Who’s Who in KlezFest, Ot Azoy! and the Jewish Song School 2007
posted 09 May 2007

KlezFest Faculty, 12 - 17 August 2007

• Josh Dolgin (Montreal), KlezFest accordion
• Joshua Horowitz (New York), accordion and Tsimbl
• David Krakauer (New York), clarinet
• Frank London (New York), KlezFest Programme Director
• Mark Rubin (Austin Texas), bass instruments
• Andreas Schmitges (Cologne), dance
• Cookie Segelstein (New York), violin
• Merlin Shepherd (Brighton), clarinet, dance band leader
• Deborah Strauss (New York), fiddle
• Jeff Warschauer (New York), plucked strings, cantorial improvisation

• KlezFest Assistant Faculty:
  Ilina Cravitz (London), violin
  Guy Schalom (London), technical and percussion
  Sophie Solomon (London), ensembles
  Paul Tkachenko, bass instruments
  Abigail Wood (London), What is Klezmer?

• KlezFest Guests from the former Soviet Union:
  Vladimir Goykhman, Moldova - brach
  Mark Kovnatsky, Russia/Germany - violin
  Dmitri Kramtsov, Russia - violin
  Stanislav Dinerman, Ukraine/Germany - accordion
  Evgemy Lizin, Russia - tsimbl/poyk
  Artem Kolenchuk, Ukraine - double bass

Song School Faculty, 12 - 17 August 2007

• Shura Lipovsky (Amsterdam), programme co-director
• Lorin Sklamberg (Amsterdam), programme co-director
• Polina Sheperd (Brighton), accompanist, vocal ensembles

• Song School Assistant Faculty:
  Monica Acosta (London), Sephardi Song
  Ruth Halvani (London), Israeli Song

• Song School Guests from the former Soviet Union:
  Efim Chorny
  Susanne Ghergus

• Khayele Beer (Oxford), programme director
• Peysakh Fiszman (New York)
• Lily Kahn (London)
• Shura Lipovsky (Amsterdam), Yiddish song
• Sonia Pinkusowitz (Brussels)
• Heather Valencia (Stirling)

KlezFest

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Josh Dolgin (Montreal)

Socalled: piano, accordion
Josh is a magician, cartoonist, pianist, photographer, animator, DJ, choirmaster and beat-writer. He gives workshops on hiphopkele (the melding of Jewish rhythms, modes and melodies with contemporary technological music forms) at KlezKanada and KlezFest London where he also teaches accordion. He collaborated with Sophie Solomon to create the HipHopKhasene and performs and records with his band Shtreimel.

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Joshua Horowitz (San Francisco):
accordion and tsimbl

Founder and director Budowitz Josh has performed and recorded with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Veretski Pass and Rubin & Horowitz . He has a Masters degree in Composition from the Academy of Music in Graz , Austria , where he taught Music Theory and served as Research Fellow and Director of the Klezmer Music Research Project for eight years. Horowitz taught Advanced Jazz Theory at Stanford University with the late saxophonist Stan Getz and is a regular teacher at The University of Vienna, KlezKamp, The Albuquerque Academy and KlezKanada. He has published four books, including The Sephardic Songbook with Aron Saltiel and The Ultimate Klezmer, and he has written numerous articles on the counterpoint of J.S. Bach. He is the recipient of more than 40 awards, including the Prize of Honor for his orchestral composition, Tenebrae, presented by the Austrian government. His music is featured in three films.

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David Krakauer (New York)
KlezFest clarinet

Internationally acclaimed clarinetist David Krakauer redefines the notion of a concert artist. Known for his mastery of myriad styles including classical chamber music, Eastern European Jewish klezmer music, and avant-garde improvisation, Krakauer lies way beyond "cross-over". His best-selling classical and klezmer recordings further define his brilliant tone, virtuosity and imagination. www.davidkrakauer.com

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Frank London (New York)
Programme Director

After leading a great programme for us in 2005 and 2006, Frank London will once more inspire KlezFesters in London with his special blend of immense musicality, vast knowledge and innovation.
Innovative and creative founder-member of Klezmatics and Klezmer Brass Allstars and many other world known ensembles, Frank is now exploring cantorial music for trumpet and Jewish mystical songs and performances with his Hasidic New Wave ensemble. He has written music for theatre and ballet and is one of the most charismatic and respected members of the current klezmer scene. He has performed and recorded with a showcase of great names including John Zorn, Mel Torme, Maurice El Medioni and Gal Costa, and is featured on over 100 CDs. Most recently he has performed Woody Guthrie’s Chanukah songs.

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Mark Rubin (Austin Texas):

tba

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Cookie Segelstein (Madison, Connecticut): violin

Cookie received her Masters degree in Viola from The Yale School of Music in 1984.She is the founder and director of Veretski Pass , a founding member of The Youngers of Zion with Henry Sapoznik, and plays in Budowitz. She presents lecture demonstrations and workshops on klezmer fiddling all over the world, including at Yale University, University of Wisconsin in Madison, University of Oregon in Eugene, Pacific University, Marshall University, as well as in Weimar and Gelsenkirchen, Germany. She was featured on the ABC documentary, A Sacred Noise , heard on HBO’s Sex and the City, and on several recordings including the Veretski Pass self titled release, the Koch International label with Orchestra New England in The Orchestral Music of Charles Ives, The Protocols by The Youngers of Zion, and Hazònes with Frank London, She has published the popular music book series The Music of… , including Kale Bazetsns and Doinas with Joshua Horowitz.

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Andreas Schmitges: dance teacher

Andreas Schmitges (dance, guitar, mandolin) has been an active member of the klezmer scene for almost a decade, working in this field as a musician, author, researcher and dancer. A fluent Yiddish speaker, Andreas has attended Klezmer-Workshops and Yiddish Courses in Oxford, London, Weimar and New York. He works as a teacher for Yiddish Dance at Festivals in London, Kiev, Odessa and Weimar and has given concerts, dance- and Klezmer-workshops at festivals of Jewish and Yiddish culture in Europe, including London, Amsterdam, Enschede, Berlin, Munich, Gelsenkirchen and Weimar. Andreas has performed internationally in Paris, London, Washington D.C. and Amsterdam with his bands 'A Tickle In The Heart' and 'Klezmer Alliance'. His highly successful collaboration with Yiddish storyteller and teacher Pesakh Fiszman from New York in a Yiddish Music & Language Programme has won high acclaim.

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Merlin Shepherd (Brighton):
clarinet, Dance Band co-ordinator

Internationally acclaimed performer, composer and educator, Merlin has developed a special method of teaching klezmer instrumentalists by ear, which has influenced many teacher’s practises throughout the world. Merlin has taught at many international Yiddish Arts Programmes in North America and Eastern Europe. He has performed with The Burning Bush, and Budowitz and is a regular member of Sukke and the Klezmer Brass Allstars. He also leads the Sound & Light Cinematic Duo who play live accompaniment to rare black and white silent Jewish films.
www.merlinshepherd.co.uk

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Deborah Strauss (New York): fiddle

Deborah is internationally acclaimed as one of the finest of the contemporary klezmer instrumentalists and as a true musical descendent of the most eloquent traditional Jewish violinists. She is a member of the Strauss/Warschauer Duo and was a long-time member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band and the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble. As a violinist, singer and accordionist, Deborah has appeared on numerous recordings. She is a beloved teacher of Yiddish music and dance to students of all ages, and has taught for many years at countless workshops throughout Europe and North America, including KlezFest London, KlezKamp and KlezKanada.

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Jeff Warschauer (New York):
plucked strings, cantorial improvisation

Internationally renowned mandolinist, guitarist, Yiddish singer and teacher, Jeff is a member of the Strauss/Warschauer Duo and was a long-time member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. He is on the faculty of Columbia University, a program director for KlezKanada, a long-time instructor at KlezKamp and a frequent instructor for the Jewish Music Institute/SOAS at the University of London. He is also a composer whose music has been heard in films and theater productions, on Public Radio International and on HBO. Jeff's solo CD, The Singing Waltz: Klezmer Guitar and Mandolin, has received widespread critical acclaim.

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The KlezFest Assistant Faculty are:
Ilana Cravitz (London) fiddle assistant
Guy Schalom (London) technical showcase and percussion
Sophie Solomon (London) fiddle assistant
Abbi Wood (London) lecture am
Ruti Halvani (London) Israeli song at Song School

Lecturers:
Jennifer Hamilton (Tuesday Professional strand)
Harry Leckstein (Thursday Professional strand)

Jewish Song School Faculty

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Shura Lipovsky (Amsterdam): Programme Director, Yiddish song

Shura is one of the best-known singers of Yiddish song in Europe. She has performed and taught also in Russia, the USA and Canada. She studied singing at the Rotterdam conservatory and after finishing her formal education she specialized in Judaic mysticism and dance. She is widely appreciated for her teaching of the Yiddish song repertoire combined with contextual study of the history and background of the composers and poets. She conducts masterclasses for singers and workshops in Chasidic dances, songs and stories.

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Polina Shepherd (Brighton):
song accompanist, vocal ensemble

Composer, singer, pianist and the leading choral conductor of Yiddish song in the Former USSR. She has performed and taught internationally. Her specially developed choral teaching methods are based on instrumental ornamentation and Jewish modes. Performs with her own a capella ensemble, ‘The Vocal Quartet Ahkenazim’ and works with the Sound & Light Cinematic Duo, who play live accompaniment to rare black and white silent Jewish films. Polina's music is performed by choirs and soloists all over the world.
www.polinasheperd.co.uk

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Lorin Sklamberg (New York):

Lorin was a founder-member of the Klezmatics. As a Yiddish singer he is in great demand and can be heard on over three dozen recordings in collaborations with legendary performers, labels, venues and producers such as Don Byron, The Knitting Factory, Tzadik, Frank London, Adrienne Cooper and Itzhak Perlman. He co-founded the non-profit organization Living Traditions and for fourteen years Lorin coordinated its annual KlezKamp: the Yiddish Folk Arts Program (the world’s first major instructional institution for klezmorim). He co-produced and recorded its children’s CD. Lorin currently serves as the Sound Archivist of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

Ot Azoy! Faculty

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Khayele Beer (Oxford) Ot Azoy! Course Director

Khayele Beer, taught Yiddish at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and is a veteran of Yiddish Intensive Summer Courses in Oxford, Brussels, Paris and is the Course Director of Ot Azoy! London. She is the William Margulies Lecturer in Yiddish, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London. She produces an annual Yiddish Purim Shpil with students at UCL and produced a full length Yiddish play in 2002. She is the Director of Yiddish Studies for the JMI International Forum for Yiddish Culture.

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Pesakh Fiszman (New York):
Yiddish language

Pesakh is one of the world’s favourite Yiddish teachers and story tellers. His knowledge of the language and its literature and his humour and care for students is legendary.

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Lily Kahn

Lily Kahn teaches Yiddish at the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London.  She participated in the Yiddish Educator Seminar at Vilnius University in 2005 and has recently taught on the Medem Bibliotek's intensive 3-week Yiddish summer course in Paris.  In 2002 she appeared in Khayele Beer's production of the Yiddish play Jacob Jacobson and in 2006 she co-produced the UCL Purimshpil.  She has over eight years' language teaching experience including a post at the British Foreign Office.  She is currently conducting PhD research at UCL on the language of Eastern European Jewish fiction.

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Sonia Pinkusowitz (Brussels):
Sonia is one of the most sought after and popular teachers of Yiddish in Europe. A mainstay of Ot Azoy! her teaching is enjoyed by young and old who find her methods extremely engaging and effective.

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Heather Valencia

Heather Valencia, formerly a lecturer in German, is now an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Stirling . She began studying Yiddish in the mid 1980s and in 1991 completed a doctoral thesis on the poetry of Abraham Sutzkever. She has taught on Yiddish summer programmes in Oxford , Germany and Sweden , and has regular classes in Glasgow and Edinburgh. She has published on Abraham Sutzkever, Yiddish writers in WeimarGermany, and Yiddish writing in London . She edited a bilingual edition of the London Yiddish play The King of Lampedusa and has produced an anthology of Yiddish literature for students entitled Mit groys fargenign / With Great Pleasure. Her English translation of Esther Singer Kreitman's novel Diamonds is due to appear shortly.

Programme and faculty may vary.

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