The Cello Still Sings by Janet Horvath is a riveting story beginning in World War II in Hungary, and continuing to the present with an emphasis on the message spoken in and through the melodious sounds of the cello. 

Both the author and her father were dedicated cello players. George Horvath played the cello with the Budapest Symphony, but suffered great physical challenges when he was forcibly relocated to a labor camp along with thousands of other Hungarian Jews. After the war ended, he and other musicians formed a small orchestra that played for other survivors of the war. Eventually, he and his wife, a pianist, managed to emigrate to Canada where George landed a position with the Toronto Symphony.

George supported his daughter, Janet, in her development as a cello player. She was the associate principal cello of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1980 until 2012. However, after developing a serious hearing problem, she had to resign her position. She then devoted herself to uncovering her father’s struggle with the events of his life as a Jew.

The thrust of this story is Janet’s journey to uncover her father’s depravations during the war, and his counter struggles to live fruitfully afterward. A key to unlocking the story was her discovery that her father had played under the direction of the young new conductor, Leonard Bernstein, in 1948. Photographs of that small orchestra helped George to open up and talk with his daughter about his experiences.

Most members of the UMRA Book Club liked the book and would recommend it to others. A couple said they’d read books about the Holocaust that they liked better. Some thought it was too long, with too much detail. One wished there had been more about Janet Horvath’s playing the cello in the Minnesota Orchestra. Comments were also made about the similarities to today and the fact that there is still much anti-Semitism.

—Becky Anderson, UMRA Book Club