The development of an extraordinary musical and artistic production in the Theresienstadt ghetto-camp is something little known but intensely special that emerged from the darkest heart of the Holocaust.

“We left the camp singing” is an ever-evolving performative project by Italian pianist Sofia Tapinassi. Involving music and videoclips, the project has the goal to share the story of musical activities in the Theresienstadt ghetto-camp, a unique camp located in Czechoslovakia, where the presence of a great number of talented artists, musicians and composers encouraged cultural life to flourish despite the desperate living conditions of the inmates.
Sofia started her research in 2020, when she came across some great piano compositions written in the camp. As she became more and more fascinated by the stories of the artists and musicians who were prisoners there, and with the hope of meeting one of the last Theresienstadt survivors, she began traveling across Europe to research and to interview Holocaust witnesses and their relatives. The meeting with Zdenka Fantlova, Inge Auerbacher and Michael Gruenbaum inspired Sofia to produce a documentary named “We left the camp singing”, which, together with her piano performances of music by composers Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas and Hans Winterberg, will accompany the public in discovering a little known perspective on the Holocaust, the spiritual resistance of the persecuted through Art and Music.

“We left the camp singing” is an ever-evolving performative project by Italian pianist Sofia Tapinassi. Involving music and videoclips, the project has the goal to share the story of musical activities in the Theresienstadt ghetto-camp, a unique camp located in Czechoslovakia, where the presence of a great number of talented artists, musicians and composers encouraged cultural life to flourish despite the desperate living conditions of the inmates.


Sofia started her research about two years ago, when she discovered some great piano compositions written in the camp. As she became more and more fascinated by the stories of the artists and musicians who were prisoners there, and with the hope of meeting one of the last Theresienstadt survivors, she began traveling across Europe to research and to interview Holocaust witnesses and their relatives. The meeting with Mrs Zdenka Fantlova, who debuted as an actress in Theresienstadt and met many artists there, inspired Sofia to produce a documentary named “We left the camp singing”, which, together with her piano performances of music by composers Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas and Hans Winterberg, will accompany the public in discovering a little known perspective on the Holocaust, the spiritual resistance of the persecuted through Art and Music.