Cast
Alice Sommer Herz
Program notes
"Life is beautiful, love is beautiful, nature and music are beautiful. Everything is a present."
–Alice Sommer Herz
Pianist Alice Sommer Herz was born in 1903 and died in 2014. In her 110 years on Earth, she knew moments of profound joy and of unspeakable horror: she and her son survived two years in a concentration camp, while her husband and her mother were executed by the Nazis. She credits her unbelievable survival to her forgiving and optimistic nature, to her ability to be grateful for every moment of beauty that life has to offer, no matter how small—and, crucially, to her love for music.
In this stirring series of interviews with documentarian Christopher Nupen, Alice speaks openly about finding the light in the darkest moments imaginable. For her and those around her, clinging to life in the camp at Theresienstadt, that light was music: she and other musicians in the camp were occasionally permitted to give concerts. Even in deplorable conditions that no human being should ever have to endure, Alice remembers, “When we knew we would play in the evening, we were happy. We were happy. Theresienstadt was proof of the magic of music.”
The soulful documentary also features deeply moving footage of the incredible centenarian—who practiced three hours a day well into her second century of life—playing Beethoven, Smetana, and Schubert in the style of her one-time teacher, the great Artur Schnabel.