V.S. Paterson

It is 1938, and in Austria’s capital Vienna, young Elijah Grossman is on his way to becoming a famous violinist when, without any just cause, he and his father are taken prisoner by the Nazis. Out of the chaos and the cruelty, an orchestra forms and alliances develop, transforming relationships between prisoners and captors. ‘A Violin for Elijah’ takes us into the world of the prison camp, where the inmates are disposable, their guards are savage, and dignity is a distant memory. Elijah’s story carries us to higher ground where compassion and kinship are rediscovered through the universal language of music. In the words of his grandfather, “music can render bad men repentant and good men heroic.”