TMF • our mission and work

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"I believe deeply in the mission of TMF and its place in today's world. It is a blessing to participate in it."
—Norman Eisen, former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic

The Ghetto Swingers, a jazz band formed in Terezín

TMF commissions are a radical answer to the silence.
—TMF Commission composer Nico Muhly

Alisa Weilerstein, TMF Commission artist. Photo by Lucio Lecce.

I've been greatly uplifted by the knowledge of your work.
—John Williams, composer

Terezín Music Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to amplifying the musical legacy of the artists imprisoned in Terezín (Theresienstadt), a WWII Nazi concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic. In Terezín, Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas, Viktor Ullmann, Hans Krasa, and many other artists composed and performed music that nourished their spirits amidst the great suffering all around them. As Ullmann famously wrote,

“Our will to create was commensurate with our will to live.”

At Terezín, the Nazis hid their atrocities behind a facade of art and culture, even as they transported the Terezín artists to Auschwitz. Our work honors these artists and all whose voices are tragically silenced.

The internationally recognized performing artists, composers, and scholars on our Advisory Board champion TMF’s mission around the world, and celebrated international artists--Yo-Yo Ma, Simone Dinnerstein, Garrick Ohlsson, members of outstanding orchestras and chamber groups, and many others—join us to:

• perform and record music from Terezín
• produce multi-media concert events in the U.S. and Europe
• sponsor, premiere, and record new commissions
• teach about Terezín and the Holocaust in schools and houses of worship
• lead student and adult tours of Terezín and Prague
• publish CDs and books

At our inception in 1991, Terezin Music Foundation took on the urgent work of recovering, preserving, and performing the music created by the Terezín artists. TMF, and, in particular, the Hawthorne String Quartet, has made their musical legacy well known and has firmly established their works in the classical repertoire. 

Inspired by the Terezín artists, TMF also sponsors new commissions by emerging composers, to create a vibrant memorial, tribute, and voice to those who perished in the Holocaust and to all who are silenced by war or genocide.

TMF commissions strive to fulfill the unrealized artistic and mentoring roles of the Terezín composers—and they also form an ongoing contribution to the chamber music repertoire and serve as agents of inspiration, healing, and transformation for future generations. TMF commissions are performed in the great venues of the world by celebrity artists of the highest caliber. Premieres are woven into all our ongoing concert events, recordings, and Holocaust education programs.

We hope our work is a poignant call to honor life, humanity, and the creative spirit.

TMF is a non-profit organization funded solely by donations. We welcome your support.