It’s KlezKanada’s 25th anniversary! We will be celebrating this milestone year at our virtual Summer Retreat with a series of concerts featuring leading musicians and KlezKanada community members from around the world! Check out the list of concerts and buy your tickets below!
Don’t want to miss any of the week’s concerts? Purchase a Concert Pass to get them at a discount here.
You can also enjoy a whole week’s worth of programming by registering for a Festival Pass here.
Take a look at our virtual Summer Retreat’s full programming here.
Socalled with Strings
Monday, August 24th – 8:30-9:30 pm EDT
We open this year’s retreat with vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, play-write, film-maker, magician, and all around creative force, Socalled (Josh Dolgin), singing both traditional melodies and original compositions, accompanied by lush string quartet.
Get your tickets here!
Rachel Lemisch & Jason Rosenblatt
Tuesday, August 25th – 5:30-6:30 pm EDT
Rachel Lemisch, a trombonist from a family of klezmorim that goes back generations, and Jason Rosenblatt, one of the world’s leading performers on diatonic harmonica, are beloved long-time KlezKanada faculty and founding members of Shtreiml. Don’t miss this concert from the Lemisch/Rosenblatt home in Montreal!
Get your tickets here!
This concert is presented in partnership with the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network as part of their project A Different Tune documenting the musical cultures of Quebec’s minority cultures.
East Meets West Revisited
Tuesday, August 25th – 8:30-9:30 pm EDT
KlezKanada looks back and revisits East Meets West, a watershed moment in the history of contemporary Yiddish culture, a time when artists, performers, and communities from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union reconnected with their counterparts in North America and Western Europe. This concert will feature luminaries from both sides of the Atlantic, including: Michael Alpert (USA/Scotland), Efim Chorny and Suzanna Ghergus (Moldova), Sasha Lurje (Germany/Latvia), and the Strauss Warschauer Duo (USA).
Get your tickets here!
This concert is presented in part thanks to the generous support of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Montreal.
Lush & Hora: Joanne Borts in Concert
Wednesday, August 26th – 5:30-6:30 pm EDT
This concert features longtime celebrated KlezKanada faculty member, actress, and vocalist, Joanne Borts, who brings you “Lush and Hora,” two sides of Yiddish music; the joyful and the melancholy, the sweet and the sad.
Get your tickets here!
The Klezmatics
Wednesday, August 26th – 8:30-9:30 pm EDT
To celebrate KlezKanada’s 25th anniversary, we are thrilled to welcome back the Grammy Award-winning group, The Klezmatics, as this year’s headlining act.
With Lorin Sklamberg (vocals, accordion, guitar), Lisa Gutkin (violin), Frank London(trumpet), Matt Darriau (clarinet, saxophone, kaval), Paul Morrissett (bass) and Richie Barshay (drums).
Get your tickets here!
Freed Fellows Spotlight
Thursday, August 27th – 5:30-6:30 pm EDT
The newly minted Ruth and Joe Freed Fellowship Program is packed full of excellence this summer. We are excited to feature some of these fellows in this concert, including vocalist Rachel Weston, bassist and vocalist Kirsten Lamb, and accordionist/keyboardist Adam Matlock. Special guest performance by one of last year’s fellows, and one of this year’s program coordinators, Adah Hetko. Hosted by Sandy Fox (also a Freed Fellow!).
Get your tickets here!
KlezKanada thanks Noah and Ronit Stern for their generous support of the Ruth and Joe Freed Fellowship Program, named in honour and in loving memory of Noah’s grandparents, Ruth and Joe Freed, z”l.
Silver Anniversary Ball
Thursday, August 27th – 8:30-9:30 pm EDT
This is KlezKanada’s 25th anniversary! We invite you to decorate your room, dress up in your best sparkly outfit, and join us for a Silver Anniversary Ball, which will feature opportunities to dance together, led by Avia Moore and Steve Weintraub, as well as spotlight performances from our incredible faculty.
Get your tickets here!
“Where Have You Been?”: 25 Years of KlezKanada in Lantier, Quebec”
Friday, August 28th – 5:30-6:30 pm EDT
Join us for the world premiere of a brand-new creation of theatre and music, crafted especially in honour of KlezKanada’s 25th Anniversary. A dream team, led by Canadian singer-songwriter Geoff Berner and theatre and puppetry master Jenny Romaine, with artists and researchers including Sadie Gold-Shapiro, Rachel Lemisch, Simone Lucas, and Ira Temple, has decided to learn about the actual site and people of Lantier, Quebec, where our Retreat has taken place for 25 years.
Get your tickets here!
KlezKanada thanks the Rivaya Tzafon Fund (Montreal, QC) for its generous support in making this program possible.