Songs from Testimonies: Music from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

Internationally acclaimed musician, scholar, and educator D. Zisl Slepovitch will serve as an Artist-in-Residence at Appalachian State University from Friday, Aug. 28, through Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. The three-day residency, presented by App State’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies, App State’s Hayes School of Music, and the Temple of the High Country, with generous support from the Nadiv Funders of Western North Carolina, is free and open to the public. Slepovitch, a native of Minsk, Belarus, is a New York–based multi-instrumentalist, composer, conductor, and Yiddish educator who holds a Ph.D. in musicology from the Belarusian State Academy of Music. He is Musician-in-Residence at Yale University’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies and a founding member of the critically acclaimed klezmer ensembles Litvakus and the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble. His work spans teaching appointments across North America and Europe and contributions to theater, film, and television, including Defiance, Eternal Echoes (Sony Classical), Rejoice (PBS), and Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (off-Broadway). Slepovitch’s residency explores Holocaust testimony, Yiddish music, and cultural memory through a series of public events. Participants will engage with poems and songs preserved in Holocaust survivor testimonies and learn about their historical and cultural significance. The program includes a public presentation, a concert performance, and instrumental and vocal workshops. The residency begins Friday, Aug. 28, at 6:30 p.m. with a public presentation at the Temple of the High Country, located at 1043 West King Street in Boone. On Saturday, Aug. 29, at 4 p.m., Slepovitch will perform Songs from Testimonies: Music from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies in the Rosen Concert Hall in App State’s Broyhill Music Center (813 Rivers Street in Boone). The residency concludes on Sunday, Aug. 30, with instrumental and vocal workshops held from 1–3 p.m. and 4–6 p.m. in room 214 of the Broyhill Music Center. Questions may be directed to Center Director Dr. Darci Gardner at gardnerdl1@appstate.edu or 828-262-2928.