KlezKanada Intern

KlezKanada is proud to announce our support and participation in the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network – QAHN‘s newest project “A Different Tune”: Musical Heritage in English-Speaking Quebec!

As an organization that sustains and nurtures Yiddish culture, KlezKanada fosters a minority culture in Quebec. This 15-month program provides an opportunity for minority language Quebecers to share their musical heritage within their communities and beyond.

Stay tuned for updates!

Learn more about QAHN on their website below:

http://qahn.org/

From Freylekhs to Foxtrot, from Sher to Swing, from Terkisher to Tango! As the famous song popularized by clarinetist Naftule Brandwein asks: “Where were you during prohibition?” The KlezKanada Speakeasy, of course!

It’s time to deck out, so don’t be shy – slip into your finest 1920s attire and inconspicuously make your way to the dance party of the year! Thursday night at our Summer Retreat will feature all of your favourite Yiddish dances, as well as social dances of the 20s, 30s and 40s. But wait, there’s more: KlezKanada’s premier singers, thespians, comedians and more are also on call to make this truly a once in a summer experience!

Photo credit: the Hulton Archive

Comfortable in Yiddish and want to discuss Yiddish texts in depth this summer? Advanced Yiddish Reading & Discussion: The Beginnings of Modern Yiddish Literature with Eugene Orenstein is perfect for you! You will get to read and study three texts from the beginning of modern Yiddish literature from the late 18th and early 19th century. Eugene recently retired after a 39-year academic career in the Department of Jewish Studies at McGill University and has been a Guest Professor at Yiddish programs around the world. If you love Yiddish literature, this class is for you!

Already know some Yiddish and want to practise interacting with others? Rivke Margolis is teaching Intermediate Yiddish Language this summer! A relaxed atmosphere, guided conversation exercises, games, songs, outdoor treks, and other fun activities await you! Rivke has taught Yiddish in a variety of settings, from Yiddish retreats to intensive Yiddish language programs. She has been a professor in the University of Ottawa’s Canadian Jewish Studies Program since 2006. Now’s the time to brush up on your Yiddish!

Photo credit: Lindsay Margolis

Never taken Yiddish before? Conversational Yiddish for Beginners is for you! Come learn the basics of Yiddish conversation, reading, and writing in a relaxed and fun “crash course” style environment with Asya Vaisman Schulman this summer. Asya is the director of the Yiddish Language Institute at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA. She is also a Yiddish dance teacher, singer, and songwriter and has participated in and taught at klezmer festivals around the world. If you don’t already love Yiddish, taking this class will ensure that you do!

Photo credit: Ben Banhart

Beloved KlezKanada faculty members Michael Wex and Shane Baker bring 1920s and ’30s Warsaw Yiddish cabarets to you! Get ready for the new project that Wex created for and debuted at Yiddish Summer Weimar, which will have it’s North American debut at our cabaret this summer! Don’t miss it!

Presented in association with Yiddish Summer Weimar and The Other Music Academy e.V. Sponsored by the German Federal Cultural Foundation

We are excited to welcome back one of the foremost clarinetists of the klezmer revival: Margot Leverett! Leverett was the original clarinetist in the Klezmatics and founded her own band “Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys”, which combines klezmer and bluegrass. She will be teaching workshops throughout the week and her concert on the art of the klezmer clarinet is not to be missed!

Tsibele, a band hailing from Brooklyn, is making their KlezKanada debut in the first of our nightly concerts this summer! All of the members of the band have been scholarship students and fellows in years past and we are thrilled to welcome them back as featured performers and faculty members this year. Tsibele’s music is a melting pot of traditional Eastern European klezmer, politically charged anthems, and beautiful new arrangements of Yiddish songs. Their 2017 album, In Droysn iz Finster // It’s Dark Outside, explores themes of life and love under capitalism, tyranny and heteropatriarchy.

KlezKanada is thrilled to announce that noted poet and activist, Irena Klepfisz, will be leading this summer’s intensive Poetry Workshop. Irena’s extensive body of writing reflects her commitment to socialist secular Jewish identity and to Yiddish women’s creative and intellectual work. She will also be leading a literary workshop on stories by Yiddish women writers. Irena is the author of a collection of essays, Dreams of an Insomniac and of poems, A Few Words in the Mother Tongue. Most recently, she co-edited The Stars Bear Witness: The Jewish Labor Bund 1897-2017. She was awarded an NEA fellowship in poetry and recognized with the Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish Award.

Irena Klepfisz is co-presented with the Polish Cultural Institute, New York.

Thanks to a generous grant from Federation CJA and the Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal, KlezKanada piloted a new program this fall entitled Klezmer in the Schools.

Led by KlezKanada faculty member Rachel Lemisch, this initiative brought a full klezmer curriculum to a group of Grade 10 boys at Montreal’s Selwyn House school. Over the course of several weeks, the students learned the basics of playing klezmer and a bit of Jewish history and culture too!

Mazl-tov, yinglekh!