The Children of Willesden Lane

Sunday, April 6, 7:30 PM

Loeb Theatre, Stewart Center, Purdue University
FREE Performance


Mona Golabek


Mona Golabek - author, Grammy-nominated classical pianist and radio host - lectures and performs.

Golabek performs pieces by Chopin, Grieg and Scriabin, interspersed with a talk on her book, “The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport.”

Golabek’s mother, Lisa Jura, was 14 when she was one of 10,000 Jewish children sent to England by train by fearful parents at the dawn of the war. She lived at the Willesden Lane hostel and worked in a garment factory. Jura’s quest to win a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music – which she accomplished – gave hope to others at the hostel.

Golabek’s book is a memoir of her mother’s journey through World War II, and the gift she left her daughters – the gift of music.

The pianist has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and London’s New Philharmonia Orchestra, among others, and has recorded the best-selling album “Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens” with her sister, pianist Renee Golabek-Kaye, and the voices of Audrey Hepburn, Ted Danson, Lily Tomlin and Dudley Moore. In 1995 she released the critically acclaimed recording “Babar the Elephant and Mother Goose Suite” with the New Zealand Symphony and narration by Meryl Streep.

Related Events:  Program for Elementary and Middle School Students
Monday, April 7, 9:30 AM
Fowler Hall, Purdue University
Co-sponsored by The Ackerman Center, Purdue University College of Education

A Seminar for Middle School and High School Teachers
Tuesday, April 8, 4:30 PM
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Room 3, 535 W. State St., WL

Online Resources:  Teaching The Children of Willesden Lane, resources to help you teach the book
Milken Family Foundation Resource Materials