For Sasha Semenoff, Holocaust survivor and longtime Vegas performer, ‘music was his life’

By Ed Koch

Published Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 | 2 a.m.

Updated Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 | 12:19 p.m.

Longtime Las Vegas violinist Sasha Semenoff most times played for his livelihood. But there was one bleak period when, at the brutal hands of the Nazis, he played for his very life. In a 2009 interview, Semenoff told the Sun that while he was being transported to a concentration camp a German soldier saw him holding a mandolin and told him to play “La Paloma.” Semenoff figured that if he hadn’t immediately struck up that tune he would never have played another note. He said in the interview that playing music on instruments ranging from the violin to the piano ...

Ed Koch is a retired Sun writer.

Back to the full article »

Discussion: 3 comments so far…

Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to verify their identity or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change, read our story about how it works and why we did it.

By SteveMiller4LV (Steve Miller)

Jan. 11, 2013

5:50 a.m.

Flag

I'm very saddened to hear of Shasha's passing. Las Vegas has lost a great artist. My wife and I enjoyed getting together with him recently at Maggiano's and talking about his part in the movie Casino. Condolences to Lara, Alan, Sue, and the rest of the family.
By SteveMiller4LV (Steve Miller)

Jan. 11, 2013

5:53 a.m.

Flag

Please excuse my misspelling of Sasha.
By Noindex (Thomas Delahunty)

Jan. 11, 2013

8:54 a.m.

Flag

I also met him a year or two ago at Oscars restaurant at the Plaza. We talked about his role in the movie Casino too. He was very nice and quite funny. He thought I was somehow connected to Oscar (who was there that night) and kept asking me to get Oscar to hire him to play at the restaurant.

It's now a fond memory. Condolences to the family.