(Washington D.C.)—On January 27, 2026—International Holocaust Remembrance Day—the Counter Extremism Project and ARCHER at House 88 will bring to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts* in Washington, D.C. a landmark concert of works composed in the ghettos and death camps more than eighty years ago.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and stands as a global call to confront antisemitism and extremism. At a moment when survivors’ voices are fading and antisemitism is surging, the concert seeks to preserve memory through music that outlasts tragedy.

In the face of the Final Solution’s attempt to eradicate European Jewry, these works were composed in dignity and resilience. The program includes several never before heard pieces by contemporary audiences and will be performed by world-renowned composer, conductor, and musicologist Maestro Francesco Lotoro, who has dedicated his life to recovering, preserving, and performing the musical legacy created by victims of the Shoah. Over decades, Lotoro has assembled one of the world’s most extensive archive of Holocaust-era compositions, spanning classical, folk, popular, and liturgical traditions—beautiful music that defied evil and endured.

Many of these compositions were written on scraps of paper, transcribed from memory, or reconstructed after the war from the recollections of survivors. They testify not only to the cultural brilliance extinguished by the Shoah, but to the enduring human drive to create even when creation itself was an act of resistance. By presenting these works on one of America’s most prominent stages, the program restores them to the audiences they were long denied.

“By restoring this music into public life once more, we honor its creators and reaffirm a universal obligation: to confront antisemitism, preserve memory, and uphold the dignity of every human being,” said Mark Wallace, CEO of the Counter Extremism Project. “This concert stands as a testament to their spirit and to the example they left for humanity—extraordinary defiance in the face of abject terror.”

Enduring Music: Compositions from the Holocaust will bring those works nearly erased by atrocity into public consciousness, played again in remembrance of victims of the Shoah and in defiance of contemporary antisemitism. The program will include world and U.S. premiere performances from Maestro Lotoro’s archive, honoring and bringing to life music composed in the unimaginable conditions of the death camps.

The Counter Extremism Project and ARCHER at House 88 share a commitment to confronting antisemitism and extremism with education, culture, and public engagement. This concert reflects a joint effort to ensure that historical truth—and the humanity of its victims—remains vivid to a new generation.

* This performance is an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rentals Office and is not produced by the Kennedy Center.”




Watch: “Enduring Music: Compositions from the Holocaust”



About Francesco Lotoro

Maestro Francesco Lotoro is an Italian pianist, composer, and conductor who has dedicated over 30 years to collecting, preserving, and performing music composed in concentration camps. Lotoro has painstakingly excavated and cataloged thousands of musical scores, songs, and instruments created by prisoners during the Holocaust, representing a remarkable legacy of resilience and creativity in the face of unimaginable adversity. In recognition of his cultural and historical contributions, Maestro Lotoro has been awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

His collection includes: Over 10,000 musical scores composed in concentration, extermination, and POW camps between 1933 and 1953; 10,000 documents related to music production in the camps, including microfilms, diaries, musical notebooks, phonographic recordings, and interviews with surviving musicians; 5,000 academic publications, essays on concentrationary music, and musical studies produced in the camps; 400 hours of interviews with survivors and their children. Lotoro’s archive also includes numerous musical instruments that were played and hidden by prisoners in the camps—physical representations of the role music played in sustaining morale and resilience.

About the Counter Extremism Project and ARCHER at House 88.

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideologies. The Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization (ARCHER) at House 88 is a unique new initiative of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP). Situated directly outside the wall of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camps, House 88 was once the home of camp commandant Rudolf Höss, who built an idyllic life for his family while organizing one of history’s most atrocious mass murders next door. CEP has acquired the house and transformed it into a center for combating antisemitism and extremism through research, education, advocacy, and art. As part of this mission, we are dedicated to a form of Holocaust education that not only memorializes victims but also allows their stories to provide a strong response to the crisis facing Jews today.