TEDTalks favorite Sirena Huang (watch her TEDTalks performance) played in Manhattan on Sunday night; as the New York Times reports today, “A Mendelssohn concerto exquisitely performed by a 13-year-old violinist, Sirena Huang, brought down the house.”

Huang played as part of a free concert to honor the 103-year-old concert pianist Alice Herz-Sommer, a survivor of the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II, and to honor the thousands of people who did not survive the camp. Herz-Sommer’s own story, told by the Times‘ Clyde Haberman, is worth taking some uninterrupted time to read. It’s a testament to the power of music, and a beautiful example of a passionate life well lived.