Registration Now Open For National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's SOUL TO SOUL

The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) production of Soul to Soul, the electrifying and emotionally captivating theatrical concert that explores the parallels between African American and Jewish music, will be presented virtually this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 18th.

This exhilarating and moving musical event, which previously played annually to sold-out houses in New York City and across the country (Los Angeles, Houston, Boca Raton, Denver, Baltimore, and Chattanooga) and internationally (Bucharest, Toronto, Montreal, and Winnipeg), will be presented for the first time online.

Amid the pandemic, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene has ramped up its virtual offerings, presenting more than 70 broadcasts-concerts, readings, Yiddish lessons, and benefits-and reaching more than 200,000 people. In early December, the Folksbiene Chanukah Spectacular-featuring close to 90 stars of Broadway and Yiddish theatre from across the globe-drew an international audience of more than 35,000 viewers.

Now in its tenth year, Soul to Soul features a star-studded cast of singers, including: Broadway veteran Elmore James (Disney's Beauty and The Beast on Broadway; Big River); Cantor Magda Fishman (B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton); Tony Perry (NYTF's Shpiel! Shpiel! Shpiel!); Lisa Fishman (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish); and, Tatiana Wechsler (Oklahoma! at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; X: Or Betty Shabazz v. The Nation).

Wechsler, who has starred in several hit online productions, including Folksbiene! LIVE - Anywhere I Wander, and the Folksbiene Chanukah Spectacular, which drew tens of thousands of viewers from across the globe, and in Folksbiene's production of The Golden Bride, is producing and directing Soul to Soul's virtual presentation.

Motl Didner, NYTF Associate Artistic Director, wrote this year's concert script and curated images for the performance, which will run approximately 80 minutes. Conceived in 2010 by Zalmen Mlotek, Soul to Soul has evolved to include updated multimedia imagery and video, curated by Motl Didner, that reflects the ongoing need for unity and healing in today's socio-economic climate.

"What 2020 has taught us is that we all need to work together if we are to claim A SHENERE UN BESERE VELT (a more beautiful and better world). Soul to Soul is an artistic manifestation of the shared experiences through music of two peoples-and a powerful statement of the necessity of building bridges if we are to become 'a more perfect union'," said Zalmen Mlotek, NYTF Artistic Director, and Dominick Balletta, NYTF Executive Director.

The annual concert, a combination of English spirituals, civil rights songs, Yiddish folk songs, and theatre songs, will premiere on Monday, January 18 at www.nytf.org. All Yiddish songs will include English translation subtitles. The presentation will be available for viewing starting at 4:00 PM (ET).

Audiences must register in advance at www.nytf.org/soul; tickets are $12, plus service fees. Once viewers start to watch the show, they will have a 4-day window to complete viewing. For additional information, email info@nytf.org.

BIOS:

Lisa Fishman is a singer, actress, songwriter, and guitarist. Lisa Fishman has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe - starring in Off-Broadway and Regional Musical Theater, singing and recording her own original music, performing Jewish music, starring in Yiddish Theater productions, and concertizing in a broad range of musical styles. Highlights: Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish - dir. Joel Grey, The Golden Bride (Toybe), Cabaret (Sally Bowles), On Second Avenue (Principal), Oliver (Nancy), Tintypes (Fanny Brice/Emma Goldman), Bruce Adler, A, B, C (principal). Singer - Chicago's Maxwell Street Klezmer Band. Concert Highlights: Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Barbican Centre (London), Wiener Konzerthaus (Vienna). Singing featured in the film, Dummy, starring Adrien Brody. www.LisaFishman.com www.LisaFishmanJewishMusic

Cantor Magda Fishman is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary's H.L. Miller Cantorial School in New York. As cantor and singer-musician, Cantor Fishman, a mezzo-soprano, brings a vibrant and unique experience to Jewish music and synagogue life through a unique blend of traditional and contemporary styles. Over the years, she has built a large and loving following among a wide spectrum of audiences. Her repertoire includes liturgical masterpieces, Israeli songs, jazz, musical theater and her own compositions.

Prior to her investiture in May 2011, Cantor Fishman served in the Israeli Army Orchestra as vocal soloist and trumpet player. She has performed extensively in Israel and Europe, the United States and Canada including the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Canada, the 92nd Street Y Festival, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Walter Reade Theater, Prague State Opera, and the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Rose Theatre-Lincoln Center and Central Park summer stage.

She is part of the group: Divas on the Bimah and Soul to Soul of the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater with maestro Zalmen Mlotek. She is the recipient of the prestigious America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship. Cantor Fishman lives in Boca Raton, Florida, where she is the senior cantor of B'nai Torah congregation, the largest conservative synagogue in Florida.

Elmore James has spent a lifetime in the theater as an actor, Broadway musical performer, international opera singer, and director. He has performed at all the major musical venues in New York City, including the Metropolitan Opera House and Carnegie Hall, as well as in the opera houses of Europe.

Zalmen Mlotek is an internationally recognized authority on Yiddish folk and theater music as well as a leading figure in the Jewish theatre and concert worlds. For the past 20 years, he has been the Artistic Director and conductor at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. His vision brought the critically acclaimed award-winning Fidler Afn Dakh (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish) directed by Joel Grey, for which he served as music director to NY, and will serve as musical supervisor for the International and National tours being planned.

He brought Yiddish-Klezmer music to Broadway and Off-Broadway stages with the Tony-nominated Those Were the Days and Drama Desk Nominated Amerike - The Golden Land. He serves as Music Director for most NYTF productions, including The New York Times Critics Pick The Sorceress and Drama Desk-nominated musical The Golden Bride, and The Yiddish Pirates of Penzance.

His music can be heard in over two-dozen recordings and films, he has taught and performed all over the world and worked with countless singers including Jan Peerce, Theodore Bikel, and Mandy Patinkin.

Mlotek has concertized all over Europe, Israel, Japan, China, and has performed extensively throughout North America. Mr. Mlotek has presented master classes in Yiddish art songs, folk, and theater at Columbia University, Yeshiva University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, the University of California at Berkeley, and Bar Ilan University.

His formal training as a classical musician and conductor was at Juilliard School of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Mannes School of Music. Among his most notable teachers and mentors was Leonard Bernstein. Mr. Mlotek's deep roots in Yiddish culture, his elite musical education, his talent and passion for both have merged into a career that has revitalized the world of Yiddish music and theater.

Tony Perry is an actor, singer-songwriter and voiceover artist. He's been seen on the New York stage in the US premiere of Murray Schisgal's 74 Georgia Ave., which was performed in English and Yiddish; Caroline, or Change; Leslie Lee and Charles Strouse's Martin: A New Beginning; Raisin; Allegro; More Than All The World; A Shelter In Our Car; Repo: The Genetic Opera; The Groove Factory; Cross That River; and The Bonus Army.

Tatiana Wechsler - NYTF: The Golden Bride, The Sorceress. Off-Broadway: X: Or, Betty Shabazz..., Julius Caesar (The Acting Company). NYC: Othello. First woman to play Curly in Oklahoma! (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Regional: Love in Hate Nation (Two River Theatre), Benny & Joon (Paper Mill Playhouse), The Legend of Georgia McBride (Marin Theatre Company), Love's Labor's Lost (OSF). Film: Netuser. Appearances at The O'Neill Theater Center, Joe's Pub, Feinstein's/54 Below, Yankee Stadium, Birdland, The Beacon Theatre, Madison Square Garden, Town Hall, The Minskoff Theatre, Lincoln Center, The Delacorte Theater, and Radio City Music Hall. Singer-songwriter. NYU New Studio graduate. www.tatianawechsler.com

ORCHESTRA:

Brian Glassman is one of the New York City area's most in-demand double bassists, best known for his work in Jazz, and Klezmer musical styles. Some of the Klezmer and Jewish music stars that Brian has worked with include Andy Statman, Frank London, Zalmen Mlotek, Alicia Svigals, Mandy Patinkin, Sid Beckerman, Pete Sokolow, Theodore Bikel, Adrienne Cooper, and Neshama Carlebach. Jazz greats like; Paquito d'Rivera, John and Bucky Pizzarelli, Lionel Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Benny Golson, Randy Brecker, Gene Bertoncini, Billy Cobham to name just a few. Brian and his historic c.1820's Prescott American double bass are featured on new recorded releases from, Neshama Carlebach, Woody Mann, Carol Hall, Andy Statman, Klezmerfest, Liza Minnelli, and the Johnny Rodgers Band. Brian is an Ambassador of American Music for the U.S. State Dept. and Instructor of Jazz Bass at Princeton University.

Zalmen Mlotek is an internationally recognized authority on Yiddish folk and theater music as well as a leading figure in the Jewish theatre and concert worlds. For the past 20 years, he has been the Artistic Director and conductor at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. His vision brought the critically acclaimed award-winning Fidler Afn Dakh (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish) directed by Joel Grey, for which he served as music director to NY, and will serve as musical supervisor for the International and National tours being planned.

He brought Yiddish-Klezmer music to Broadway and Off-Broadway stages with the Tony-nominated Those Were the Days and Drama Desk Nominated Amerike - The Golden Land. He serves as Music Director for most NYTF productions, including The New York Times Critics Pick The Sorceress and Drama Desk-nominated musical The Golden Bride, and The Yiddish Pirates of Penzance.

His music can be heard in over two-dozen recordings and films, he has taught and performed all over the world and worked with countless singers including Jan Peerce, Theodore Bikel, and Mandy Patinkin.

Mlotek has concertized all over Europe, Israel, Japan, China, and has performed extensively throughout North America. Mr. Mlotek has presented master classes in Yiddish art songs, folk, and theater at Columbia University, Yeshiva University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, the University of California at Berkeley, and Bar Ilan University.

His formal training as a classical musician and conductor was at Juilliard School of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Mannes School of Music. Among his most notable teachers and mentors was Leonard Bernstein. Mr. Mlotek's deep roots in Yiddish culture, his elite musical education, his talent and passion for both have merged into a career that has revitalized the world of Yiddish music and theater.

D. Zisl Slepovitch is a composer, ethnomusicologist, critically acclaimed performing artist (woodwinds, keyboards, vocals), conductor, music and Yiddish educator, leader of Litvakus klezmer ensemble; Musician-in-Residence at Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University, frequent contributor to NYT Folksbiene productions, including Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (off-Broadway). @zislepovitch

Matt Temkin (drums, percussion) has played various National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene concerts and productions since 2005. He also can be found playing drums at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on the UWS.

About The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene

Now entering its 106th season, Tony Award-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) is the longest consecutively producing theatre in the U.S. and the world's oldest continuously operating Yiddish theatre company. NYTF, which presented the award-winning Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, directed by Joel Grey, to sold-out audiences before it moved to Off-Broadway uptown, is in residence at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek and Executive Director Dominick Balletta, NYTF is dedicated to creating a living legacy through the arts, connecting generations, and bridging communities. NYTF aims to bring history to life by reviving and restoring lost and forgotten work, commissioning new work, and adapting pre-existing work for the 21st Century. Serving a diverse audience comprised of performing arts patrons, cultural enthusiasts, Yiddish-language aficionados, and the general public, the company presents plays, musicals, concerts, lectures, interactive educational workshops, and community-building activities in English and Yiddish, with English and Russian supertitles accompanying performances. NYTF provides access to a century-old cultural legacy and inspires the imaginations of the next generation to contribute to this valuable body of work. Learn more at www.nytf.org.

About the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York's contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. The third-largest Holocaust museum in the world and the second largest in North America, the Museum of Jewish Heritage anchors the southernmost tip of Manhattan, completing the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage maintains a collection of more than 40,000 artifacts, photographs, documentary films, and survivor testimonies and contains classrooms, a 375-seat theater (Edmond J. Safra Hall), special exhibition galleries, a resource center for educators, and a memorial art installation, Garden of Stones, designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. The Museum is the home of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.

Currently on view is the acclaimed exhibition Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. This is the most comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the history of Auschwitz and its role in the Holocaust ever presented in North America, bringing together more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs from over 20 institutions and museums around the world. Also on view are Ordinary Treasures: Highlights from the Museum of Jewish Heritage Collection and Rendering Witness: Holocaust-Era Art as Testimony.

The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts. The Museum has reopened to the public with timed ticketing and limited capacity. For more information on health and safety measures, visit mjhnyc.org.

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