Jonathan Yates has taken the stage too many times to count as the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra's music director - but when he did a couple months ago, it was unlike any other.

"It hit me, and I think all the musicians in a way that very few concerts have," Yates explained, as he spoke to News 12 ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27.

NSO's performance that November night wasn't just about making beautiful music. It was also about giving a voice to the six million Jews and millions of others who were silenced during one of the world's darkest times.

"This can't be a period of history that people just forget," stated Shelley Kreiger, acting head of the Jewish Federation of Greater Fairfield County.

Kreiger also founded the county's Holocaust Resource Center.

"We really combat antisemitism and we combat denialism," Kreiger said. "You can only combat it with education."

That mission led the Jewish Federation of Greater Fairfield County to partner with NSO for the unique concert, which featured Violins of Hope, a collection of string instruments owned by Jewish people before and during World War II. They've been painstakingly restored by Avshi Weinstein and his late father Amnon Weinstein in Israel and Turkey.

"It's not so much the restoration that's important. It's the fact that they're played again, that the voices and music live on," Kreiger told News 12.

Every symphony, sonata and concerto performed that night were tied in some way to the Holocaust.

"It was pretty powerful," Kreiger recalled.

"A lot of the instruments are inscribed with stars of David on them," added Yates. "And it just leaves this remarkable musical legacy and the opportunity to celebrate and remember these lives."

But for Yates, there was also a connection to his own history.

"My grandfather was a member of Congress, and he was a really important figure in the founding of the U.S. Holocaust Museum, and so I felt that much more personally attached," Yates told News 12.

Sydney Yates represented the ninth district of Illinois in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1963, then again from 1965 to 1999. The museum, which opened in Washington D.C. in 1993, also bears another family member's influence.

"My grandmother was the driving force behind the museum's Children's Tile Wall," Yates said.

The wall is made up of thousands of ceramic tiles painted by kids in memory of the children killed during that time.

That family connection to Holocaust education resonated with Yates on stage, he told News 12.

The concert at Norwalk City Hall wrapped up a weeklong visit by Violins of Hope to several Fairfield County high schools, synagogues and churches as part of the Jewish Federation's community education effort.

"Putting an almost 100-year-old violin in the hands of a young person is the most profound history lesson these kids will ever have. They were holding history in their hands," Kreiger explained.

Each violin has a story. Some made it through concentration camps, even when their owners did not. Others were hidden by musicians who never returned. One was thrown out the window of an Auschwitz-bound transport. But all serve as symbols of resilience and remembrance.

"You just got chills looking at them," Yates said.

"To me, listening to a violin that was rescued from the Holocaust was like listening to a survivor tell their story except through music," Kreiger explained.

As the number of survivors drops, music is another way to share their histories and make sure people never forget.

"Antisemitism, hatred, bigotry - these are real, deep-seated problems that we continue to contend with. It's dark out there right now," Yates acknowledged.

Yet, NSO's performance was about light - how the universal language of music can help build harmony and stand against hate.

"The fact that it's called Violins of Hope I think is really important. The idea that art endures, music endures, their lives endure by the opportunity to play on these gorgeous instruments," Yates said. "I would hope that people left with a sense of hope for the future."

The Violins of Hope organization goes around the country and world for different events. To learn more about the collection, click here.