My Friend Sam

An uplifting, intergenerational testament to a life reclaimed, moral inheritance, and humble generosity unfolds through the bond between a Holocaust survivor and a young girl who would become a global musical icon. At its center is Samuel Marder, a Romanian-born Jewish violinist whose childhood was shattered by antisemitic violence, forced marches, and imprisonment before he emerged alone into a displaced persons camp in postwar Germany. After years without hearing music, his life begins anew through a return to the violin and a full scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music. Decades later in the Bronx, Marder’s open door and quiet generosity shape the musical education of an immigrant child—Regina Spektor—whose singular voice and poetic lyricism grew from those early lessons.