A Rockin Hanukkah

Stephen Feldman/Poppa's kitchen has put together a fun Hanukkah album in a pop rock format...! You can check out the cd at www.arockinhanukkah.com .

BRAVE OLD WORLD: SONG OF THE LODZ GHETTO in NY

Song of the Lodz Ghetto in Yiddish, with English Supertitles
SUNDAY, DEC 3, 2:30 PM
MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE
36 Battery Place, New York, NY
Tickets: (646) 437 4202
www.mjhnyc.org
www.mjhnyc.org World-renowned New Jewish Music quartet Brave Old World, the super group of the Klezmer revival, brings forth a breathtakingly original program combining the soulfulness of Yiddish tradition, the finesse of classical music and the vitality of jazz. Virtuoso musicians Michael Alpert, Alan Bern, Kurt Bjorling and Stuart Brotman join together to bring us a uniquely constructed theatrical evening exploring the beautiful and haunting Jewish melodies composed in the Nazi Ghetto of Lodz, Poland from 1941-1944. Featuring original Lodz Ghetto street songs and Jewish music of prewar Poland, interwoven with Brave Old World's own arrangements and compositions, this is music of hope, redemption and the power of the human spirit. A rare opportunity for soul-soaring, spirit lifting Yiddishkayt that is simultaneously a universal testament to the human determination to survive and sing.

In Yiddish, now with English supertitles so all can understand the moving and biting lyrics of Yankele Herszkowicz, Mirjam Harel, Michael Alpert, and other poets. Not to be missed! ...new CD of this program on the Winter & Winter label received a FIVE STAR REVIEW and a Critic's Pick by Billboard Magazine, and was named "Best CD of 2005" by New York's Newsday.

This concert grabbed its listeners and wouldn't let go for a long time. The American quartet provoked storms of applause and blew away their audience in the sold-out hall. -- Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung

Come one and all! Kumt masnvayz! Przydzcie masowo!

Just Put it on Your Calendar Now: KlezCalifornia in January, 2007

Coming soon in San Francisco:
KlezCalifornia at the JCCSF
Saturday, January 6th, 2007 · 7:30 - 10:00 pm
Concert with the award-winning
European band BUDOWITZ
Dancing taught by MICHAEL ALPERT
Sunday, January 7th, 2007 · 9:30 am - 5:30 pm
A full day of participatory workshops
Learn the klezmer style (all instruments, levels) with BUDOWITZ musicicans
Dancing taught by MICHAEL ALPERT
Yiddish theater, language, literature, songs, history, and crafts
Special programs for teens and youth

Tickets will be available at JCCSF Box Office
415-292.1233 or jccsf.org/arts

Kleztet Events Lineup

A number of exciting things going on in the next week or two for Kleztet fans. On Monday, November 6, Kleztet will be giving another free concerts at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. This time it will be in the Dance Studio (B28) from 7 until 9 pm. The studio is pretty hard to find, so your best bet is just to get to Peabody, and then ask security (or a student) for directions. _www.peabody.jhu.edu

Another event: Kleztet will be at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference, or NERFA, in Monticello, New York at 9:45 pm on the evening of Saturday, November 11., 2006.

KlezKamp 22 - Hasidish Yiddish

KlezKamp 22 - Hasidish Yiddish KlezKamp is almost here again! It's being held December 24-29, 2006, at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa in Kerhonkson, New York for a week of Yiddish music and culture.

The entire catalogue and registration materials are available online at http://www.livingtraditions.org/docs/index_kk.htm If you would like Living Traditions to mail you a catalogue or would like them to do so in the future, please email your current contact information, email: info@livingtraditions.org

Psalms of Joy and Sorrow

On October 17, the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music released the 48th CD in its pioneering recording series that documents music related to the Jewish experience in America. Titled Psalms of Joy and Sorrow, this new disc reflects the varied responses of twelve 20th- and 21st-century composers to some of the most affecting and enduring of all biblical texts-the Psalms.

Common to the liturgies, histories, and spirit of both Judaism and Christianity, the biblical Book of Psalms is one of the most widely familiar and most frequently quoted books of the Hebrew Bible. The Psalms' sentiments and teachings, expressed in a singular blend of majestic grandeur and poignant simplicity, give them a uniquely universal resonance.

Encompassing virtually every human emotion and mood from exaltation to alienation, hope to despair, these texts have inspired musical interpretation since Jewish antiquity, with notated musical settings dating back more than ten centuries. Composers of virtually every orientation have engaged the Psalms in compositions ranging from large-scale works for chorus, full orchestra, and soloists to intimate a cappella choral pieces.

The original settings heard on this new CD, by both traditionally-minded and avant-garde composers, exemplify the variety of musical treatments and expressions the Psalms have inspired.

Participating artists heard on Psalms of Joy and Sorrow include actor Theodore Bikel, cantors Alberto Mizrahi, Charles Osborne and Meir Finkelstein; the BBC Singers, Laudibus Choir, Schola Hebraeica, Barcelona Symphony/National Orchestra of Catalonia and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra; and conductors Samuel Adler, Michael Brewer, Ronald Corp, Patrick Gardner, Steven Gunzenhauser, Avner Itai, Elli Jaffe, Neil Levin and Karl Anton Rickenbacher.

Click here to read an article about this CD
Click here to read details about this CD.

Art Bailey's Orkestra Popilar at Stain

ABOP performs at Stain Bar on Wed, Nov 1, 2006. 7-9pm.
Admission is by donation at the event.
766 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY (By Subway: take L to Grand, 1 block west)
718-387-7840 | http://www.stainbar.com for more directions and information.

Art Bailey's Orkestra Popilar new CD is now available! Branch from the Tree features fresh interpretations of rarely heard material first recorded by Romanian-born cymbalom master and Lower East Side restaurateur, Joseph Moskowitz. On this debut cd, the band also explores early 20th century Jewish fiddle pieces, improvisation, newly composed music, and pieces from the klezmer and Eastern European repertoire. Learn about the CD, listen to clips, or purchase it online at http://www.artbailey.org About Art Bailey's Orkestra Popilar: Art Bailey's Orkestra Popilar is a newly formed Jewish music ensemble led by accordionist and pianist Art Bailey and includes bassist Jim Guttmann, violinists Jeremy Brown and Jake Shulman-Ment, and mandolinist Brandon Seabrook.

Helfgot Sings at the Met

Sunday, December 3, 2006 at 7:30pm. Acclaimed Cantor Yizchak Meir Helfgot will sing cantorial classics at the Metropolitcan Opera House in New York as part of a Cantors World presentation. Cantor Helfgot is cantor at the Park East Synagogue. He will be accompanied by members of the New York Philharmonic with Dr. M. Sobol conducting a choir. General seating is $50, VIP $100, Friend $180, Family $250 and Supporter $500. There are other seatings as well. For more information see www.cantorsworld.com or call 718-851-3226.

MUSICA ANTIGUA DE EDUARDO PANIAGUA playing around Canada this Fall

MUSICA ANTIGUA DE EDUARDO PANIAGUA, a group dealing with Spanish medieval music, will perform soon in Canada. On October 26th at the Outaouais Festival de Musiques Sacrées with the program "Three Cultures (Jewish', Muslim' and Christiian' Spanish medieval music and song)". and on Oct. 28th at the Quebec Festival de Musiques Sacrées with the program "Sefarad in Al-Andalus (music and poetry from Hispano-Jewish Golden Age)".

On November 4th the group will play the "Three Cultures" program at Givatayim Theater (Tel-Aviv, Israel), and on Nov 6th at the Jerusalem International Oud Festival, with the program "The Andalusian Oud".

On Nov 22th the group travels to Germany where they will present "Sefarad in Al-Andalus" at the Cervantes Institute of Munich, as part of thehttp://www.istc.org/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=99752 "Jüdische Kulturtage".
Contact Klezmer Sefardi. Jorge Rozemblum for details. rozemblum@yahoo.es

THE ZEMEL CHOIR

51st Annual Concert of the Zemel Choir
Cantors and Choristers
Sunday 12th November 2006, 7.30pm
Belsize Square Synagogue
51 Belsize Square , London NW3 4HX, UK

Now in its 51st year, Britain's leading mixed voice Jewish choir, presents a mixed bag of choral goodies at a concert at Belsize Square Synagogue on November 12th.

The concert follows Benjamin Wolf's appointment as choirmaster at the synagogue, and includes a performance by a new male- voice quartet comprising young soloists Marc Finer, Eliot Alderman and Benjamin Seifert, joined by Benjamin Wolf. Finer, Alderman and Seifert are already well known to Jewish audiences as cantors and cantorial soloists.

With music ranging from Yiddish opera to close-harmony, and including jazzy arrangements of Chanukah tunes, this promises to be a fun concert not to be missed.

The choir will perform extracts from Samuel Alman s 1911 opera, King Ahaz, a choral work that has not been performed in public since 1912! There will also be excerpts from Sullivan s Pirates of Penzance, recently created for a full-scale, off- Broadway performance.

Tickets £14 (concessions £12.50) are available from +44 (0)20 8906 1318 or zemelchoir@hotmail.com

The Zemel Choir, established in the UK by Dudley Cohen in 1955, is proud of its international reputation as one of the world s finest mixed voice Jewish choirs. Our wide ranging repertoire embraces all the traditional Jewish cultures, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yiddish and Israeli. ZC regularly performs in major venues throughout the U.K. and overseas, and besides singing well known favourites, are particularly proud to present new music, often specially commissioned, from contemporary composers.

TV and Radio appearances in the UK include:

2005- BBC1 TV Songs of Praise Holocaust Day broadcast.
2001- Radio 4 s Holocaust Day edition of Sunday Worship
1990-The Expressions of Reconciliation and Hope service in York Minster.
1986- Live television and radio broadcast of Kaddish for Terezin from Canterbury Cathedral.

Over the years the Zemel Choir have made many recordings, the most recent of which The English Tradition of Jewish Choral Music conducted by Robert Max with Cantor Moshe Haschel was described as a fascinating and beautifully performed selection of synagogue music from the 19th and 20th centuries .

We have travelled extensively to the U.S.A., Canada, Israel, and Eastern and Western Europe, and in 1993 participated in the Polish Holocaust Memorial ceremonies in Warsaw and Treblinka to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At the 1996 Zimriyah Choral Festival in Jerusalem we were invited to sing at the opening ceremony concert which was broadcast live on Israel Radio. Our latest overseas trip was in October 2001 when we made a most successful tour of The Czech Republic and Hungary.

Plans for the near future include 3 concerts in London before the end of 2006 and beyond that a possible tour of Western Europe in the spring of 2007.

The Choir has maintained its reputation as a result of professional musical direction, and a strong commitment to rehearsals by its members. We come together not only to sing, but to be part of a warm and friendly social group. We are always happy to welcome new members, and to find out more about us, visit our website at www.the-zemel-choir.org or phone our membership secretary on +44 (0)20-8868 8423.

Beverly Hills Concert Music and the Holocaust: Survival, Resistance and Response

"Music and the Holocaust: Survival, Resistance and Response" is a concert of rarely heard music composed in hiding, before deportation, and in Nazi concentration camps and ghettos.

The Concert features Choral Society of Southern California, Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale, USC Thornton School of Music Chamber Choir and student soloists, members of the Los Angeles Vocal & Instrumental Ensemble ( la vie ), Cantor David Cane, and recordings made in the camps. The program will include works from various composers in hiding, concentration camps and ghettos, including:

-- Cantor David Cane's performance of songs he was forced to sing in Auschwitz.
-- A Jewish composer's eight-minute choral work, written in the Kreuzburg Civilian Internment Camp as a gift to Christian inmates who protected him and several other Jewish inmates.
-- Short recordings made during the war in Kreuzburg.
-- Commentary by Nick Strimple, Holocaust music scholar and USC faculty member.
WHEN: November 2, 2006 at 8:00 P. M.
WHERE: Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church
505 N. Rodeo Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

WHO: Sponsored by the American Musicological Society, the Jewish Music Commission of Los Angeles and the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church. Conducted by Magen Solomon and Nick Strimple, both USC Thornton School of Music faculty members.

TICKETS: $18 adult, $10 student. Reservations at 310.271.5194, ask for Emily.

Chanale Sings with new CD

"Chanale and Friends", a new CD has just been released and is now available through Jewish Jukebox. You can check the sound samples out at:
http://www.jewishjukebox.com/products/jewish_female_songwriters/1970.asp
To learn more about Chanale and her music, see her website at: www.chanalesings.com.

NESHAMA CARLEBACH CONCERT NOV. 19TH

Neshama Carlebach in NY. The charismatic Neshama Carlebach, whose voice and enthusiastic presentation energizes audiences of all ages whether she is singing popular Hebrew and Israeli songs or liturgical music, will appear in a concert on Sun., Nov. 19th, at 3 P.M., at the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel, Henry Hudson Parkway East and West 250th Street, The Bronx, NYC. Modern, traditional and original songs will be featured.
The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale Choir, a community-based group that performed at the recent Jewish Heritage Night at Shea Stadium, also will appear.
Tickets are: adults-$20 in advance, $25 at door; seniors-$15 and $20; students-$10 and $15. Take Exit 19 on Henry Hudson Parkway. No. 1 Subway to 231st Street, then No. 7 or 10 buses. BxM 1 or BxM 2 express buses from Manhattan. Call CSAIR at 718-543-8400 for more information.

Boston Jewish Film Festival has music too

Several film at the Boston Jewish Film Festival this year feature music themes. The festival is running Nov. 1-12, 2006. For information on these features , see this PDF
http://www.jmwc.org/pdf/bjff-music.pdf

Concerts at the Museum of Jewish Heritage NYC

Sunday, November 12, 1:30 P.M.
Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
36 Battery Place
New York, NY 10280
Jewish Composers: Jerusalem to Broadway
With featured artists Guy Mannheim, tenor, and Shirit-Lee Weiss, soprano

Join Israeli soprano Shirit-Lee Weiss and Israeli tenor Guy Mannheim, a soloist with the New Israeli Opera, for an exciting musical journey from the streets of Jerusalem, through the shtetls of Eastern Europe and the cities of Western Europe after WWII, to the sparkling lights of Broadway. In a true celebration of the Jewish spirit, the program will include the music and lyrics of world-renowned artists such as Bernstein, Sondheim, and Weill, along with Israeli music by Naomi Shemer, Zohar Argov, and others.

Tenor Guy Mannheim has performed with the New Israeli Opera, the New York Chamber Opera, and in concerts and recitals in Israel, Germany, and New York.

Soprano Shirit-Lee Weiss appears regularly in the contemporary music group Musica Nova in addition to performing in works by young composers, and in musical and children's theater productions.

$15 adults, $12 seniors, $10 students/members
Tickets are available online through www.mjhnyc.org or by calling 646 437-4202. Sunday, December 3, 2:30 P.M.
Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
36 Battery Place
New York, NY 10280
Brave Old World - Song of the Lodz Ghetto
With Alan Bern, Michael Alpert, Kurt Bjorling, and Stuart Brotman

"..nothing less than brilliant, a recreation that is not merely respectful but stunningly inventive." Jewish Week

The world-renowned music ensemble Brave Old World will perform Song of the Lodz Ghetto, a unique musical theatrical work featuring rare Jewish street and folk music created between 1940 and 1944 in the Nazi ghetto of Lodz, Poland. Combining the soulfulness of Yiddish tradition, the finesse of classical music, and the vitality of jazz, the music of Brave Old World is unique and unforgettable.

Brave Old World has been creating, performing, and teaching klezmer and New Jewish Music throughout the world since 1989. They have performed and recorded with such notable performers as Itzhak Perlman and at venues as prestigious as Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall.

$20 adults, $18 seniors, $15 students/members
Tickets are available online through www.mjhnyc.org or by calling 646 437-4202.
Co-sponsored by the National Yiddish Book Center

Wednesday, December 20, 7 P.M.
Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
36 Battery Place
New York, NY 10280
Women of Tzadik Celebrate Hanukkah
Basya Schechter, Jewlia Eisenberg, and Ayelet Rose Gottlieb

An eclectic line-up of innovative, female performers will highlight the diversity of the Sephardic community and its musical traditions. In addition to sharing a home at the Tzadik record label, these artists share a vision for presenting rich Jewish music in a way that embraces and revives traditional styles while creating a new, modern sound.

Basya Schechter leads the popular ensemble Pharaoh's Daughter which combines Hasidic chants, Mizrachi and Sephardi folk-rock, and spiritual stylings filtered through percussion, flute, strings, and electronica. Pharaoh's Daughter has toured extensively throughout America, Europe, Greece, and the U.K.

Jewlia Eisenberg is the founder, bandleader, and performer behind Charming Hostess a "klezmer-funk/girly-punk" ensemble. Their music incorporates doo-wop, Balkan harmony, and Andalusian melody.

Jerusalem native Ayelet Rose Gottlieb performs music that combines free improvisation with elaborate composition, spicy Middle Eastern scales, and adventurous texts. Gottlieb's newest album, Mayim Rabim, is a reinterpretation of biblical love poetry from the Song of Songs.

Presented with Sephardic Music Festival, Modular Moods, and Barzilai
$20 adults, $18 seniors, $15 student/members

Monday, December 25
Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
36 Battery Place
New York, NY 10280
Challah-lujah
Starring Joshua Nelson & His Kosher Gospel Choir
Performances at 1 P.M. & 3:30 P.M.

"I have never heard a voice like (Joshua Nelson's). He literally brings the house down." Oprah Winfrey

If you missed last year's sold-out performance, Joshua Nelson is back again this year with two shows. Melding Hebrew tunes with Joshua Nelson's unique spirit, the Kosher Gospel Choir has sparked a revolution in Jewish Music.

Joshua Nelson, an African-American Jew known as the Prince of Gospel Music, has been hailed by critics across the world for his unique voice, which bears a strong resemblance to the legendary singer Mahalia Jackson's passionate vocal stylings. He has performed at major venues across the United States and internationally, and was the subject of the documentary Keep on Walking.
$35 adults, $25 seniors, $20 students/members
Tickets are available online through www.mjhnyc.org or by calling 646 437-4202.

Mofa Theater Zionist Play Looking for Venues

Yaara Guy, the Manager of Marketing and Public Relations for the Mofa Theatre writes to JMWC about their Zionist play "We need a homeland". If you are interested in a play about the period in Israel from the day the UN decided to divide the land between the Jews and the Arabs (November 28th) until David Ben Gurion declared Israel a state (May, 1948), you may wish to look into this production. The play is targeted for children ages ten and up. Call him at 972-9-7442292 or 972-57-7300072. Email: Mofa2@netvision.net.il

Helene Engel Sings Yiddish in Lausanne, Switzerland

Les oiseaux reviennent avec le printemps au Quebec et Hélène Engel revient chanter avec l'automne en Suisse... et en yiddish (mais pas seulement!) avec le groupe HOTEGEZUGT http://borzykowski.users.ch

Le 4 Novembre à 20h30
CPO à Lausanne (Centre Pluriculturel et social d'Ouchy)
Beau-Rivage 2 Lausanne
Prix d'entrée: entre 14 et 22 Fs
Réservations: 004121 616 26 72
info@cpo-ouchy.ch ou www.cpo-ouchy.ch

Le 5 Novembre à 10h30
Maison du Prieur à Romainmôtier Brunch-Concert
tel: 004122 366 01 53 info@eventsetsaveurs.ch
prix 55 Fs (brunch gastronomique inclus)

De belles musiques en perspective... nous nous réjouissons de vous y rencontrer!
For More Info:
Michel Borzykowski
borzy@freesurf.ch
site klezmer: http://borzykowski.users.ch
site AMJ: http://www.amj.ch

Daniel Pearl Memorial Concert in Springfield, MA

Daniel Pearl Memorial Concert
Sunday, October 22nd , 2006
3pm
Rivers Memorial Building
Western New England College
1215 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA
FREE

On Sunday, October 22nd at 3pm there will be a FREE concert commemorating the “Daniel Pearl Music Day” of Peace and Harmony. The concert will take place in the Rivers Memorial Building at Western New England College, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield, MA. For more info please contact Steve Roulier at 413-782-1520 (sroulier@wnec.edu).

The musical groups performing will be:

- The Yiddishkeit Klezmer Ensemble
Ilene Stahl, clarinet
Brian Bender, trombone
Christina Crowder, accordion
Grant Smith, drums
Genevieve Rose, bass
http://www.yiddishkeitklezmer.com

- The Children’s Choruses of the Community Music School of Springfield
- Western New England College Campus Chorus
- The Presto String Ensemble
- Tehilah, adult gospel choir, from St. John’s Congregational Church

Daniel Pearl - the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in 2002 in Pakistan - was a classically trained violinist, an avid fiddler and a mandolin player who used his passion for music to form friendships across cultural and verbal divides. Danny lived a life that knew no geographical boundaries, with a spirit that knew no prejudice. He joined musical groups in every community in which he lived, leaving behind a long trail of musician-friends around the globe. Every year around his October 10th birthday, musicians around the world reach out in friendship to join in “Harmony for Humanity.”

More information about Daniel Pearl can be found at http://www.danielpearl.org/about_us/danielpearl_bio.html

More information about the worldwide event can be found at http://www.music-days.org/

SOUNDS OF BAGHDAD: A MUSICAL JOURNEY WITH YAIR DALAL

Yair Dalal:
WHEN: Saturday, November 4, 2006 at 7:30 PM
WHERE: Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York City
SUGGESTED DONATION: $20
INFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS: 917-606-8200
A unique performance in the four-day program
Back to Babylon: 2600 Years of Jewish Life in Iraq, November 2-5, 2006,
Exploring the venerable and multifaceted culture of Iraqi Jewry
www.americansephardifederation.org<

During the first half of the 20th century, Jews were virtually the only instrumentalists in the Iraqi musical scene. All the musicians from Iraq who attended the first Arabic music congress in Cairo in 1932 were Jewish (but one). With the exile of the Jewish community in the 1950's, many famous Iraqi Jewish musicians immigrated to Israel.

Their legacy is still strong today, both in the preservation of the traditional Iraqi Maqam, and in its influence on contemporary Israeli music.

Yair Dalal's musical program retraces the steps of the great Babylonian musical heritage thorough the sacred songs rooted in the Iraqi Jewish tradition. It will include traditional Sabbath Zemirot, pieces from the Shevahot repertoire (songs of praise performed at communal gatherings), and instrumental classics by Iraqi-Jewish composers like Salah and Daud al-Kuwaiti.

Born in 1955, composer, violinist and oud player Yair Dalal is one of the most prolific Israeli ethnic musicians today. Over the last decade he released nine albums, covering wide and varied cultural territories. His work reflects the strong affinity he has for the desert and its habitants. Dalal's family came to Israel from Baghdad and he has included a host of Iraqi traditional musical sources in his work.
Whether performing on his own, or with his Alol ensemble, Dalal creates new Middle Eastern music by interweaving the traditions of Iraqi and Jewish Arabic music with a range of influences originating from such diverse cultural milieus as the Balkans and India. Dalal is one of a handful of artists who preserve and sustain the Babylonian musical heritage of the wonderful Jewish Iraqi musicians who emigrated from Iraq to Israel in the 1950s, from whom he learned much of his craft. During the past years, Dalal has collaborated with top musicians from all over the globe, from different disciplines, including celebrated western classical conductor Maestro Zubin Mehta, Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI, L.Shankar, Hamza el Din, Michel Bismuth, Ken Zuckerman, Armand Aamar, Shlomo Mintz, Maurice el Medioni and Mustafa Raza, Cihar Askin, Ensemble Kaboul, Adel Salameh, The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kamerata Jerusalem Orchestra, and more. He participates and lectures in the Keshet Elyon Violin workshops, ISME - Music Education, European Network for Traditional Music and Dance, Mendocino Middle East Music Camp, and the Mediterranean Musical Dialogue in Israel. www.yairdalal.com

Kristallnacht Commemorated with the Glorious Music of Salomon Sulzer and Louis Lewandowski

New York. Congregation Rodeph Sholom's Senior Cantor, Rebecca Garfein, and Cantorial Intern, Jennifer Strauss-Klein will commemorate Kristallnacht-the Night of Broken Glass, with the music of renowned Viennese Cantor, Salomon Sulzer and Berlin composer, Louis Lewandowski at 6p.m., Friday, November 3, 2006 during Shabbat services. Guest Cantor, Dr. Bruce Ruben, newly appointed Director of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's School of Sacred Music will also participate in this special service. Rodeph Sholom's Organist, Dr. John Schuder and augmented professional choir, will accompany the cantors. This event is free of charge and the entire community is invited to attend. Rodeph Sholom is located at 7 West 83rd Street (off Central Park West.) For more information, please call (212) 362-8800, extension 1337.

Born in 1804, Sulzer is credited with being the first to modernize the cantorate and one of the earliest composers to westernize synagogue music. With Sulzer, the title of "Cantor" was born out of a desire to be accepted and understood by 19th century society. In fact, Sulzer was very much a part of modern musical circles. His closest friend and occasional collaborator was composer Franz Schubert. The influence of 19th century music is clearly heard in Sulzer's synagogue compositions. As a Cantor, Sulzer was very successful at creating a musical bridge between the "old world" and the newly enlightened world.

Throughout Europe, Louis Lewandowski assisted numerous Cantors in his day, the most famous being the celebrated Solomon Sulzer, who also composed for the Austrian and German synagogues. Lewandowski was the first composer to write for synagogues using organ and large choirs.

Cantor Rebecca Garfein, mezzo-soprano, is the Senior Cantor of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City and is the first female Cantor to hold this position in the history of the congregation.

Cantor Garfein has appeared in concerts throughout the United States, Israel and Europe and at Carnegie Hall with Mandy Patinkin and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Recently she debuted her new album at Carnegie Hall entitled, "Golden Chants in America...Commemorating 350 years of Jewish Music, 1654-2004." "Golden Chants in America" is the first U.S. recording to feature Jewish music spanning 350 years of life in America. Cantor Garfein's other solo CD is a live recording from the 1997 Jewish Festival in Berlin entitled, "Sacred Chants of the Contemporary Synagogue."

A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Cantor Garfein graduated cum laude from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music with a degree in vocal performance and opera. In 1993, she received her Master's Degree in Sacred Music and Cantorial Investiture from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR).

Cantor Bruce L. Ruben, Ph.D., baritone, is the Director of the School of Sacred Music (SSM) at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). He has taught Jewish history courses at HUC-JIR and the history of Jewish music at The Julliard School. For the past fifteen years, he has served as an adjunct professor of history at Hunter College, where he has taught courses on World History, Modern Jewish History, and the Holocaust. Since 1982, he has served as the Cantor of Temple Shaaray Tefila in New York City, where he has organized special music programs with professional and volunteer choirs, written as well as commissioned and premiered new works by leading composers, taught adult education courses on the history of Jewish music, history, and liturgy, and developed innovative services for increased congregational participation. He has fostered interfaith relations as a leader in the Yorkville Christian-Jewish Council, and has been active for many years in community activities at a neighborhood senior citizen center.

Originally from La Crosse, Wisconsin, Jennifer Strauss-Klein, soprano, is a third-year cantorial student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999, and her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD in 2001. Jennifer continued to study at Peabody in the Graduate Performance Diploma program and also attended Baltimore Hebrew University in the Master of Arts in Jewish Studies program, where she won the Sidney Breitbart Prize in Jewish Philosophy. She currently serves as the Cantorial Intern of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan. She and her husband Nick Strauss-Klein welcomed a son, Henry, in March 2006.

Alhambra at Temple Shearith Israel in NYC

Saturday, Oct. 28, 2006
7:30pm
Temple Shearith Israel
8 West 70th Street
Suggested contribution is $15 at the door.

ALHAMBRA plays the rhythmic and hauntingly beautiful Sephardic music of the Middle East, which melds the words and melodies of 15th century Spain, filtered through Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and Arabic lands.

ALHAMBRA was founded in 1981 by its director and lead singer Dr Isabelle Ganz, who is a professor of music, a cantorial soloist, a conductor, and an international performer and recording artist. She is joined by five other equally skilled professionals for whom Judeo-Spanish music is a special love. Haig Manoukian is considered one of the world's finest players of the oud - the fretless ancestor of our modern lute. Michael Hess, heard throughout New York playing klezmer music, performs on violin, riq (tambourine), kanun (trapezoidal zither) and nay (bamboo flute). Cantor Daniel Pincus is a lyric tenor whose repertoire extends to Bach, Schubert, and Salamone Rossi. Peter Basil Bogdanos is an exceptional percussionist who performs and records, playing a broad repertoire ranging from pop, jazz, R&B, to Middle-Eastern and Flamenco. Joseph Deninzon, who has been called the Jimmy Hendrix of the Violin, elicits extraordinary sounds from both electric and acoustic violins.

ALHAMBRA has recorded many CDs and cassettes, which will be available for sale at the performance.

From Kinehora to Kuni-Ayland

The Fulton Public Library http://fultonpubliclibrary.info, winner of 2005 & 2006 National Endowment for the Humanities / American Library Association "We the People" Bookshelves on Freedom and Becoming American, and in cooperation with the Safe Haven Museum and Education Center <http://www.oswegohaven.org> will present the last pair in a series of musical presentations entitled: "FREEDOM SONG!"

The pair of events are scheduled for Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 1:30 pm in Fulton, NY at the David E. Vayner Branch Library of the Fulton Public Library, 365 West First Street (in the CYO Building) and at 7:00 pm in Oswego, NY at Safe Haven, 2 East Seventh Street (on the grounds of Fort Ontario).

The concerts, performed by 11 year-old Reyna and her father, Binyumen Schaechter are entitled “From Kinehora to Kuni-Ayland: Snapshots of the History of Jewish Life in North America (1654-2005).” A musical revue in Yiddish and English with translations provided.

Both presentations will be followed by a time for discussion with the performers when light refreshments will be served. These events are intended for multigenerational audiences and home-schoolers are especially invited to attend with their educators. Admission is free.

These programs are presented in collaboration with the Safe Haven Museum and Education Center in honor of the 982 mostly Jewish refugees from Europe who were given haven at the decommissioned Fort Ontario from August 1944 through February, 1946, and the Oswego community which welcomed them. Currently on display at the David E. Vayner Branch Library is a small traveling exhibit about Safe Haven which will remain on view through October 20, 2006. At the Carnegie Main Library, 160 South First Street in Fulton, there is a display of circulating materials covering various topics related to Judaism, Yiddish and the Holocaust.

REYNA SCHAECHTER has performed in Carnegie Hall with Neil Sedaka, Lincoln Center and Merkin Concert Hall. Her solo work has been praised by Betty Comden, Sandy Duncan and Kitty Carlisle Hart. One of the Pripetshik Singers , Reyna stars in the exciting new film, Pripetshik Sings Yiddish! and was recently featured with Broadway star Mike Burstyn in the off-Broadway hit On Second Avenue. Last October, at age 10, Reyna was performed in a staged Yiddish reading with English super-titles of Bronx Express: A Local Comedy by Osip Dimov, Directed by Motl Didne at the famed Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre.

BINYUMEN SCHAECHTER’S credits include 5 off-Broadway shows, 5 cast albums, 2 DVDs and 3 CDs including the recently released Zingt! A Celebration of Yiddish Choral Music sung by the Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus and conducted by Schaechter. In its review of Ben’s musical Double Identity, The New York Times wrote "Among [the shows’] assets... is the ear-catching score by Ben Schaechter, whose wide-ranging gifts have buoyed recent hit revues like That’s Life! and Too Jewish?

Trios from Terezin in San Francisco

Performed by The Bridge Players
Thursday, January 11, 2007, 7:30 pm. Free and open to the public.

BJE Jewish Community Library
1835 Ellis St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
415-567-3327 ext. 703
www.bjesf.org

Terezin, the "model concentration camp" established by the Nazis outside Prague, became for a short time the meeting place for many of Europe's finest musicians. Violinist Randall Weiss will be joined by cellist Victoria Ehrlich and violist Natalia Vershilova in performing string trios and duos by Gideon Klein, Hans Krasa, and Zikmund Schul.

Jewish Community Centre for London presents

Thursday 19th October 7.45pm
SCORE @ the South Bank Centre and the Jewish Community Centre for London
Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London
SE1 8XX
Price: £12 Call 08703 800 400 or online at www.rfh.org.uk

Lemez Lovas of Oi Va Voi will direct guest musicians Moshikop and Rohan Kriwaczek in a live performance of a specially devised new score for East and West. In Sidney M. Goldin and Ivan Abramson’s silent movie (1923), streetwise New York flapper Mollie (Molly Picon) travels to her cousin’s wedding in a traditional Polish shtetl.

Lovas, Moshikop and Kriwaczek’s new score takes us from traditional klezmer to contemporary electronica, from vaudeville to breakbeat. As love blossoms between East and West, and the musical narrative unfolds, traditional and modern worlds are brought into collision. Score is irreverent and highly entertaining. A night not to be missed.

There will be an open rehearsal for students and young people in the day on 19th October. Please contact the JCC for more information.

Journey of Spirit Travels to TV

The world premiere of A Journey of Spirit, the award-winning independent documentary on wsinger/songwriter Debbie Friedman, will air on two consecutive Sundays, October 15th and 22nd at 7 a.m. ET/PT (6 a.m. CT) on Hallmark Channel. A Journey of Spirit which won the best film award from the National Council for Jewish Women, and the Detroit Jewish Film Festival award for best new Jewish film , among others, chronicles the inspirational story of Ms. Friedman and how she has affected contemporary Jewish music. Check your local times and listings.

Posted by jmwc at 05:25 PM

Tovah Feldshuh 'Out of Her Mind' in DC

The Washington DC Jewish Community Center’s Morris Cafrtiz Center for the Arts Benefit presents Tovah Feldshuh in her acclaimed one-woman show Tovah: Out of Her Mind! Monday, October 16 at 7:30 p.m. at GW Lisner Auditorium. www.washingtondcjcc.org/10yrs

Afro-Semitic Experience in Boston

The Afro-Semitic Experience is making its Boston debut this Wednesday, October 11 at 6:30 p.m. They will be playing at Cathedral High School, 74 Union Park Street, Boston.
At 2:30 Baba Coleman and Babafemi Alvin Carter, Jr. will be presenting a drumming workshop for the students and then at 6:30 will be the concert.

Joining this concert will be special guests Art Blakey, alumnus Kalim Zarif on piano (Warren is in Nepal!!) and Paradox Trio's very own Matt Darriau on clarinet and sax. Admission is free, but seating is limited. For more info please call 617-542-2325.

Tell your friends and invite them to join in, as this is a low key (but hi-energy) event.

di bostoner klezmer around for the holidays

Thursday, October 12th at 7:30 P.M. at the Stoughton Public Library.
Join "di bostoner klezmer" for a free, freylekh concert on Boston's South Shore. Accordionist Matt Wulf's original pieces will be featured, along with a new Terkisher by trombonist/melodicaist Brian Bender. The library is located on 84 Park Street on the corner of Walnut Street and Park Street (a.k.a. Route 27). For directions, call the library at 781-244-3711 or go to http://www.ocln.org/directions/STOUGHTON.html

Shabes October 14, 2006
Temple Emanuel in Worcester for a morning musical service starting at 9:30 A.M.
(address is 280 May Street, phone: 508-755-1257)

Motzi Shabes, October 14, 2006 in the evening - from about 6:30 to 9:00 P.M. - at the always-lively service at Temple Beth Zion (Moshe Waldok's shul) at 1566 Beacon Street, Brookline. It's on the C branch of the Green Line just outside of Washington Square, and a few stops after Coolidge Corner. On-street parking is also available) Phone 617-566-8171.

Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska offers Jewish Music Symposium

A two-day academic symposium called "'I Will Sing and Make Music': Jewish Music and Musicians Throughout the Ages" will be held October 29-30, 2006. It is The Nineteenth Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium being held in Omaha Nebraska. This year's theme on Jewish music has as keynote speaker Josh Jacobson of Northeastern University. http://puffin.creighton.edu/klutznick/
Presenters include:

Theodore Albrecht
Kent State University
"Beethoven's Quotation of Kol Nidrei? A Circumstantial Case for Sherlock Holmes"

Paul Eisenstein Baker
University of St. Thomas (Houston)
"Leo Zeitlin and the Early Twentieth Century Society for Jewish Folk Music"

Emily A. Bell
University of Florida
"Revitalizing the Synagogue Ritual: Cantor David Putterman's Annual Service of New Music at New York's Park Avenue Synagogue"

Dan W. Clanton, Jr.
University of Denver
"'From Biblical Times to Lyrical Rhymes': The Assertion of Jewish Identity in Music as Cultural Resistance"

Marsha Bryan Edelman
Gratz College
"What Do You Mean, 'It Doesn't Sound Jewish?': Debunking Myths and Defining Models for Extra-Liturgical Music"

Anat Feinberg
College of Jewish Studies Heidelberg
"To Play or Not to Play: Jewish Musicians in Germany After 1945"

Susan M. Filler
Chicago, IL
"The Music of Yiddish Theater and Its Influence on Broadway"

Rabbi Jonathan Gross
Omaha, NE
"Make a Note of That: The Importance of the Ta'amei Hamikrah in Understanding the Torah"

Charles Isbell
Louisiana State University
"Musical Notations in the Biblical Book of Psalms"

Joshua Jacobson
Northeastern University
KEYNOTE-"Jewish Music: What Is That?"

Daniel Juette
University of Heidelberg
"Public Space and Jewish Music in Renaissance Italy"

Charles Jurgensmeier, SJ
Creighton University
"Solomon Sulzer and Ranz Schubert: A Musical Collaboration"

Rita Ottens
City University of London
"'It'll Still Take Some Time Until We Will Get Over It': A Field Report from the Klezmer Scene of New Germany"

Joel E. Rubin
University of Virginia
"'They Danced It, We Played It': Adaptation and Revitalization in Post-1920s New York Klezmer Music"

Sharon Bernstein at Kavehoyz

Sharon Bernstein will perform a concert of Yiddish songs of angels and streets, accompanying herself on the piano,
Thursday, October 19, 7pm
Congress for Jewish Culture
25 E. 21st St., Manhattan (between Park and Broadway, take the "6" train to 23rd street)
$7 admission includes coffee, tea and pastries.
For more information, call 212-505-8040

"ZUN MIT A REGN" (Sun and Rain) in St. Petersburg

The Amsterdam Jewish Music Projects Foundation will be taking part in the Russian Centennial Celebration for Dmitri Shostakovich with the programme "Zun mit a regn" (Sun and Rain) that is to be performed at the Shostakovich Conferences in St. Petersburg on 12 and 13 October. The programme, which premiered in the Netherlands, includes chamber music and songs composed by Shostakovich himself and by his friends Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Veniamin Basner. The central source of inspiration for the works on the programme is the music of the Jewish people, oppressed in Russia during the Stalin regime. The works will be performed by singer Sovali (soprano), violinist Grigory Sedukh, cellist Alexander Oratovski and pianist Paul Prenen. The performances are supported by the Wilhelmina E. Jansen Fund.

Concerts:
. 12 October 2006, 7 PM at the Composers Hall, St. Petersburg
. 13 October 2006, 4 PM at the N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Museum Apartment (with lecture by Julia Broido)

The complete program includes:
M. Weinberg, Jewish Songs, Op.13 (Y.L. Perets) (1943)
M. Weinberg, Sonata for Cello Solo, No.1, Op.72 (1960)
D. Shostakovich, Prelude and Fugue, Op.87, No.8 in F sharp minor for piano (1950-51)
D. Shostakovich, "From Jewish Folk Poetry", Op.79, Nos.1, 3, 5, 7 (1948)
D. Shostakovich, Piano Trio No.2, Op. 67 (1944)
V. Basner, Poem for Violin and Piano, Op. 7, No.1
V. Basner, Songs from the musical "Jewish Luck", Op. 45 (1994)

From the reviews of previous performances in the Netherlands:

Eindhovens Dagblad: "Brilliant Yiddish lyricism!"

Enschede Synagogue: "The impressive programme went over very well with the audience. Everyone found it fascinating to witness how original Jewish music that was barely known, if at all, was brought back to life.."

Jan Roelofs' review of the concert at Museum 'De Buitenplaats' in Eelde: "How does one describe atmosphere? Not with words like professional or virtuoso, although they were certainly applicable. In any case, the atmosphere of the concert was created by the Jewish sounds, the melancholy and sometimes heartbreaking grief that could be heard, by the sounds and rhythms that said, "I shall persevere and won't let them grind me down," by the Yiddish lyrics translated so professionally they could almost be followed word for word. Yet the atmosphere was of course predominantly determined by (the musicians). In a beautifully structured programme of songs and instrumental works (partly performed as solos), they exhibited their professionalism, virtuosity and above all their pleasure in singing and playing. The warm cello and violin sounds, the beautiful, supple and agile voice and the pianist who conjured up a rich palette of sounds from the grand piano, were important ingredients in the special atmosphere of this concert.."

The DSCH Journal: "This was an unforgettable event in which the musicians gave their all. Bravo!"

Information:
Jewish Music Projects, c/o Sofie van Lier, phone: 020-6623675
Grigory Sedukh, phone: +7 (812) 2334808
info@joodsemuziekprojecten.n OR / jmp@tiscalimail.nl.
See also: www.joodsemuziekprojecten.nl.

THE YIDDISH VOICE OF LOVE: SONGS OF BEYLE SCHAECHTER-GOTTESMAN

The 92nd STREET Y PRESENTS MUSIC & DANCE OF THE JEWISH TRADITION
SONGS OF LOVE & LONGING AROUND THE JEWISH WORLD
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2006
8:00pm
92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue @ 92nd Street
TICKETS $30

THE YIDDISH VOICE OF LOVE: SONGS OF BEYLE SCHAECHTER-GOTTESMAN Michael Alpert, artistic consultant.
Yiddish musicperformed by a blockbuster crew, with Michael Alpert: vocals, drums, violin, Sharon Bernstein: vocals, Adrienne Cooper: vocals, Rebecca Kaplan: vocals, Janet Leuchter: vocals, Miryem-Khaye Seigal: vocals, Paula Teitelbaum: vocals, Deborah Strauss: violin, Marilyn Lerner: piano, Peter Rushefsky: cimbalom
To purchase tickets 212-415-5500
JMWC Recommendation: "Not to be Missed"! BEYLE SCHAECHTER GOTTESMAN
TEACHER, POET, SONGWRITER

The first concert, on Thursday, October 26, 2006 at 8 PM, is The Yiddish Voice of Love: Songs of Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman. Featuring the work of teacher, songwriter, and one of America's premier Yiddish Poets, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, the evening celebrates this inspirational woman's incredible legacy. A recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship (awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts), Schaechter-Gottesman has been a driving force for generations of Yiddish singers, including those who have performed her songs as part of the Klezmer revival of the last two decades. The performance features an ensemble of Yiddish musicians and vocalists: Michael Alpert (vocals, drums, violin), Sharon Bernstein, Adrienne Cooper, Rebecca Kaplan, Janet Leuchter, Miryem-Khaye Seigal, and Paula Teitelbaum (vocals), Deborah Strauss (violin), Marilyn Lerner (piano), and Peter Rushefsky (cimbalom). Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman was born in Vienna, Austria, but was raised in pre-war Romania, one of the centers of Yiddish intellectual culture. She survived the Holocaust in the ghetto in Czernowitz and came to the United States in 1951. Active as a teacher and songwriter, she began to write poetry and gained a reputation as one of America's premier Yiddish poets. Many of her songs cover a wide range of subjects from subway musicians, to personal reminiscences, to descriptions of street life in her hometown, the Bronx. The renaissance of klezmer music in the United States allowed her large repertoire of traditional and original material to be performed by many artists.
Schaechter-Gottesman has been acclaimed as one of the great living unaccompanied ballad singers. She takes great pride in her work with children, writing songs especially for them and performing frequently for young audiences. In 1998, she was inducted into the People's Hall of Fame by the organization City Lore based in New York City. In 2005 she received a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, one of the highest cultural honors given by a United States government agency.

Performance for Women in Jerusalem

Sunday, October 8th @ 8:30pm
Performance for Women
5 Women, 1 Truth Opera Singer, Ballerina, Rock Star, Broadway Dancer, an Academic
Sharing their Stories about their Journeys to Torah
Benefit for the Bnos Miriam, Performing Arts Center for Women
@ Heichal Shlomo, 58 King George St. Jerusalem
Tix: 60-500 NIS
Call 02-622-3810 for info & to purchase tickets or see
www.bnosmiriam. org

7th International Conference on Music Information Retrieval

The 7th International Conference on Music Information Retrieval, ISMIR 2006, will be held at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, Canada, from Sunday October 8th to Thursday October 12th, 2006.

The annual ISMIR Conference is the first established international forum for those involved in work on accessing digital musical materials. It reflects the tremendous growth of music-related data available either locally or remotely and the consequent need to search this content and retrieve music and musical information efficiently and effectively. http://ismir2006.ismir.net/

FestiLadino in Rishon Letzion

This year's FestiLadino is being held on Hol Homed Sukkot, Oct 11, 2006 in Rishon Letzion, Israel. It promises to be a great lineup this year. Details can be seen on the Festival's website at: http://www.festiladino.org/index.php (Hebrew).

LP Camp or True Americana?

The 'History of Jewish music' told through LP album covers is ready for perusal and additions. http://www.hippocampusmusic.com/LPs/albumscollection.html Josh Kun and Roger Bennett, calling themselves "Hippocampus,” have entered the entertaining world of Jewish camp. It's hard to say whether this is more a dedication to a really bad advertising ideas at Capitol and Decca Records in the 50s or actual Jewish sensibilities. Neverthess, their blog says it all: http://hippocampusmusic.com/LPs/ or will, eventually.