Klezmer Starts Here Concert: Music Collected by Moshe Beregovski

Kesselgarden Klezmer Duo, The Talne Trio, and The Klein Party perform selections drawn from the legendary Beregovski archives.

Moshe Beregovski is the most important ethnomusicologist of Ashkenazi Jewish culture. Born in Ukraine in 1892, Beregovski recorded and transcribed thousands of performances by Jewish musicians in Central Europe during the first part of the 20th century. Between the chaos of World War II, the Holocaust, and the ensuing Stalinist era— Beregovski himself spent six years in the gulag—these wax cylinders and diligently transcribed manuscripts were thought to have been destroyed or otherwise lost. While a fraction of his research was published and translated during Beregovski’s lifetime, it was not until 1991 that the entire archive was discovered in the Vernadski Library in Kiev. Since then, this extraordinary music has been entering and transforming the repertoire of klezmer and other musicians around the world.

Tickets

$10 SJCC community members
Includes reserved seating.
Royal Room is all ages until 10 pm.

Klezmer Starts Here is an ongoing series of concerts hosted by the Klein Party and the South Hudson Music Project at the Royal Room exploring the literature and luminaries of the music we know as “klezmer.”

Part of our new J Culture Club series! Curated Jewish cultural experiences around town for our SJCC community to enjoy together. Everyone is welcome.

About the Artists

The Klein Party is a “klezmerish band playing tunes from All the Old Countries.” While their repertoire centers on original arrangements of Ashkenazi Jewish music from the Old and New Worlds, they also explore any music that shares the ecstatic joy, emotional intensity, and unavoidable party music that we call “klezmer.” The Klein Party is Eric Ray Anderson (ukulele & vocals), Brandon Campbell (saxophones), Joseph Casalini (bass), David Gassner (vocals & percussion), Ruby Grynberg (violin), Mark Lutwak (accordion), Sabrina Pope (clarinet), and Amber Wolfe (vocals & percussion).

Kesselgarden Klezmer Duo is Carl Shutoff (clarinet) and Laurie Andres (accordion), who have been playing together for over 20 years. “Kesselgarden” is how Yiddish-speaking Jews pronounced “Castle Garden,” a facility on the southern tip of Manhattan where Jewish immigrants entered this country prior to the opening of Ellis Island in 1892. Among first- and second-generation Jews, the term “Kesselgarden” was generalized to mean any situation that was noisy, confusing, or chaotic. Kesselgarden is a traditional band, playing Eastern European instrumental Jewish music of the 19th and 20th centuries, with original, sweet, and joyful arrangements which are neither noisy nor confusing.

The Talne Trio explores classical and string instrument roots of klezmer. Kim Goldov (violin) began playing with the Freylakh Klezmer Band in 1987, which played for numerous weddings and bar/bas mitzvahs, and toured in the US, Canada, and Japan. He was a member of the Bucharest Drinking Team and Malke and the Boychiks and currently performs with Lox Stork & Bugle and SeaMuse. Megan Titensor (cello) performs regularly in chamber music and the Northwest Symphony Orchestra. She has extensive recording experience and is a highly regarded and sought-after private instructor and Suzuki clinician. Mark Lutwak (piano) plays jazz with the Casalini Trio and leads the Klein Party.