Lancing College Pupil-Led Concert Brings Music of the Holocaust to Life

A special invite-only concert commemorating music composed and performed in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust will take place at Lancing College on Holocaust Memorial Day, Tuesday 27 January.
The concert is produced and performed by Lower Sixth pupil Isaac, alongside fellow musicians, as part of his Extended Project Qualification (EPQ).

The event aligns with the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2026, Bridging Generations, a powerful call to action. It serves as a reminder that the responsibility of remembrance does not end with the survivors themselves, but is carried forward by their children, their grandchildren, and ultimately by all of us. Through music, the concert seeks to connect past and present, ensuring these voices and stories continue to be heard by future generations.

The concert explores the complex and often contradictory role of music in the camps. While music offered performers moments of dignity, identity and hope, it was also used by the Nazi regime as a tool of degradation, psychological torture and humiliation.

The programme features rarely performed works by composers including Ilse Weber, Viktor Ullmann and Gideon Klein, alongside specially created arrangements. Performances will include a wide range of ensembles, such as voices, string quartet, clarinet trio, accordion, cello and mixed instrumental groups.

The project represents the culmination of six months of research and preparation. Isaac has independently organised all aspects of the concert, including sourcing rare music, producing the event, assembling the orchestra and performers, and managing its marketing and promotion. His research has involved collaboration with Holocaust historians, musicologists, publishers and archival institutions. The concert builds on Isaac’s wider academic research into music in the Holocaust, for which he was awarded a Young Historian Award (Modern Studies GCSE) for his paper “Was the role of music in the Nazi camps of the Holocaust a force for good or bad?”

Isaac says 'As a musician and historian, I have for some time been interested in the music that was made under the atrocious conditions within the concentration camps of WWII. My EPQ project has been an exciting journey so far involving sourcing music from archives in Italy and the Czech Republic and a visit to the Terezín Memorial outside Prague where I was given permission to film some contextual narratives for the concert in a former ghetto. I have developed many skills during this project which has included programming a concert, scriptwriting and coordinating the rehearsals of 21 pieces and 16 musicians.'

Mr Mason, Director of Music, commented:

'This concert brings together music composed and performed in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. With some truly evocative and historically significant works that are seldom heard today, it promises to be an extremely moving evening.'

January 2026