CONCERTS
[scroll down for workshops/open rehearsals schedule]
All KLEZCADIA events will take place within a 10-minute drive from downtown Victoria. Except for the Festival Finale Concert (see below), specific venue information will be provided only after registration, and only to in-person participants.
Tuesday 10 June – 8pm PDT
Veretski Pass
West Coast in aspect, global in impact, Veretski Pass’ iconic klezmer sound is made by Cookie Segelstein (violin), Joshua Horowitz (19th-century button accordion), and Stuart Brotman (bass). Our headline band returns to the KLEZCADIA stage with another bountiful harvest of historic klezmer music, interspersed with their own original compositions and arrangements.
Wednesday 11 June – 8pm PDT
Jordan Wax
A fast-rising star on the klezmer/Yiddish scene, Jordan Wax is a New Mexico-based singer/songwriter who spices his musical stew with cross-cultural flavours drawn from his experience with sources as diverse as the Missouri Ozarks, the Indo-Hispanic world, and the entire Ashkenazic diaspora. Jordan’s show will include music from The Heart Deciphers, his newly-released album on the Borscht Beat label.
Thursday 12 June – 8pm PDT
Geoff Berner with Cookie Segelstein
Vancouver singer/songwriter/accordion player/novelist/political activist Geoff Berner returns to KLEZCADIA with the world-premiere live performance of music from his newly-recorded album, his first to be completely in Yiddish, which also features fiddler Cookie Segelstein.
Friday 13 June – 8pm PDT
Klezmer Shabes with Christina Crowder and the KLEZCADIA cadre
The Klezmer Institute’s director Christina Crowder will lead our artist/faculty team in a soulful mixture of instrumental music from every corner of the Eastern European diaspora, with a special spotlight on tunes notated in long-lost shtetl towns more than a century ago and recently transcribed by a global network of musicians as part of the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project.
Saturday 14 June – 8pm PDT
KLEZCADIA Kabaret
Ready for a walk on the vilde (wild) side? Musical mash-ups, klezmer-adjacent adventures, song parodies, unusual instruments: you never know what will pop up in this clearing in the klezmer/Yiddish jungle. Victoria klezmer bands Kvell’s Angels and The Klezbians will bring some “home team” tam (flavour) to the party.
Sunday 15 June – 5pm PDT
Festival Finale Concert
The entire KLEZCADIA cohort heads downtown to Stage in the Park (AKA the Cameron Bandshell), where lively instrumental klezmer tunes will alternate with inspiring Yiddish sing-alongs in a celebration of culture and nature. Come to listen, to dance, and to serenade Beacon Hill Park’s resident herons with us! No registration or ticket is required for this concert.
WORKSHOPS/CLASSES/PRESENTATIONS/OPEN REHEARSALS
All KLEZCADIA events will take place within a 10-minute drive from downtown Victoria. Specific venue information will be provided only after registration, and only to in-person participants.
Tuesday 10 June
Morning (9:30-11:30am PDT)
- Cookie Segelstein: How to Play from Sheet Music and Sound Like You Are Improvising [see #1 below]
- Joel Rubin: How to Make Klezmer Sound Like Klezmer** [1 of 4]
- Michael Wex: Jews, Germans, and Jive: Yiddish As A Language of Resistance [1 of 2]
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PDT)
- Joshua Horowitz: Grand Theft Ottoman*** [1 of 3]
- Christina Crowder: Repertoire and Style in the KMDMP* Corpus [1 of 4]
- Marianne Tatom: Yiddish Language Through Its Songs [1 of 4]
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PDT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for Veretski Pass [virtual only]
Wednesday 11 June
Morning (9:30-11:30am PDT)
- Cookie Segelstein: Little Melodies from Here and There [see #2 below]
- Joel Rubin: How to Make Klezmer Sound Like Klezmer** [2 of 4]
- Michael Wex: Jews, Germans, and Jive: Yiddish As A Language of Resistance [2 of 2]
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PDT)
- Veretski Pass: Band-to-Band Master Class for Kvell’s Angels [open to all attendees]
- Christina Crowder: Repertoire and Style in the KMDMP* Corpus [2 of 4]
- Marianne Tatom: Yiddish Language Through Its Songs [2 of 4]
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PDT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for Jordan Wax
Thursday 12 June
Morning (9:30-11:30am PDT)
- Cookie Segelstein: Make Them Dance! [see #3 below]
- Joel Rubin: How to Make Klezmer Sound Like Klezmer** [3 of 4]
- Jordan Wax: Yiddish Songwriting – Presentation
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PDT)
- Joshua Horowitz: Grand Theft Ottoman*** [2 of 3]
- Christina Crowder: Repertoire and Style in the KMDMP* Corpus [3 of 4]
- Marianne Tatom: Yiddish Language Through Its Songs [3 of 4]
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PDT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for Geoff Berner
Friday 13 June
Morning (9:30-11:30am PDT)
- Joshua Horowitz: Grand Theft Ottoman*** [3 of 3]
- Joel Rubin: How to Make Klezmer Sound Like Klezmer** [4 of 4]
- Jordan Wax: Yiddish Songwriting – Ikh bin dokh Pantakozak! [see ^ below]
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PDT)
- Veretski Pass: Band-to-Band Master Class for The Klezbians [open to all attendees]
- Christina Crowder: Repertoire and Style in the KMDMP* Corpus [4 of 4]
- Marianne Tatom: Yiddish Language Through Its Songs [4 of 4]
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PDT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for Klezmer Shabes
Saturday 14 June
Early Afternoon (1-2:45pm PDT)
- Open Rehearsal for KLEZCADIA Festival Finale Concert
Late Afternoon (3:15-5pm PDT)
- Open Rehearsal/Soundcheck for KLEZCADIA KABARET
Sunday 15 June
Afternoon (3-4:30pm)
- Dress Rehearsal/Soundcheck for KLEZCADIA Festival Finale Concert [Cameron Bandshell]
1. In this class, we will examine the skills needed to sound like you are playing from memory with improvised sections, all while reading from a lead sheet. Music will be provided!
2. Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish melodies, all played together in suite form. In this class, we talk about and practice how to take Jewish melodies, and organize them with territorial music into a cohesive suite. Music will be provided.
3. In this class, we will play 3 to 4 of the dance repertoire rhythms with the skills needed to make the dancers excited to dance to the music we play from the stage. Music will be provided.
* Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project of the Klezmer Institute
** This class will look at some of the basic forms in the klezmer repertoire, such as freylekhs, zhok and doina. We will look at what makes them tick: typical melodic phrases in various modal scales along with the ornaments, variations and other phrasing techniques that bring them to life. Emphasis will be on learning and doing by ear, but there will be some written materials as well.
*** Did you know that Kandel’s Freylekhs Fun der Khupe is also a Crimean tune that was recorded by the Nazis to lure minorities away from Stalin? That the Heyser Tatar is a Khaitama dance in 7/16? That Brandwein’s Araber Dance was played as a Greek Zeibekiko? Join Joshua Horowitz and members of Veretski Pass for this long-awaited advanced hands-on class in which klezmer tunes are learned side by side with their cultural neighbor’s renditions following analysis of rare historical recordings. Different versions of the tune will be formed cell by cell, phrase by phrase, in at least two stylistically different ways. Students will learn pragmatically what defines Klezmer style by being immersed in other musical dialects based on the same material. The class will use a unique learning method to synthesize various styles of tunes to form new interpretations of them.
^ Join Jordan Wax for a preview and discussion of Pantakozak, his second Yiddish studio album, in advance of its release to the public on Borscht Beat later this year. With Pantakozak, Jordan brings his experience with children’s literature in a variety of languages into the context of post-vernacular secular Yiddishkayt, using language-acquisition strategies from other heritage language work to create a space in which families can connect young children to age-appropriate but sophisticated expressions of Ashkenazi cultural aesthetic and language. We’ll get an exclusive preview of tracks on the album and hear about the songwriting process, take a tour of the cross-cultural musical inspirations, learn about the language acquisition strategy, meet the Moldovan lautari and American klezmorim who played on the album, and listen to source recordings of Yiddish oral history work that are behind the scenes of Pantakozak.
This schedule is subject to change.
KLEZCADIA 