The Lost Music of Auschwitz

Marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Sky Arts commissioned The Lost Music of Auschwitz, telling the story of composer Leo Geyer’s eight-year mission to piece together a treasure-trove of forgotten fragments of music manuscripts found in the archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. Leo conducts Constella Music, an orchestra he founded, finally to play the music he has painstakingly uncovered, exactly as it would have sounded at Auschwitz, in some cases for the first time in 80 years. Auschwitz-Birkenau was home to at least six orchestras, formed of prisoners and commissioned by the SS. Many of the manuscripts they left behind are almost too faint to read, while others are damaged beyond recognition. The film follows Leo on this musical journey as he discovers how the musicians rebelled with secret performances, weaving forbidden melodies into concerts. The film is interwoven with powerful interviews with some of the last remaining survivors, and special performances from Leo’s orchestra.