Angela-Ruth Idelson Chair, Montreal Outreach and Engagement Working Group
Angela-Ruth has been a participant and admirer of Klezkanada since 2009. She started learning the fiddle in her fifties thanks to the outstanding mentorship and support of Klezkanada teachers. For over 30 years she worked in the public sector as an individual, couple, and family counsellor. She also offered professional training, mainly in the area of intimate partner violence and did advocacy work in the areas of mental health and social inequality. Angela-Ruth currently has a practice where she offers counselling in English, French and Spanish. She offers free to low-fee services as needed. She and her wife are the delighted Bubbes of three grandsons. They love to take them hiking and kayaking.
Bob Blacksberg Chair
Bob Blacksberg, together with his wife Terry Novick and sons Daniel Blacksberg and Aaron Blacksberg, has been a very active member of the KlezKanada community since 2003. He has served on the Board of Directors since 2006 and has served as the Chair of the Board since 2012. Bob plays clarinet and has studied technique, repertoire, and performance in KlezKanada’s workshops. He has retired from a career practicing law and supporting lawyers in their use of technology. Bob and Terry live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Howard Ungar Treasurer
Howard Ungar is a Klezmer Trumpet player with the Klezmer band Mrs. Toretsky’s Nightmare based in Washington DC. He started the DC Klezmer Workshop in December 2017 which has hosted dozens of workshops and dances. Howard created the DC Klezmer Workshop Repertoire Book which contains close to 400 tunes in Concert, Bb, Eb, and Bass Clef, and is used by community groups and individuals around the world. He has played and studied klezmer trumpet with Frank London, Susan Hoffman-Watts, and Jordan Hirsch. Howard has attended KlezKanada since 2008. He and his wife attended KlezKamp with their three children beginning in 2002, and he has attended all 6 years of KlezCummington. Howard’s day job is software architect and he has led teams and developed multiple government accounting systems.
Evelyn Tauben Vice Chair
Montreal-born and Toronto-based producer, curator, and writer, Evelyn Tauben is a leader in the field of contemporary Jewish arts and culture in Canada. She has been a part of the KlezKanada community since its founding, previously serving as the Coordinator of Multidisciplinary Programs. In 2016, she founded FENTSTER, offering a window into Jewish life through exhibitions, programs and gatherings. She is also the Project Director of SHVILIM, a groundbreaking initiative commissioned by the Ontario Arts Council to celebrate the diversity of Jewish life and offer a new path towards addressing antisemitism through and in the arts. Evelyn has produced performances, concerts, festivals, and cultural conversations featuring local and international luminaries.
Adrian Banner Director
Adrian Banner was born in Sydney, Australia, where his passion for the piano began in early childhood. He emigrated to the USA where he co-founded Princeton, NJ-based klezmer group The Klez Dispensers while studying for his PhD in mathematics. Now based in Melbourne, Adrian is a performer, composer, bandleader, and arranger in a wide variety of musical styles including klezmer, Yiddish theatre/song, classical, jazz, ska, ragtime, and liturgical music. He has been at various points in time a student, faculty fellow, faculty member and Board member at KlezKanada.
Cantor Jeff Warschauer Director
Cantor Jeff Warschauer, a Founding Artistic Director of KlezKanada, is a hazzan, educator and highly accomplished musician with a sweet voice and a friendly, engaging presence. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, Jeff teaches at Columbia University and JTS and has served congregations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine and Vermont. Jeff is also internationally renowned as a klezmer guitarist and mandolinist, a Yiddish and Hebrew singer, and as an inspirational educator. One half of the Strauss/Warschauer Duo, he was a longtime member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band and has been featured in concert and on recordings with Itzhak Perlman, Joel Grey and the late Theodore Bikel.
Janis Riven, BCL, JD, MBA, FCG, Acc.Dir. Governance Advisor, Ex-officio
Janis Riven has an established consulting practice on governance and compliance matters with clients encompassing publicly listed and closely held companies, as well as various types of not-for-profits, and is recently retired as Adjunct Professor at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, where she taught Strategy, Management Consulting and Corporate Governance. She is a well-known speaker both in Canada and abroad at conferences on corporate governance and has acted as a facilitator for boards and board committees of a number of different organizations in Canada, the US, the Caribbean Region and internationally, seeking to improve their governance effectiveness. An experienced board member, she has participated on dozens of boards. She is a member of the Quebec Bar, a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute, and currently serves on the boards of the Chartered Governance Institute of Canada (CGIC) Quebec as President, the Fondation Santé de la Rouge, and PAALM, a not-for-profit community organization. Janis was formerly Vice President, Compliance and Secretary for the Canadian and global operations of RBC Insurance.