Published on 1st February 2026

Horsham teenager Isaac Hussey produced and performed at a remarkable concert at Lancing College on 27 January. The programme featured music that was composed or played in concentration camps during the Holocaust. These includes rarely-performed works by Jewish poet/composer Ilse Weber and Czech composer Gideon Klein, who were both murdered at Auschwitz in 1944. 

The concert was produced by 16-year-old Isaac, a Lower Sixth pupil at Lancing College, as part of his Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). He played several instruments alongside fellow musicians at the concert, which was held to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day. 

Isaac said: ‘As well as being a musician, I’m a keen historian. Last year was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the BBC screened several documentaries about concentration camps, including The Last Musician of Auschwitz. Other events held to mark the occasion included author Anna Sebba hosting a talk at the Imperial War Museum about the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz. These and other events inspired me to take an interest in music written and played at concentration camps. 

‘I wrote a paper, entitled ‘Was the role of music in the Nazi camps of the Holocaust a force for good or bad?’ and was awarded a Young Historian Award (GCSE Modern World prize) in a competition organised by the Historical Association. During the course of my research, I learned a lot about the lives of various composers imprisoned in concentration camps during the Second World War and discovered some of their music too. In some instances, music they composed during imprisonment has never been performed in its entirety. This gave me added incentive to unearth compositions and ensure these beautiful pieces were heard.’ 

LOST MUSIC

He has gone to remarkable lengths to share the music of largely-forgotten composers, even visiting the former ghetto of Terezín, Czechia, where he was granted permission to film narratives, which were screened at January’s concert and used to highlight the stories of individual composers. 

He travelled to the Czech Music Information Centre in Prague too, piecing together works by composers imprisoned at Terezin, including Viktor Ullmann, an Austrian composer who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1944, and violinist Egon Ledec, another victim of Auschwitz. Isaac also met Francesco Lotoro, an academic at the Institute of Concentration Camp Musical Literature (ILMC) in Italy, which protects the heritage of music written in concentration camps. 

Isaac said: ‘Francesco is a renowned musicologist of the Holocaust and has successfully saved many compositions, so he was hugely helpful. I also contacted Schott Music in Germany, one of the world’s oldest publishers of classical music, who provided sheet music for choral works. The trip to Terezin Memorial was very emotional. I visited the barracks where the composers were imprisoned, and even saw a secret Jewish prayer room concealed underneath, where Hebrew murals of the Star of David have survived. 

‘Even as I began my search for repertoire, I always had in my mind the idea of one day performing them with musician friends. However, I didn’t expect it to become such an extensive project! What I have found most interesting are those compositions that may have been documented, but rarely heard. In some cases, they have never been properly recorded. Some beautiful pieces were written in concentration camps, with luscious harmonies and strong Jewish folk influences. 

‘Some of the musicians murdered in the Holocaust had great promise and had studied under well-known composers (Ullman was a pupil of Schoenberg, while Pavel Haas studied under Leo Janacek) and their lives were cut short. This concert was a way of ensuring that their music lives on.’ 

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

The concert is not only the result of an extensive research project, but also demonstrates Isaac’s progress as a music scholar at Lancing College. The son of Horsham composer/arranger Chris Hussey (previously featured in AAH for his folk opera, Beware the Mackerel Sky), Isaac joined Lancing in Third Form (Year 9). His musical journey began with the cello when he was only five-years-old and he has since also learned the clarinet, saxophone, piano and accordion. Choral music is another passion and after performing in local choirs, he joined the Cathedral Choir at Chichester as a boy soprano. Isaac has adapted to his maturing voice and continues to enjoy singing with the school choirs. 

He said: ‘I join Chapel Choir during Eucharist every Wednesday morning, while one of our Evensong performances was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. As well as singing in the Chapel, school choirs have given me the chance to perform at prestigious venues, including St Paul’s Cathedral and Hampton Court Palace. Lancing College presents many opportunities and I’m involved in something musical almost every day. As well as choirs and A Cappella Club, it has a Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band and Big Band, while I also play in a clarinet trio, saxophone quartet and various other ensembles. I have continued to study the cello too, taking my diploma last year with a recital that included pieces by Frank Bridge and Vivaldi.’ 

January’s concert demonstrated the talent at the school, featuring v–arious ensembles including a string quartet, clarinet trio and a violin duet. It featured 16 young musicians performing 21 pieces by the likes of Viktor Ullmann, Ilse Weber and Gideon Klein (all victims of the Holocaust), as well as works by Robert Schumann (whose music was forced upon prisoners) and Pablo de Sarasate (which was performed by the women’s orchestra at Auschwitz). The finale was a remarkable piece called Wiegala by Ilse Weber, who died in a gas chamber in 1944, along with her son, Tommy. Isaac played the accordion on this haunting piece, accompanying soprano Izzy Moss and a 14-strong choir. The concert ended with a well-deserved standing ovation.

Isaac said: ‘The concert explores the complex and often contradictory role of music in concentration camps. While music offered moments of dignity and hope, it was also used by the Nazis as a tool of psychological torture and humiliation. I would like to return to the archives and expand the repertoire even further and perform more ambitious works in future. These could include Hans Krasa’s Brundibar (a children’s opera performed in secret in 1941) and his Study for Strings, fragments of which were recorded. There are still other pieces waiting to be discovered, so perhaps my research will take me to other concentration camps too.’ 

WORDS: Ben Morris / PHOTOS: Alan Wright