Yearly Archives: 2006

Archive & Library News

Harvey Sheldon Jewish American Music Video Research Library at UPenn

If you haven’t already noticed, the Unviersity of Pennsylvania has a finding aid for its Harvey Sheldon Jewish American Music Video Research Library. This is “part of the University of Pennsylvania Library’s Judaica collections, which is one of the largest and most distinguished in the world. In particular, the Sheldon collection complements Penn’s reknown Robert and Molly Freedman Jewish Music Archive”. This has VHS and DVD formats which include works by renowned Jewish composers and performances by some of America’s outstanding singers. There is an entire section devoted to Broadway/Hollywood Musicals composed by Jewish Composers and lyricists , or performers and arrangers, ranging from such works as Annie Get Your Gun to Showboat.

http://www.library.upenn.edu/cajs/sheldon.html
Even if you can’t make it to UPenn, your local public library may have many of the same items.…
CONTINUE READING >

Choral, WHERE: Europe

Adash Women’s Hebrew Choir of Czech

A wonderful sounding women’s choir has contacted me at JMWC announcing their presence…. They sing exclusively Jewish music, and you can hear samples on their website– Here you’ll definitely find something to delight in. Two of their CDs are devoted to Hebrew songs, but they sing liturgical pieces and Yiddish and Russian lanugage songs on their other two CDs which include many solos for folk music as well as choral works : Visit Adash Women’s choir at: http://www1.osu.cz/adash/index-eng.php.

CD Releases, Concerts

Amid the Jasmine CD Release

The Gerald Edery Ensemble‘s
newest recording, Amid the Jasmine is finished and will be available on the website,
www.sefaradrecords.com, on February 9th, 2006.

The Ensemble will be in the New York/New Jersey area, on Saturday, February
11, 2006. There will be a CD release concert at the Jewish Community Center of
Greater Monmouth County in Deal Park, New Jersey. The event will feature The Gerard
Edery Ensemble performing music from the new release as well as appearances by guest
Cantors. You can expect an evening filled with a multi-cultural spirit conveyed
through an eclectic mix of songs in Ladino, Spanish, Arabic and Hebrew from the
Sephardic and Middle Eastern traditions, as well as original songs by Gerard Edery.

The concert starts at 8:00 p.m.…
CONTINUE READING >

Festivals

KLEZMERQUERQUE 2006

THE SOUTHWEST S 4th ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF KLEZMER MUSIC & DANCE
in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
February 17th through February 19th President s Day weekend

The weekend-long event features concerts, dance parties, lectures and classes with
the renown Klezmer performing artists.
Schedule of Events:
Friday, February 17th, 6:30pm:
Freylekhe Shabbes Concert & Dance Party featuring a ‘danced’ Kabbalat Shabbat
service followed by a potluck vegetarian dinner (7:00) and a short concert (7:30) by
our featured musicians Adrianne Greenbaum & Margot Leverett. accompanied by ABQ’s
favorite Klezband The Rebbe’s Orkestra, concert segues into dancing lead by our
featured dance artist Steve Weintraub & Nahalat Shalom s Yiddish dance troupe Rikud
($10.00 -suggested donation).

Saturday, February 18th Events:
9:30-10:45am: Yiddish and Eastern European dance class with Steve Weintraub ($18
adults, 17 and under $10).…
CONTINUE READING >

Workshops

Free Klezmer Workshop with Jeff Warschauer!

Free Open House Tuesday, January 10, 2006 from 7-9 PM
Followed by a 6-week session – Tuesdays – January 17, 24, 31,
and February 4, 14, 21
Hands-On Workshop
– Study with an internationally recognized master instructor
– Learn tunes from the diverse klezmer tradition
– Work in ensembles with other instrumentalists
– Develop tools for improvisation
– Guest instructors from the cutting edge of the contemporary klezmer scene
– Open to players of any instrument who play and read music at least an
intermediate level.

The open house and all sessions will take place at the Workmen’s Circle, 45
East 33rd Street (between Park and Madison), Manhattan.
Members $140; per session $25
Non-members $170; per session $30

For more information contact:

Karina Weinstein
Workmen’s Circle
45 E.

Reviews

HOW TO SPEND THAT CHANUKAH GELT

Wondering what to do with all that Chanukah gelt in the way of gift certificates or cash?… JMWC can recommend a few musical solutions, one sest for the classical repertoire and one for YIddish.

Paul Ben-Haim, Vol. 2 on Centaur CRC 2766 and Piano Music of Paul Ben-Haim on Centaur CRC 2506
Gila Goldstein, piano, Yehonatan Berick, violin, Inbal Segev, cello and Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet are featured on the 2766 and Gila Goldstein is soloist for 2506. The works are (2766) Music for Piano 1957, op 53, Variations on a Hebrew Melody for Piano, Violin and Cello, Chamsin for Piano solo, Pastorale Variee for Clarinet and Paino, op. 31b and Music for Piano 1967, op. 67. The works for 2506 are: Sonatina, op.…
CONTINUE READING >

CD Releases

DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO

DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO, (which was released a couple of years ago) is currently being sold olnline by Cedille Records at https://www.cedillerecords.org/ with a sale through mid January. (for $12) Some people who want to add this to their collections for a relatively inexpensive price, may want to know.

Jewish Cabaret, Popular, and Political Songs 1900-1945
CDR 90000 065 (2 CD set)

New Budapest Orpheum Society
Philip V. Bohlman, Artistic Director
Ilya Levinson, Music Director & Arranger
Stewart Figa, baritone — (SF)
Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano — (JB)
Deborah Bard, soprano — (DB)
Ilya Levinson, piano
Peter Blagoev, violin
Stewart Miller, bass
Hank Tausend, percussion
Elizabeth Ko, flute
Jon Steinhagen, American lyrics
There’s more to traditional Jewish popular music than klezmer clarinet and Broadway-style fiddling on the roof.…
CONTINUE READING >

Musicals

Journey to Jerusalem will make Toronto Debut in 2006

On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM, “the Jewish people’s oratorio”, will make its Toronto debut in April, 2006. Conducted by the Canadian composer, EYAL BITTON. Journey to Jerusalem is an’ epic and majestic oratorio’ by EYAL BITTON recounting the 5000-year journey of the Jewish people. Composed for Jerusalem’s 3000th anniversary, it premiered in 1996 as an Official Jerusalem 3000 Event under the auspices of Israeli Consul General Daniel Gal. It was performed by a 25-piece orchestra and a 175-person choir at Salle Claude-Champagne. The Toronto production with feature CANTOR TIBOR KOVARI …Tenor and
MICHELE TREDGER …Soprano. Eyal Bitton is currently the Choir Director of Toronto’s Beth Tikvah Synagogue Choir, formerly conducted by Srul Irving Glick. For more information about the upcoming production view the website at: http://www.kahinaproductions.com/…
CONTINUE READING >

CD Releases

Italian Music Judaica 20-CD on Holocaust music

Musica Judaica is a twenty CDs containing the music written from 1933 (when camps such as Dachau and Börgermoor were opened) to 1945 in all concentration, internment, extermination and POW camps, both of the Axis’ and Allies’ countries. It is the result of a 10-year, huge historical and musicological work by the Italian pianist and conductor Francesco Lotoro.

Musica Judaica represents a “Musical Dictionary” of concentration camp music during WWII. It contains all the music written in Terezin by Gideon Klein (Piano Sonata, Strings Trio, Czech and Russian Folk Songs, etc.), Viktor Ullmann (5th, 6th, 7th Piano Sonatas, the unknown Don Quixote tanzt Fandango, the opera The Emperor of Atlantis, etc.), Pavel Haas (4 Songs on texts from Chinese Poetry, Studio for Strings Orchestra), Rudolf Karel (Pankràc’s Musicbook, Nonet, the opera The 3 Hairs of the Wise Old man), Ervin Schulhoff (Piano score of 8th Symphony) Hans Kràsa (Rimbaud-Songs, the famous children opera Brundibàr), Karel Berman, Zikmund Schul, Jiri Kummermann, Szymon Laks, Frantisek Domazlicky, Ilse Weber, etc.…
CONTINUE READING >

CD Releases

Kalan Website carries Judeo Turkish music

For those interested in obtaining music from the Jews of Turkey or the Judeo-Sufi connection, the Kalan music website at http://www.kalan.com carries several recordings of Jewish music interest. Recordings such as Jewish religious music, in the Turkish Jewish traditions, Rabbi Isaac Algazisinging Ottomon Jewish music, or such as or Janet and Jak Esim Antik Bir Huzun Judeo-Espanyol Ezgiler folk music are just a few examples. The JMWC has no experience in purchaing items from this website.

Book and Score Reviews

Funny, It Doesn’t Sound Jewish: How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood

By Jack Gottlieb

Jack Gottlieb’s mission is to set the record straight. He wishes to clearly demonstrate through musical examples and technical musical means, that in fact, Jewish music from Yiddish song to synagogue melos, influenced American popular culture. This book could be a coffee table book, but it’s more. It could be the written record of years of Gottlieb’s programmatic material, but it’s more than that. Or, it could be the text of a course on Jewish influences on popular song, but it’s not quite that. It can be used as a broad reference work, and also has many elements of that. The book defies a neat categorization in terms of style, format and content, but has elements of each: an extensive, fascinating browse book, a music record with technical references, and a reference book with listings of hundreds of musical composers, lyricists, and songs of Jewish origin.

…
CONTINUE READING >