Michael Alpert News

Penn Live Arts (PLA) – the leading presenter of innovative and transformative performing arts experiences in Philadelphia – will present Ukraine: The Edge of Freedom, from Sunday, February 25, 2024 - Sunday, March 3, 2024.

On Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 7:00pm CT, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra presents violinist and maestro Itzhak Perlman in his critically-acclaimed klezmer show, In the Fiddler's House.

New England Conservatory's Contemporary Improvisation students, faculty, and special guest, Ukrainian-American folk musician, improviser, and composer Julian Kytasty, present Ritual, a concert exploring the myriad of ways that ritual manifests in our lives and music.

This July, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene will bring together more than 140 actors, singers and musicians from across globe for a sensational, one-time event - A Yiddish Renaissance: A Virtual Concert Celebration - filled with music and appearances by some of the most renowned Yiddish performers.

On Sunday, March 21, 2:00 PM (EST), the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan (with lead sponsorship from the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene) will spearhead a global presentation of the second annual virtual Third Seder to celebrate the inspiring Passover story as well as the worldwide revival of Yiddish culture.

Yara Arts Group (www.yaraartsgroup.net), under the direction of Virlana Tkacz, will stage a concert-theater event, 'Koliada and Music from the Carpathians,' December 6 and 7 at 7:00 PM at the Ukrainian Museum, 222 E 6th Street in Manhattan.

The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) presents KulturfestNYC, the international festival of Jewish performing arts, that attracted 50K+ attendees in one week in its June 2015 inaugural year, and this year returns for three months, from June 6 to August 29.  With over three-dozen separate events in venues across the city, the summer-long festival welcomes artists and groups from France, Romania, Japan, Israel, Russia and the U.S.

World-renowned maestro and violinist Itzhak Perlman will headline a concert and gala celebrating National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's 100th anniversary and honoring legendary financier and philanthropist Sanford I. Weill and Broadway impresario Jordan Roth tonight, March 31, 2015, at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue. NYTF is the longest consecutively-producing Jewish Arts company in the world.

World-renowned maestro and violinist Itzhak Perlman will headline a concert and gala celebrating National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's 100th anniversary and honoring legendary financier and philanthropist Sanford I. Weill and Broadway impresario Jordan Roth on Tuesday, March 31, 2015, at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue. NYTF is the longest consecutively-producing Jewish Arts company in the world.

With a decisive battle mounting in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Yara Arts Group has chosen to replace its upcoming production of 'Dark Night Bright Stars,' a play based on the friendship of a Ukrainian painter with an African-American actor in 1858, with 'Hitting Bedrock,' a new work based on first-person testimonials of refugees from Donetsk and people stranded there. La MaMa E.T.C. will present the piece February 20 to March 8 in its First Floor Theater 74A East Fourth Street, Manhattan. Virlana Tkacz directs.

'Dark Night Bright Stars' by Yara Arts Group, directed by Virlana Tkacz, recreates the meeting of Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), the great Ukrainian poet and painter, and Ira Aldridge (1807-1867), the African-American actor who was much honored in Europe. La MaMa E.T.C. will present the American premiere of the work February 20 to March 8 in its First Floor Theater 74A East Fourth Street, Manhattan.

In 'Winter Light' Yara Arts Group will perform a World Music Theater piece that includes the Koliadnyky, an ensemble of winter song singers from Kryvorivnia (Ukraine); scenes from the crisis in Ukraine today, and an 18th century Baroque Nativity folk opera staged by Yara artists. La MaMa E.T.C. will present the piece this weekend, December 27-28 in its Ellen Stewart Theater, 66 East Fourth Street (in Manhattan's East Village).

In 'Winter Light' Yara Arts Group will perform a World Music Theater piece that includes the Koliadnyky, an ensemble of winter song singers from Kryvorivnia (Ukraine); scenes from the crisis in Ukraine today, and an 18th century Baroque Nativity folk opera staged by Yara artists. La MaMa E.T.C. will present the piece December 27-28 in its Ellen Stewart Theater, 66 East Fourth Street (in Manhattan's East Village).

'CAPT. JOHN SMITH GOES TO UKRAINE' has been extended through Friday, March 14 at 7:30 PM at La MaMa E.T.C. Original run: February 27-March 9, 2014. Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 2:30 PM.

La MaMa Experimental Theatre and Yara Arts Group will present 'Captain John Smith Goes to Ukraine' February 27 to March 9. This experimental theater work, created by Bob Holman (Bowery Poetry Club), performance artist Susan Hwang, Ukrainian musician Julian Kytasty and director Virlana Tkacz, deals with Capt. Smith's adventures in Eastern Europe circa 1603, where he first met 'other' people and gained experience that helped him prepare for dealing with Native Americans as founder of Jamestown.

Frank London's Klezmer Brass Band Allstars will perform a Hanukkah concert at The Jewish Museum on Tuesday, December 27 at 7:30 pm.

Frank London's Klezmer Brass Band Allstars will perform a Hanukkah concert at The Jewish Museum on Tuesday, December 27 at 7:30 pm.

The Jewish Museum is presenting See the Light(s): Hanukkah 2011. This annual celebration features exhibitions of Hanukkah menorahs from the Museum's extensive collection, eclectic music, family festivities, and more.