For City Winery's first Klezmer Brunch of 2019, we feature a deluxe double bill: METROPOLITAN KLEZMER up first at 11AM, following by sister spin-off band ISLE of KLEZBOS at noon. This weekend corresponds also to the annual NYC gathering of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, so come support your favorite bands. Tickets are $10 in advance, of $15 day of show (kids under 13 & APAP conference badge-holders enter free).
HAILED AS “ONE OF THE FINEST AMERICAN KLEZMER BANDS” by Songlines Magazine (UK), Metropolitan Klezmer performs an exhilarating range of musical treasure with astonishing agility and refreshing depth. Celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2019, the group’s delicious approach is both authentic in sound and polished in performance, with a dazzling array of Yiddish-rooted repertoire by turns poignant and jubilant, swinging and powerful. Vibrant neo-traditional favorites, acclaimed original compositions, and nearly-forgotten, gorgeously re-grooved vintage gems all feature on the band’s latest album, Mazel Means Good Luck; MK recordings on five CDs to date have also been broadcast and featured from HBO to London’s Covent Garden....
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For City Winery's first Klezmer Brunch of 2019, we feature a deluxe double bill: METROPOLITAN KLEZMER up first at 11AM, following by sister spin-off band ISLE of KLEZBOS at noon. This weekend corresponds also to the annual NYC gathering of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, so come support your favorite bands. Tickets are $10 in advance, of $15 day of show (kids under 13 & APAP conference badge-holders enter free).
HAILED AS “ONE OF THE FINEST AMERICAN KLEZMER BANDS” by Songlines Magazine (UK), Metropolitan Klezmer performs an exhilarating range of musical treasure with astonishing agility and refreshing depth. Celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2019, the group’s delicious approach is both authentic in sound and polished in performance, with a dazzling array of Yiddish-rooted repertoire by turns poignant and jubilant, swinging and powerful. Vibrant neo-traditional favorites, acclaimed original compositions, and nearly-forgotten, gorgeously re-grooved vintage gems all feature on the band’s latest album, Mazel Means Good Luck; MK recordings on five CDs to date have also been broadcast and featured from HBO to London’s Covent Garden.
An octet in full, this collaborative adventure of exceptional New York musicians combines the best of World Music, downtown and classical scenes who impart ethereal trance, rollicking dance, lush takes on Second Avenue swing and Eastern European tango, klezmer cumbia, Soviet Yiddish theater melodies, drinking songs, unexpected showtune revelations, and even retro TV underscores. Metropolitan Klezmer’s “Music from Yiddish Cinema” combines live concert program with multi-media to present soundtrack tunes from vintage films set in Eastern Europe and the Lower East Side, all with musical, historical and filmographic angles presented by cinema scholar/bandleader Eve Sicular. As Time Out New York extols the group: “Metropolitan Klezmer takes a scholarly approach to the genre’s history, yet never skimps on the exuberance at its core.”
Metropolitan Klezmer bandmates bring together stylistic backgrounds from Albanian to Zydeco, complete with panoramic instrumental array and multi-lingual vocals. The ensemble also explores such important yet nearly-forgotten projects as Yiddish balladry of the Triangle Factory Fire (their live concert recording of “Di Fire Korbunes” is now in the permanent collection of The Museum of The City of New York). Honored by awards from NYSCA, NYC’s Department of Cultural Affairs, and The Sparkplug Foundation, Metropolitan Klezmer has recently appeared live from coast to coast: JAAMM Fest/Denver, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, The Emelin Theatre, and Scottsdale Center for the Arts, with Hanukah season 2018 California premieres at Palo Alto’s Oshman Center and Carlsbad’s Museum of Making Music, and snowbird concert at Miami's Jewish Museum of Florida. The band’s eight members have also been featured with such artists such as Andy Statman, Wilco, Yemen Blues, Indigo Girls, Li'l Jimmy Scott, Government Mule, Marshall Crenshaw, Miramar, and the Metropolitan Opera. Flavorpill extols Metropolitan Klezmer as "not only exuberantly eclectic but also very danceable... Influences that range from old school Arabic music to Latin jazz to Motown… modern-day purveyors of time-honored traditions.”
MetropolitanKlezmer.com
Debra Kreisberg: clarinet & alto saxophone
Pam Fleming: trumpet & flugelhorn
Reut Regev: trombone
Melissa Fogarty: vocals
Karen Waltuch: viola
Ismail Butera: accordion
Dave Hofstra: upright bass & tuba
Eve Sicular: drums | bandleader
================ISLE of KLEZBOS (special Winter 2019 lineup)
Fun-loving powerhouse all-gal sextet ISLE of KLEZBOS, dubbed a “paradigm-shifting, brilliantly tuneful klezmer group” by New York Music Daily, has toured from Vienna to Vancouver, and Tennessee to Tribeca to Texas. Formed in 1998, the band approaches Yiddish tradition with both playful irreverence and soulful respect, combining stellar talents (alumnae of Juilliard, Eastman, Harvard and more) to form a unique repertoire also noted for exceptional, genre-defying original compositions. As described by The New Yorker, "Isle of Klezbos tests the elasticity of the genre": Beyond boisterous dance rambunction, mystical melodies, haunting retro tango, love-songs, lullabies, Soviet Jewish surprises, and Big Band-stylings for long-lost Yiddish pop standards, the ensemble also presents new klezmer reggae, klezmerengue and their very latest: Fabulous, Bronx-based klezmer bugalu.
The group's creative chemistry and stratospheric solos have garnered Isle of Klezbos appearances on CBS Sunday Morning, Showtime's The L Word, and Chamber Music America programs, as well as dozens of film soundtracks. Hailed for “cutting-edge Klezmer” by New York Magazine, the group's studio and onstage work have included collaborations at Lincoln Center and Joe's Pub with Jill Sobule's Music from Yentl as well as Natalia Zukerman's The Women Who Rode Away. Honored by commissions from artist Kiki Smith and Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling Scissor Sisters, the ensemble's projects have also received awards from Creative Engagement, New York State Council on the Arts, Sparkplug Foundation, and OUTmusic, among others. Bandleader Eve Sicular’s musical documentary theater hit "J.EDGAR KLEZMER: Songs from My Grandmother’s FBI Files" enjoyed a sold-out run Off-Off Broadway at HERE Arts Center, praised by The New York Times as “smartly written” with a “lively score” (which also featured numerous Klezbos bandmates).
ISLE of KLEZBOS has also performed for a special edition of film scholar Sicular’s Celluloid Closet of Yiddish Film at the Center for Jewish History, co-presented by the American Jewish Historical Society and YIVO Institute. Music from the ensemble's latest CD, Live From Brooklyn, has been heard by millions of listeners on YouTube, while their debut disc Greetings from the Isle of Klezbos remains a fan favorite as well. Bandmates' individual credits include stints with Beyoncé, Burning Spear and Seattle Baroque, as well as Natalie Merchant, Natalie Cole and New York City Opera. Following packed headline shows from Oberlin Folk Festival to Portland's Alberta Rose Theatre, and two 20th anniversary West Coast tours from SF's Yerba Buena Gardens to Palm Springs, and from Santa Ana's Bowers Museum to Sonoma State University, Isle of Klezbos makes Florida debuts in February 2019. Annual KlezBiGay Pride shows, each June since 1999, have also welcomed guest MCs from Lisa Kron to Jackie Hoffman. Klezbos.com
Debra Kreisberg: clarinet & alto saxophone
Pam Fleming: trumpet & flugelhorn
Melissa Fogarty: vocals
Rachelle Garniez (returning Klezbos alumna) accordion, piano & harmony vocals
Saskia Lane: upright bass
Eve Sicular: drums | bandleader
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