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Brenda said. “David, Paul and 
I worked hand-in-hand on 
many of the aspects of the pro-
duction.”
As the friendship developed 
between the Spellman family 
and the Hofferts, they surpris-
ingly discovered that members 
of the two families worked 
together in silent movie 
theaters in Poland. While 
Spellman was at the piano, 
Paul’s father, from a heritage of 
cantors, was singing.
“The film is a metaphor 
for what keeps going on 
around the world,” Paul said. 
“Whenever things start get-
ting tough, many leaders will 
just start using a group as a 
scapegoat and rile up public 
sentiment against that group. 
I know that audiences will feel 

very drawn to the facts of the 
film.”
In the film, facts include 
enactment of international 
honors given to point out how 
Spellman was allotted a place 
to hide and what was achieved 
by Spellman.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS 
Paul Hoffert, who will be with 
his wife to talk about the film 
and the person being featured 
in that film, feels a close con-
nection to Michigan. Besides 
performing in cities with his 
band, Lighthouse, he would 
visit Ann Arbor to see his 
brother in university atten-
dance there. 
The senior Hoffert is seen 
in the movie conducting parts 
of Spellman’s “Rhapsody 1939-
45.” Performing that entire 
piece in the two Michigan 
theaters will be members of 

the Michigan State University 
(MSU) Symphony conducted 
by Octavio Más-Arocas, asso-
ciate professor of music and 
MSU director of orchestras.
With the finding of the diary 
and some reworking of film 
content, it took 12 years to 
make the production.
Amy Simon, who teaches 
about the Holocaust at MSU 
and has just written the book 
Emotions in Yiddish Ghetto 
Diaries, will cover the his-
torical context of Spellman’s 
life. Her presentation is one 
of many university collabora-
tions she has had with Michael 
Serling of the Michael and 
Elaine Serling Institute for 
Jewish Studies and Modern 
Israel.
“I thought the film was 
very touching about the role 
of music in Leo Spellman’s 
survival and life in general,” 

Simon said. “That music kept 
him able to find meaning and 
beauty. I find these individual 
stories very powerful in terms 
of human resilience and the 
ability to find something good 
in the very worst.”
Simon’s portion of the pro-
gram and the Hofferts’ expe-
riences with Spellman and 
the film can be heard at 7:30 
p.m. Saturday. Simon can be 
heard at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday 
as part of the program that 
concludes with the Hofferts 
being interviewed by Rabbi 
Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of the 
Zekelman Holocaust Center in 
Farmington Hills.
“There are hundreds of dia-
ries that have survived,” Simon 
said. “I’m excited to give a clos-
er look into that and what it 
meant for people to be record-
ing their experiences. Finding 
something, in Leo Spellman’s 
case music, to hold on to gives 
us a sense of the resilience of 
humanity.” 

Details 
“The Lost Rhapsody: A World War II Survival Story 
and Musical Legacy” first will be presented at 8 
p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, at Michigan State University’s 
Fairchild Theatre, 542 Auditorium Road, East Lansing. 
Introductory remarks 7:30 p.m. $10-$13.50. Free for stu-
dents and those under 18. (517) 355-5340. music.msu.
edu/events. 
The second performance is at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, 
at the Berman Center for Performing Arts in the West 
Bloomfield Jewish Community Center. Introductory 
remarks 2:15 p.m. $18. (248) 406-6677. https://jdetroit.
regfox.com/the-lost-rhapsody-a-musical-legacy.

LOST RHAPSODY PRODUCTIONS

Leo Spellman 
(Leon Szpilman) 
with fiancée 
Mania Goldman.

ABOVE: Leo Spellman (Leon Szpilman) in the Ghetto Orchestra he created in Ostrowiec, 1941 (Spellman 6th 
from left). RIGHT: Paul Hoffert conducting the Podkarpacka Philharmonic Orchestra Rzeszow Poland, 2016.