MONTVILLE-raised cellist Sam Lucas has performed for world leaders at the European Parliament in Brussels as part of a globally televised International Holocaust Remembrance Day event. Mr Lucas played an 18th-century Nicolo Gagliano cello during the January 29 concert. The instrument, once thought lost, belonged to celebrated Hungarian-born virtuoso Pál Hermann, who perished in the Holocaust. For several years, Lucas had been the sole performer of the rare handcrafted cello.
In 2022, it was identified as Hermann’s long-lost instrument.
The event was organised by Pál Hermann’s grandson, Pal Van Gastel, and attended by the late cellist’s 93-year-old daughter, Corrie Hermann.
Sam’s father, Ian Lucas, said the significance of the event was overwhelming. “We are so proud of Sam and this incredible story – playing a Pál Hermann composition on the very cello that belonged to him, at an International Holocaust memorial concert,” he said.