The Klezmatics News

Nonesuch Records will release Natalie Merchant's new self-titled album today, May 6, 2014.

In the history of the Holocaust, the fate of Hungarian Jews stands out due to the exceptional speed with which their deportation was carried out by the Hungarian authorities cooperating with the Eichmann bureau very late in the war, in summer 1944. Almost half a million people were deported in less than three months, and over half a million were murdered in the course of World War II in forced labour units, in labor and death camps and in various pogroms conducted by Arrowcross men.

Joshua Bell, Frank London, Austin Pendleton and Jackie Hoffman have joined the lineup for Raising the Roof - an all-star benefit concert celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, its Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, and the 100thanniversary of The National Yiddish Theatre - Folksbiene - on Monday, June 9th, at New York's The Town Hall.

With all the traditional elements of a big band, along with the modern and diverse compositional style of Dorian Wallace, The Free Sound Ahn-somble delivers an experience that is improvisational, honest, and from the heart.

With all the traditional elements of a big band, along with the modern and diverse compositional style of Dorian Wallace, The Free Sound Ahn-somble delivers an experience that is improvisational, honest, and from the heart.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic announces programming updates to the 2014/15 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The story of Lilith, the bawdy alternate Jewish story of creation, will be presented as a magical folk opera entitled Lilith, the Night Demon in One Lewd Act by the renowned instrumentalists Veretski Pass (Stuart Brotman, Joshua Horowitz and Cookie Segelstein) in collaboration with the San Francisco Choral Artists. Performances will be given at the Osher Marin JCC on May 1, at the JCC of the East Bay in Berkeley on May 3, and at Menlo-Atherton Performing Arts Center on May 4. Following each performance of the opera will be a traditional 'klezmer dance party' with the music for which Veretski Pass is known. In addition, Joshua Horowitz and Veretski Pass will give a lecture demonstration on Thursday, February 20 at the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco.

Following the record-breaking attendance of Festival 2013, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival announces the 2014 Festival schedule. Jacob's Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, home to America's longest-running dance festival, and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Noted dance writer Jennifer Dunning has called the Pillow "the dance center of the nation, possibly the world."

The World Music Institute is thrilled to present, along with the Apollo Theater, the second edition of Africa Now! —a weekend festival with a focus on today's African music scene, featuring artists who draw upon their roots for inspiration, and transplant them into the global music landscape.

An artist of great renown, clarinetist and cultural visionary David Krakauer showcases his new project, THE BIG PICTURE, a powerful new multi-media production. It pays hommage to both Krakauer's personal discovery of his cultural heritage and in the broader sense, to the journeys we all take to find meaning and connection with our roots. Bringing together an all-star cast of musicians at Edmond J. Safra Hall in the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust downtown, THE BIG PICTURE tells Krakauer's story in an artful marriage of music and the moving image.

Sundance Institute today announced the seven artists selected for its 2014 Playwrights Retreat at Ucross Foundation. The 15th annual writing colony at the 20,000-acre working cattle ranch outside of Sheridan, WY takes place February 3-21. Under the supervision of Artistic Director Philip Himberg and Producing Director Christopher Hibma, the Playwrights Retreat is made possible through the generosity of Ucross Foundation.

On Tuesday, October 15, 2013, brass bands and parade revelers will rendezvous in Brooklyn to kick off the seventh annual HONK NYC! Festival.

Tango No. 9, San Francisco's premier chamber ensemble devoted to all facets of tango music, graces two Bay Area stages today, Sept. 8, 2013 with two concerts - One Free in Union Square in SF from 2:00 - 4:00 pm - as part of the Tango On The Square series for the 2013 Summer Union Square Live series http://tinyurl.com/kn7gwv7 - including dance lessons & demonstrations by members of Bay Area Tang. A feel-good experience to learn more about all aspects of tango, from the dance to the music. Bring your dancing shoes and step out onto the open air dance floor yourself, or just sit, watch, listen to the polished Tango sounds from the Bay Area's premiere tango virtuoso ensemble - Tango No.9.

Tango No. 9, San Francisco's premier chamber ensemble devoted to all facets of tango music, graces two Bay Area stages on Sun. Sept. 8, 2013 with two concerts - One Free in Union Square in SF from 2:00 - 4:00 pm - as part of theTango On The Square series for the 2013 Summer Union Square Live series http://tinyurl.com/kn7gwv7 - including dance lessons & demonstrations by members of Bay Area Tang.

Naomi Goldberg Haas is a dancer, master teacher, choreographer and director of DVP. She is the creator of Variable Pop Expressive Dance Method and Movement Speaks - a Community Collaborative Dance Program. Highlights from her work in theater, opera and film include collaborations with The Klezmatics, composer Michael Nyman, playwright Tony Kushner, directors Brian Kulick and Oskar Eustis and Disney animation. Her work with the Silesian Dance Theater and persons with disabilities was presented in 2010 at the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Poland and in 2011 at Chutzpah Festival in Vancouver, B.C. Recent projects include Golem with the Czech American Marionette Theater for the 50th anniversary of La Mama etc. She formerly danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet and holds an MFA from Tisch Dance at NYU. She has taught dance at Cal State, Long Beach and Loyola Marymount University and currently teaches at NYU, the Harkness Dance Center at the 92 Y and in DVP's programs.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ present the 16th annual benefit concert in support of the United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest NJ (UJA) today, April 21, at 3 pm, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. Clarinetist David Krakauer joins the Orchestra for Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, along with traditional klezmer works Synagogue Wail and Der Heyser Bulgar. Guest conductor Stefan Sanderling leads the Orchestra in the one-performance-only program, which opens with Copland's Appalachian Spring.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ present the 16th annual benefit concert in support of the United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest NJ (UJA) on Sunday, April 21, at 3 pm, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. Clarinetist David Krakauer joins the Orchestra for Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, along with traditional klezmer works Synagogue Wail and Der Heyser Bulgar. Guest conductor Stefan Sanderling leads the Orchestra in the one-performance-only program, which opens with Copland's Appalachian Spring.

Clarinetist David Krakauer will join the Kronos Quartet on Friday, May 3, 2013 at 9pm, at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall (57th & 7th Avenue), as part of Late Nights at Zankel Hall. Krakauer will be featured on the New York premiere of Aleksandra Vrebalov's Babylon, Our Own. Also included on the program will be the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli's You Know Me From Here, Laurie Anderson's Flow (arr. Jacob Garchik), and the New York premiere of Valentin Silvestrov's String Quartet No. 3.

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts' Target World Music and Dance Series continues in March, with a performance by Celtic music legend Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul tonight, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day). This performance begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Ordway's Music Theater.