Abraham Ellstein

New York Daily News has reported that John Macurdy, a bass singer who sang in over 1,001 performances at the Metropolitan Opera over four decades died at 91 of natural causes on May 7.

The performance schedule has been changed for 'Light Up The Night,' a theatrical concert of rediscovered and restored Yiddish theater songs by Ellstein, Goldfaden, Olshanetsky, Rumshinsky, and Secunda, to be presented by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) January 1 in Edmond J. Safra Hall at Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, Manhattan.  Originally two shows were planned, at 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM.  The 2:00 PM performance continues as scheduled but the 6:00 PM performance has been canceled.

 To ring in the New Year, on January 1 National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) will present 'Light Up The Night,' a concert of rediscovered and restored pre- and post-WWII music from the theatrical works of the great composers of the Golden Age of Yiddish Theater.  These include Ellstein, Goldfaden, Olshanetsky, Rumshinsky and Secunda.  All are leading songwriters from the era of 'The Golden Bride,' which was presented by Folksbiene Theatre in 2015 and 2016.  The cast will feature performers who were acclaimed in that production, backed by a 16-piece orchestra.  The production is in Yiddish with projected supertitles.  The full concert will be offered twice, at 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM, in Edmond J. Safra Hall at Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place.

ISLE of KLEZBOS will introduce their new album Live from Brooklyn - scheduled to be released Tuesday, April 8 - with a special concert event, a major radio appearance and glowing advance reviews. According to the New York Daily News, 'six sexy women give a creative kick to classic klezmer music. The Klezbos ladies have made Yiddish hits hip again.' They were praised for 'lively and melodic jazz and tango-laced pieces' from The Jewish Week and the album was hailed as 'a brilliant, intense, eclectic live album, brilliant and virtuosic' by the New York Music Daily. ISLE of KLEZBOS was a 'Critics Pick' in this week's Time Out New York.

ISLE of KLEZBOS, the soulful and swinging all-women's klezmer sextet, will release their second album with a special concert at JOE'S PUB at the Public on Sunday, April 6 at 7:30 PM. The new disc, Live from Brooklyn - recorded in concert last year at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, with the addition of two bonus studio numbers - will be available from Rhythm Media Records. Formed in 1998, the group approaches their music with a canny mix of irreverence and respect. Live from Brooklyn features the group's signature diverse blend of rambunctious folk dances, exciting Yiddish swing, entrancing retro tango, klezmerengue, re-grooved standards, and genre-defying originals. The album will be available on iTunes, in stores and wherever music is sold.

ISLE of KLEZBOS, the soulful and swinging all-women's klezmer sextet, will release their second album with a special concert at JOE'S PUB at the Public on Sunday, April 6 at 7:30 PM.

The New Budapest Orpheum Society brings forth more treasures from the archives of 20th-century Jewish popular music on a new CD, 'Jewish Cabaret in Exile' (Cedille Records CDR 90000 110), its second recording for Cedille Records.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), will present Voices of the Jewish Diaspora on Tuesday and Thursday, February 10 and 12, at 8 PM at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center. It is the third subscription program this season for the New York Festival of Song, whose 2008 CD Spanish Love Songs, featuring Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Joseph Kaiser, Steven Blier and Michael Barrett (Bridge Records) was named one of the 'Best Of the Year' by Opera News. The program features songs in many languages celebrating the culturally diverse Jewish communities that flourished as the tribes of Israel spread out across the globe: Sephardic melodies arranged by Roberto Sierra; Second Avenue specialties by Irving Berlin and Abraham Ellstein; art songs by Ravel and Mahler; plus music by Gershwin, Bernstein, and Harold Rome.

Kaufman Center and New York Festival of Song (NYFOS, www.nyfos.org), will present Voices of the Jewish Diaspora on Tuesday and Thursday, February 10 and 12, at 8 PM at Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center. It is the third subscription program this season for the New York Festival of Song, whose 2008 CD Spanish Love Songs, featuring Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Joseph Kaiser, Steven Blier and Michael Barrett (Bridge Records) was named one of the 'Best Of the Year' by Opera News. The program features songs in many languages celebrating the culturally diverse Jewish communities that flourished as the tribes of Israel spread out across the globe: Sephardic melodies arranged by Roberto Sierra; Second Avenue specialties by Irving Berlin and Abraham Ellstein; art songs by Ravel and Mahler; plus music by Gershwin, Bernstein, and Harold Rome.

From June 26, 2007 through September 22, 2007, the New York Library of Performing Arts (40 Lincoln Center Plaza) will present an exhibition honoring Yiddish theatre legend - and Milk and Honey star - Molly Picon