguerra created an interactive experience where the distributed percussion instruments became integral to the musical performance. It featured a fun and engaging demonstration that showcased the communicative power of drumming.
Kombilesa Mi
This vibrant Afro-Colombian ensemble brought the distinctive sounds of San Basilio de Palenque to life. Their dynamic performance merged traditional rhythms (Mapalé, Bullerengue, Son Palenquero) with contemporary hip-hop elements, performing in both Spanish and their native language, Palenque.
Formed in 2011, the group serves as a cultural bridge, connecting young people with their heritage while embracing modern musical expressions. The show was well-attended, and these fantastic entertainers had the crowd singing along, clapping in time, and seemingly having a joyful experience.
The festival experience concluded perfectly with an evening stroll along the Harbourfront paths. The day’s artistic celebrations settled into memory as night descended over Lake Ontario.
Photo Gallery: Adrianna Yunuziello Dance Migration performing Somd’agua
Photos by Paul J. Youngman [click on images to enlarge]
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