KlezCalifornia to Host Yiddish Culture Festival This Fall

KlezCalifornia, the organization that has entertained and engaged the Bay Area since 2003 with an exuberant celebration of Yiddish culture, continues the fine tradition with two separate events this fall. The first, in partnership with the New Yiddish Theater, will be Cabaret by the Bay at the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael on November 20 at 5 pm, followed two weeks later by workshops and a different version of Cabaret by the Bay at the JCC East Bay in Berkeley on December 4 from 1 - 7 pm.

"Our Cabaret by the Bay in San Rafael is KlezCalifornia's first major event in Marin County since hundreds of people participated in a Festival in the San Geronimo Valley ten years ago," stated KlezCalifornia's Executive Director, Judy Kunofsky. She continued: "We are particularly delighted to be able to offer this unique event in Marin, then continue with a totally different Cabaret in Berkeley.

Both events feature some of the Bay Area's most beloved entertainers and will be emceed by Reb Irwin Keller. Cabaret by the Bay in San Rafael will feature the internationally renowned klezmer trio Veretski Pass, singers Jewlia Eisenberg, Jeremiah Lockwood, Anthony Russell and Gerry Tenney, Klezmer poet Jake Marmer; and performance artist Naomi Newman. Performers for Cabaret by the Bay in Berkeley include music by the klezmer band known as The Gonifs, singers Heather Klein and Jeanette Lewicki, actor and rapper Dan Wolf, and performance artist and juggler Sara Felder. The performance will conclude with a Klezmer Dance Party led by Bruce Bierman.

In keeping with the tradition of the Yiddish Culture Festival, workshops are scheduled in Berkeley on Sunday December 4 beginning at 1 pm. The two workshop sessions offer nine great opportunities for singers, actors, musicians and dancers to learn from the experts. The first session includes a program for family and youth -- Kids' Kumzits with Gerry Tenney; acting with Bruce Bierman; an instrumental session on learning to play by ear with Veretski Pass; a lecture on American Jewish Radicals with Elaine Leeder; and singing with Ladies Lib: Songs from Seamstresses to Suffragists with Heather Klein.

Workshop Session 2 follows at 2:45 pm with Klezmer Dancing under the tutelage of Bruce Bierman; more instrumental fun with Veretski Pass on how to turn klezmer songs into ively arrangements; a lecture on Yiddish Curses and Stinging Witticisms with Ken Blady; and a final focus on song with the Radical Yiddish Songs of An-ski and Beregovski with Gerry Tenney.

Cabaret by the Bay in San Rafael takes place on Sunday, Nov. 20 at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. The Yiddish Culture Festival featuring both workshops and a second Cabaret by the Bay takes place at the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley.

Festival Passes are $20 - $50, and individual event tickets are $10 - $25. Kids under 12 are free with an adult. For program details, registration, and scholarship applications, visit www.klezcalifornia.org or call 415.789.7679.

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