Legacy of a Holocaust Survivor
Fiona Morrow
Globe and Mail
Vancouver — Thirteen years ago, Charles Barber’s music tutor, Paul Kling – or PK, as he liked to be called – suggested an impromptu drive to Mexico from their homes in California. The trip marked the first time Barber had ever seen his friend without a jacket, tie and vest. But as relaxed as he was that day, Kling, a Czech virtuoso violinist and retired chair of the University of Victoria’s School of Music, did not roll up the sleeves of his white shirt.
“I realized I had spent years indulging in magical thinking,” acknowledges Barber, now conductor and artistic director of City Opera Vancouver. “I knew PK was Jewish, I just presumed he’d escaped the war hiding out in a cave in Switzerland, or something.”