Mona Golabek

Author, recording artist, and internationally renowned concert pianist Mona Golabek learned to play the piano from her mother, Holocaust survivor Lisa Jura. Her father, Michel Golabek, fought valiantly in the French resistance and received the Croix de Guerre. Mona’s grandparents died at Auschwitz.

Her mother is the subject of Mona’s acclaimed book, The Children of Willesden Lane, co-authored by Lee Cohen. The book has been translated in a dozen languages, including the recent Arabic and Ukrainian publications. The book will be published in Mandarin in 2025.

In 2012, Mona made her stage debut in The Pianist of Willesden Lane, adapted from the book. The production, directed by Hershey Felder, has been celebrated by critics and audiences with sold out theatrical runs in New York, London, and many other cities. Mona has received Best Actress nominations from the New York Drama Desk and Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle.

A Grammy nominee, Mona is a prolific recording artist and has been the subject of several documentaries including Concerto for Mona with conductor Zubin Mehta. Her discography includes the best-selling Carnival of the Animals and Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, both recorded with her sister Renee. They feature the voices of Meryl Streep, Audrey Hepburn, Ted Danson, and Lily Tomlin.

In 2002, Mona formed the Hold On To Your Music Foundation with the help of the Milken Family Foundation, Facing History & Ourselves, and the Annenberg Foundation. Its mission is to foster hope through the power of storytelling and music and embolden the human spirit in the face of adversity. Now, her foundation is partnered with the USC Shoah Foundation, creating a groundbreaking educational initiative, The Willesden Project, that brings her mother’s story to students and communities across the globe. More than ten million students, readers, and audience goers have experienced the inspirational message of Willesden Lane.

To learn more about the Hold On To Your Music Foundation, visit www.HoldOnToYourMusic.org.