On Sunday, May 4, an event in Breendonck commemorated the end of World War II in Europe. What made the commemoration particularly special, was that Simon Gronowski, a Holocaust survivor, performed a short concert with students of KASK & Conservatorium. Ilyas Bylemans, studying piano at the jazz-poprock department, calls it “an unforgettable experience”.
As is often the case, it was a rather coincidental encounter that eventually led to Ilyas, along with his peers Nel Hadermann (vocals), Simon Cuypers (saxophone), Kasper Snellebrand (bass) and Mats De Cubber (guitar), sharing the stage for a short impromptu concert with the charismatic 93-year-old Simon Gronowski, who, despite his age and limited musical education, is a gifted pianist.
Gronowski, the child of a Jewish family, was arrested along with his mother and taken to the Dossin Baracks in Breendonck. From there, more than 25,000 Jews and several hundreds of Roma were deported to concentration camps, primarily Auschwitz-Birkenau, as were the seven year old Simon Gronowski and his mother. However, their train was stopped along the way by the resistence, creating an opportunity for people to escape the wagons. Simon Gronowski’s mother managed to let her child flee, but she herself wasn’t able to escape.
Impression
The students met the man for the first time a month before the event that took place on May 4. “I was pleasantly surprised”, Ilyas says. “Even though the language barrier made communication a bit difficult: he speaks French and my French isn’t great, but he still made a big impression on me.”
Rehearsing together for the little concert – which lasted half an hour – was difficult to organize. Simon Gronowski had sent over a few jazz standards he wanted to play, and the students prepared them amongst themselves. So the performance on May 4 was the first time they actually made music together.
Imagine
“He’s still sharp and has a very good ear”, Ilyas noted. “Sometimes he took unexpected turns during the songs, but in the meantime we have enough experience to respond to that appropriately.”
The students weren’t compensated for their musical contribution, but that was never their motivation: “It was a true honour to perform with such an extraordinary person in such a special place”, Ilyas reflects. “Amongst other things, we played a jazzy version of Imagine by John Lennon. That was a magical moment I’ll probably remember for the rest of my life.”