The Bindefeld scholarship is awarded annually to someone who “conveys knowledge to a broad Swedish audience with stories about the Holocaust”.
The scholarship awarded on Monday afternoon went to Sofia Winiarski, conductor and musician, and enables her project “Stolen Music”.
– It is full of honor, and I am incredibly happy that the project will be completed, says Sofia Winiarski.
“Stolen music” is a concert and will play the works of Jewish composers who were persecuted and murdered during the Holocaust. The idea is based on a book of the same name written by author Anders Rydell.
– The concert aims to tell this story through music as well, because that is exactly what it is about. When Anders told me about the book, I had an incredibly strong will to give the story a resonant shape.
The grandparents are political prisoners in concentration camps
Sofia Winiarski herself has grandparents who were political prisoners in the Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps. The work that awaits now will be emotional, she says.
– They were in concentration camps because of their political involvement, then it has recently turned out that they had a Jewish background. But it’s nothing I grew up with.
– This means that the music becomes a way to get in touch with this time. For me personally, it will be a very emotional journey, says Sofia Winiarski.
“Stolen music” premieres in October at the Folkoperan in Stockholm and will then tour around the country.