"The New Fidl Kapelye" with Jake Shulman-Ment, Abigale Reisman, and Kurt Bjorling

Violinists Jake Shulman-Ment and Abigale Reisman, and multi-instrumentalist Kurt Bjorling are each among the most highly regarded klezmer performers of their generation. They combine forces to present a virtuosic and energetic journey through raucous dance tunes, meditative listening music, original compositions, and new settings of Yiddish poetry.

The event is free; donations are welcome. This is an in person event (not accessible remotely) and registration is required.

Born in New York City, violinist Jake Shulman-Ment is “considered one of the finest klezmer fiddlers on the planet” (Jon Kalish, NPR). He tours and records internationally as a soloist. A widely sought-out teacher of the klezmer fiddle tradition, Jake has been a faculty member of KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Klezmer Paris, the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, Yiddish Summer Weimar, Fiddle Tunes, Yiddish New York, and other festivals throughout the globe. He collected, studied, performed, and documented traditional music in Romania as a Fulbright scholar, and has lived and traveled in Hungary and Greece, learning traditional violin styles. In 2018 he received the prestigious NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Folk/Traditional Arts. Jake's debut solo album, A Redele (A Wheel) (Oriente Musik, 2012) was nominated for the German Record Critics' Award. His new group, Midwood, released its first album, Out of the Narrows, (Chant Records) in May 2018.

With over 15 years of experience playing klezmer music, Abigale Reisman has established herself as an expressive and thoughtful fidl player with a lot to say. She is particularly interested in creating a vocal sound through the violin and connecting her playing to the rhythms and accents of the Yiddish language. Abigale is a performer, composer, and arranger with the International Jewish Music Festival award winning band, Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band. She regularly performs in a duo with renowned klezmer scholar and performer Hankus Netsky. Abigale has been a faculty member of Yiddish Summer Weimar, Yiddish New York, and Klezkanada. Abigale earned her Bachelor's degree at The Manhattan School of Music in Classical Violin Performance and went on to receive her Master's degree at The New England Conservatory in Contemporary Improvisation. She lives in Gloucester, MA with her husband and two cats and is the Music Director at Temple Ahavat Achim.

Kurt Bjorling is the music director of the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble, founded in 1984. He has also toured and recorded with the Klezmatics (New York) and violinist Itzhak Perlman, and since 1992 he has been a member of Brave Old World. He has composed pieces for orchestra and soloists: “Suite of Yiddish Music,” commissioned in December 1991 by the Concordia Chamber Symphony at New York’s Lincoln Center, “Concertino on Klezmer Music Themes” commissioned by the Huntington Symphony with members of the Cincinnati Klezmer Project and “Barditshever Fantaziye” for clarinet and chamber orchestra, premiered by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta in November, 2003. Kurt has taught music at the annual Yiddish Folk Arts Program sponsored by the YIVO Institute and Living Traditions, at the Multicultural Folk Arts Center’s klezmer music camp at Buffalo Gap, West Virginia, and at numerous European, American and Canadian festivals. Kurt studied clarinet with Lloyd Scott, and with Larry Combs at Northwestern University. In addition to his involvement with Yiddish music, he has been active playing jazz, chamber music and various styles of ethnic folk music, as well as arranging and performing music for theater.