Each year, KlezKanada's Summer Retreat draws people from around the world to celebrate the tradition, innovation, and continuity of Jewish music and Yiddish culture. Intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and international, KlezKanada's Summer Retreat has grown into one of the leading Jewish cultural events in the world. In 2022, our programming will start with a two-and-a-half-day Digital Intensive from July 30-August 1, followed by a week-long in-person Summer Retreat at Camp B’nai Brith in Lantier, QC from August 22-28. The digital and in-person programming will be interconnected so that participants from around the world will have a rich immersive experience whether they attend one or the other – or both!

Both our Digital Intensive and our in-person Summer Retreat will feature programming that examines the historical and musicological connections between klezmer and cantorial music, celebrates women’s voices in Jewish liturgy, and open spaces for discussion on such issues as cantorial training, the relationship between secular and sacred spaces, and community care.

Our in-person Retreat will explore these ideas through talks and workshops from Sveta Kundish, Rachel Weston, Judith Berkson, Jeremiah Lockwood, Sarah Myerson, Heather Batchelor, and more.

A focal point of our in-person cantorial programming will be A Concert of Women Cantors. Conceived by Cantor Sveta Kundish and music director Patrick Farrell, and accompanied by an ensemble of cantorial vocalists and musicians, this program features an exceptional mosaic of musical styles and languages. From traditional khazones, Yiddish songs, and Hasidic nigunim to modern synagogue music and Hebrew melodies, this concert celebrates female voices, the principles of equality, and the continuing development of Jewish liturgical tradition.

The focus on cantorial music will also be central to our 2022 Digital Intensive, where programs from Jeff Warschauer, Arianne Brown, Mark Kligman, Becky Khitrik, and Heather Batchelor will come together to form a virtual summit of workshops, talks, and discussions. Our opening-night digital concert will feature, Neshoma, a new project from Marilyn Lerner and Frank London that takes as its source material original and traditional Yiddish mystical music – nigunim, hazonos – as focused through the lens of the spiritual Jazz tradition.