The June 6 concert, free to the public, will feature restored Holocaust instruments performed by professional and young musicians, with poetry, storytelling, and community conversation.

Mount Zion Congregation and Curious Music Collective will host Violins of Hope: Sioux Falls, a free community program featuring restored Holocaust string instruments, on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at 7:00 PM at Hamre Recital Hall inside Augustana University’s Fryxell Humanities Center. The Sioux Falls program is part of Violins of Hope, presented by the Minnesota JCC, and will also be livestreamed on the Curious Music Collective YouTube page.

Centered on the theme “Never Forget Hope,” the evening will bring together professional and young musicians led by Dr. Yi-Chun Lin, original poetry by Lawrence Diggs and Xavier Pastrano, selected instrument stories, and a post-concert discussion with organizers, artists, and community leaders. The theme reflects the program’s invitation to remember the past while choosing hope, education, and community for the future. Donations will be accepted.

Violins of Hope is a collection of violins, violas, and cellos restored and connected to Jewish individuals before and during the Holocaust. Through concerts, exhibitions, and educational programs around the world, the instruments honor Holocaust memory while carrying forward messages of resilience, resistance, unity, and the transformative power of music.

At a time when communities continue to confront division and hate, the Sioux Falls program is designed not only as an act of remembrance, but as an invitation to gather around music, education, and hope for the future. The evening will include music by Jewish composers, with selections shaped by memory, exile, resilience, and loss.

Through live music, poetry, and selected instrument stories, the program invites those who attend to hear memory carried forward through sound.
“Violins of Hope is about remembrance, but it is also about responsibility,” said Jacob Forstein, President of Mount Zion Congregation. “These instruments give us a physical connection to Holocaust memory, and they remind us that hate must be confronted through education, community, and hope.”

“The music in this program carries both heaviness and hope,” said Dr. Yi-Chun Lin, Executive and Artistic Director of Curious Music Collective. “Through Jewish composers, young musicians, poetry, and the stories of the instruments, we hope those who attend feel how music can preserve memory and inspire a more compassionate future.”