tour
Toronto Premiere, Canada Debut
Our film is Here!
The documentary about how my grandfather David Wisnia survived the Holocaust & our recent journey back to Poland as a family is here, making its world premiere at the Hot Docs International Festival! “How Saba Kept Singing” features music by my Saba and me, plus an original song I wrote for the film.
When the director Sara Taksler told us about the premiere in Toronto, she invited our family to attend. How often does a film about your family get a premiere? So here we are, in Canada, and the family will attend the first screening on Sun May 1, with a special live music performance that will immediately follow the film.
Stay tuned for more information about screenings and festival appearances coming up in the next few months. This is just the beginning of the journey for this film! Eventually, we will all be able to watch “How Saba Kept Singing” together soon.
For those of you who knew my grandfather, for those of you who have been following our journey together over the past few years, you know how important this story is. My grandfather at first did not speak openly about his experience surviving the horrors of the Holocaust. But towards the end of his life, he found it important and necessary to talk about it. Although he passed away last summer, he was able to know that his story will be immortalized on film, able to reach a wider audience, a global audience. His story, his legacy, his voice will live on. I miss him every day, and while all of this is very overwhelming and emotional, I look forward to seeing him again, alive and singing, on a big screen. I’m excited for everyone to get to know my Saba.
For more information about how to view #HowSabaKeptSinging at the HotDocs festival in Toronto (screenings May 1, May 6, May 8), visit: https://hotdocs.ca/whats-on/hot-docs-festival/films/2022/how-saba-kept-singing
For more on David’s story of survival: www.onevoicetwolives.com
For more about Avi’s music and travels with his grandfather: www.mypolishwisnia.com
Canada Debut!
Join me for my very first concert in Canada,
Live at the Drom Taberna venue in Toronto!
Monday, May 2, 10:30pm
Avi Wisnia performs 2 sets at the Drom Taberna grand piano.
Cherry Blossom Festival DC
I’m so excited to announce that I’m performing this Sunday for the opening weekend of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC!
An absolutely FREE event and a beautiful weekend to be outside.
Come join me on the First Day of Spring – Sunday March 20, 2022 at 2pm.
Family-friendly, Covid-friendly, Wallet-friendly
More info HERE.
Announcing Catching Leaves Album Release Concert
Save the date!
Live in-person music returns with a full band concert to celebrate the new album “Catching Leaves.” Join Avi and friends in Philadelphia, Sunday evening November 28. Tickets on sale now.
Poland Part III: Day 2
Today is the concert at the POLIN Museum.
Performing with My Polish Wisnia in Warsaw.
My grandfather was a singing star, a child prodigy of Poland. He studied with famous Cantors Gershon Sirota and Moshe Koussevitsky; he sang in opera houses, in theaters and on Polish radio; he performed at the notorious Tlomackie Synagogue as a featured soloist, backed by an 80-person choir. Whatever bright future lay ahead for little David was snuffed out, suddenly and violently, by the war.
We will never know the magnitude of what was lost in the Holocaust – not just the lives, but the careers, the achievements, the dreams, the art, the ideas. But for a moment, when David Wisnia returns to Poland 75 years later to sing to rapt audiences in crowded auditoriums, he becomes the star of Poland he was always meant to be.
Music is a natural entry point to talking about the Holocaust.
Because music can express things that can’t be articulated in words.
Because music can help us explore the unfathomable.
Because music connects us, all of us.
