Find out about Jewish music events that are happening. From traditional music through to klezmar, there is something for everyone.
Listings of events Music events
NOVEMBER 2003:
Thursday 27 November, 7.30pm
L'Chaim - To life!
The Wallace Ensemble Piano, Charles Owen Conducted by Benjamin Wolf Westminster's professional orchestra and outstanding soloist give the first performance of composer/conductor Benjamin Wolf's new work, L'Chaim, which fuses the melodies and harmonies of Jewish synagogue and folk music with the traditions of Western Classical Music. Also on the programme: Mendelssohn's 'Italian' Symphony. (Ben Wolf is now also the conductor of The Zemel Choir).
St James's Church, 197 Piccadilly London W1
Admission free
This event is made possible by a JMI Millennium Award to Benjamin Wolf, with funds from the National Lottery
Saturday 29 November 8.00pm (doors open 7.00pm)
Budapest Klezmer Band Coming from the heart of Europe, where klezmer music originated, this ensemble sweeps you off your feet from the first moment with their raw energy, soaring sounds and gypsy folk rhythms. (see them also on stage, Ballet 'Purim' at the QEH Sunday 30 November)
One of a series of 4 concerts: Klezmer Beats on Upper Street (23 October, 9, 20 and 29 November)
Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, Upper Street, Islington N1 £17.50 concessions £14.00, Pass for all four concerts £50.00 www.wayahead.com or 0871 22 00 260
www.ticketweb.co.uk or 08700 600 10
In person from Reckless Records 79 Upper Street N1 (next to Screen on the Green)
Sunday 30 November 2003, 12.30pm-10.00pm
Hungarian Jewish Culture Day
JMI presents a rich variety of Hungarian Jewish culture: klezmer/ballet, music, film and literature
Part of the year-long Festival: Magyar Magic - Hungary in Focus 2003-4
Patron of the Day: Lady Solti
Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room
12.30pm-2.00pm
Purcell Room: Imre Kertész Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Colleagues and critics including Peter Sherwood and George Szirtes assess the work and achievements of Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor who writes about experiences of Hungarian Jews under Nazi/Arrow Cross rule and later. With readings from some of his works by Paul Ridley, translated by Tim Wilkinson.
3.00pm-5.00pm and 7.45-9.45pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall Ballet: Purim — The Casting of Fate Gyor Ballet Company with the Budapest Klezmer Band live on stage The Budapest Klezmer Band, perform the exciting music written by their leader Ferenc Jávori, for the biblical Story of Esther. The Gyor Ballet Company with choreography by William Fomin and István Juhos physically manifests the language of the energetic and poignant music with sharp leaps, keening backbends, and unusual port de bras. Purim draws on the powerful themes of love, loyalty and freedom and has been presented to acclaim in Budapest and New York.
5.30pm-6.30pm
Purcell Room Film: The Danube Exodus, Director: Péter Forgács (1998). Award winning film, using footage taken by a ship's captain, follows two groups of passengers, escaping along the Danube in opposite directions. In 1939, 900 European Jews were fleeing eastwards towards the Black Sea and the hope of a new life in Palestine while in 1940, a group of Bessarabian Germans were fleeing to the Third Reich because of the Soviet invasion of their adopted homeland.
7.30pm-9.30pm
Purcell Room Concert: Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Artistic Director, János Rolla, Rivka Golani, viola A rare opportunity to hear this famous orchestra under the baton of its leader, János Rolla, who founded the ensemble in 1963. A central feature of Hungary's musical establishment, the orchestra has toured all over the world and made more than 200 recordings. Tonight it brings a programme of music of Jewish and Hungarian interest. Goldmark: String Quartet in B flat Op 8 (arranged for string orchestra) Weber, arranged Ze'ev Steinberg: Andante and Hungarian Rondo op 35, Rivka Golani, viola Bruch: Kol Nidrei, Adagio on Hebrew Melodies op 47 for viola and chamber orchestra Bartók: Divertimento for Strings
7.45pm-9.45pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall: Ballet: Purim — The Casting of Fate (see matinee performance 3.00pm for details) Gyor Ballet Company with the Budapest Klezmer Band live on stage.
Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer: Exhibition 'Stones' Hungarian Jewish gravestones Photographed by György Paraszkay Queen Elizabeth Hall
Tickets:
£25.00, £20.00, £15.00, £10.00
Purcell Room: concert £17.00 - £12.00
Purcell Room: literary event and film £10.00 - £8.00, concessions, or groups of 10 or more or series discount (if coming to more than one event) £3.00 off each ticket Royal Festival Hall Box Office 020 7960 4242
Presented by the Jewish Music Institute, and the Hungarian Cultural Centre, in association with the Budapest Jewish Summer Festival, supported by the Jewish Chronicle.
More Information about the Jewish Culture Day
DECEMBER 2003:
Tuesday 2 December, 7.30pm
Vilém Tausky talks to Michael Haas Vilém Tausky, was born in Czechoslovakia in 1910 and was an up and coming star composer/conductor at the Brno Opera House before Hitler came to power. Coming to Britain in 1940 he continued to conduct opera and operetta with the Carl Rosa and Sadler's Wells Opera Companies and broadcast for the BBC. Michael Haas is the Executive Producer of the Decca 'Entartete Musik' series and the Research Director of JMI International Forum for Suppressed Music.
Presented by LJCC in association with JMI London Jewish Cultural Centre, The Old House, Kidderpore Avenue NW3
£10.00 LJCC 020 7431 0345
Thursday 4 December, 8.00pm
An Evening with Anna Tzelniker First (and Last) Lady of the Yiddish Theatre in Britain presents reminiscences, monologues from Mirelle Efros and Fiddler on the Roof and a chance for us all to learn the finale of the famous Yiddish play 'The King of Lampedusa', that celebrates its 60th anniversary this year (see 14 December anniversary event) Accompanied on the piano by Ricky Barnard Third in a series: Exploring Yiddish Drama and Literature, A project of the JMI International Forum for Yiddish Culture in association with the Spiro Ark.
The Spiro Ark, 25/26 Enford Street, London W1
£5.00 concessions £3.00 (advance booking please) 020 7723 9991
Also join the Yiddish Library and Book Club. Meets once a month at the Spiro Ark Yiddish Hoyz, to borrow, read and talk about Yiddish books. Donations of Yiddish books gladly accepted. Library open from 6.30pm on Yiddish drama evenings.
Saturday 6 December, 8.00pm
The Naftuli Brandwein Show Words by Tom Payne Music by Shekoyokh Klezmer Band. Directed by David Schneider.
A performance piece from the novel by Daily Telegraph Literary Critic, Tom Payne based on the crazy, larger than life character of the legendary clarinet virtuoso, Naftule Brandwein, who was born in 1889 in Galicia and died in New York in 1963, and who inspired so many of the younger generation. Directed by writer and comedian David Schneider with live music from the exciting new London based 8-piece klezmer ensemble, Shekoyokh.
Presented In association with the Department of Music SOAS and the Spiro Ark Admission free.
Reserve your ticket in advance at the Spiro Ark: 020 7723 9991
Tom's novel and this one off live performance have been made possible by a grant from the Jewish Music Institute Millennium Award Scheme with funds from the National Lottery
Main SOAS Lecture Theatre, University of London Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1
Sunday 7 December, 10.30am-1.00pm
(Walks also 19 October 2 November and 14 December) Guided walk: Commercial Road: Pickles, Pimps and the Palais Walk Leader: Clive Bettington, registered City of London Tourist Guide. From Tower Hill, where thousands of Jewish Refugees first arrived, past the first shelters to the markets, synagogues, clubs to the Yiddish theatres.
JMI International Forum for Yiddish Culture association with the Jewish East End Celebration Society
Meet at 10.15am outside Tower Hill Tube Station. (Clive Mobile 07941 367 882)
£8.00, concession £6.00, advance booking please
www.wayahead.com or 0871 22 00 260
www.ticketweb.co.uk or 08700 600 10
Tuesday 9, Wednesday 10, Thursday 11 December
1.00pm-3.00pm and 5.00-7.00pm
Jewish Music at the Christmas Fayre Music provided by Shekoyokh Klezmer Band, Freylekh and other ensembles as part of the traditional German Arts and Crafts Christmas Market Trafalgar Square London WC1
Free admission
Sunday 14 December 10.30am-1.00pm
(Walks also 19 October 2 November and 7 December) Guided walk: A Shtetl Called Whitechapel - Rabbis, Radicals and the Yiddish Theatre. Walk Leader: Clive Bettington, registered City of London Tourist Guide. Meeting places of radicals, Siege of Sydney Street and Battle of Cable Street, and the markets. synagogues, bathhouses and Yiddish theatres.
JMI International Forum for Yiddish Culture association with the Jewish East End Celebration Society Meet at 10.15am at Aldgate Tube Station Ticket Office (Clive Mobile 07941 367 882)
£8.00, concessions £6.00
www.wayahead.com or 0871 22 00 260
www.ticketweb.co.uk or 08700 600 10
Sunday 14 December, 2.30pm
The King of Lampedusa — A 60th Anniversary celebration of the most famous Yiddish play that ran in Whitechapel for seven months in 1943/4
Talk by Heather Valencia with anecdotes from Anna Tzelniker, who played in the original production. Video by Arnold Schwartzman, Special guests, refreshments.
Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London E1
JMI International Forum for Yiddish Culture in association with JEECS
£8.00, concessions £5.00
www.ticketweb.co.uk or 08700 600 100
Tuesday 16 December, 8.00pm
The (Jewish) Dark Lady of the Sonnets. The Marriage of True Minds Siena Ensemble: Michelene Wandor words and instruments, Lisette Wesseling soprano. An entertainment in words and music which explores the possibility that the Dark Lady in Shakespeare's sonnets may have been Amelia Bassano, a member of the family of Italian Jewish musicians at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Including music by Dowland and songs from Shakespeare's plays.
£10.00, concessions £8
Studio Theatre, Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, Upper Street Islington N1
www.wayahead.com or 0871 22 00 260
www.ticketweb.co.uk or 08700 600 10
Thursday 18 December 7.45pm
It's Chanukah! Massed male voices, massed mixed voices, massed children's and teenage voices. Soloists Conductor, Stephen Glass
Join more than 200 singers, including members of London's most celebrated Jewish choirs in a family entertainment with an eclectic mix of music for the Jewish Festival of lights. Old favourite songs about candles, dreidels, doughnuts and latkes as you have never heard them before, as well as new songs, chosen, composed or arranged by the charismatic and inspirational Stephen Glass of Montreal. Enjoy an evening resounding with sweet voices in music ranging from classical through pop and contemporary, to the most traditional Jewish liturgical music. Even the audience is sure to end up singing!
A JMI Barry Weinberg Memorial concert, presented by the JMI Barry Weinberg Jewish Choral Academy in association with the Zamir Choral Foundation of New York, supported by the Barry Weinberg Fund for Jewish music and the Jewish Chronicle.
Queen Elizabeth Hall, the South Bank, London SE1
£18.00, £15.00, £12.00, £10.00 Children (under 18) £5.00, concessions £3.00 off each ticket for seniors, students, unwaged and groups of 10 or more
Royal Festival Hall Box Office 020 7960 4242
