10
Feb
Pure Land Series: An Evening with Mona Golabek
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From 6
18:30 to 19:45
10-02-17

Concert pianist and award-winning actress Mona Golabek will share her music and her mother’s inspiring story of the Kindertransport in a Pure Land Series evening at China Exchange.

The Kindertransport (German for “children’s transport”) was an organised rescue effort that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. The UK took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children, who were placed in British foster homes, schools and hostels. Often they were the only members of their families who survived the Holocaust.

Mona was inspired to write a bestselling memoir called The Children of Willesden Lane after hearing stories told by her mother Lisa Jura, a young piano prodigy born in Vienna, Austria. She escaped the Nazis, arrived in England and eventually fulfilled her dream of becoming a concert pianist.

Mona herself grew up in California hearing her mother talk of life in London, and of playing Liszt on a piano stored in a basement during the Blitz. Her memoir has now been turned into a one-woman show The Pianist of Willesden Lane.

The Pure Land Series at China Exchange curates innovative programmes with the aim of enriching lives through creativity, spirituality and self-expression. See What’s On for the next events in the programme.