TUESDAY, AUGUST 13 2019

2:00 pm

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Northbrook Public Library
1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook

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MUSIC

 

Stewart Figa

"Di Gantse Velt! ;
Treasures of Yiddish Song"  

with Ilya Levinson, piano

Don Stille, accordion

 

Stewart Figa has served as cantor at West Suburban Temple Har Zion in River Forest, Illinois, since 1998 and has been a cantor in the Chicago area since 1990. An established and in-demand performer of Yiddish and Jewish music, his programs for the annual Chicago YIVO Society Summer Festival have been cheered by capacity audiences. 

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In 2015, Mr. Figa received a Grammy nomination for his work as a vocalist with the New Budapest Orpheum Society on their CD “As Dreams Fall Apart,” and in June of 2016 he appeared with the ensemble on a successful four- city tour in England. 

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21

7:00 pm

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Morton Grove Public Library

6140 Lincoln Ave, Morton Grove

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LECTURE

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ANETTE ISAACS

"Silent Heroes — An Important Look at the Resistance Movement in Nazi Germany"

 

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This year’s 80th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s decision to start World War II presents us with the perfect opportunity to look at the relatively unknown and sometimes even forgotten heroes who often gave their lives in order to fight against the German dictator’s brutal Nazi regime. Join German Historian Anette Isaacs, M.A. as she pays homage to Sophie and Hans Scholl, Georg Elser, Baron von Stauffenberg, the women of Rosenstrasse, and other groups who made up the German Resistance.

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 2019

2:00 pm

Wilmette Public Library

1242 Wilmette Ave, Wilmette

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STORYTELLING​

 

Susan Stone: "Angels, Demons, Rabbis and Fools: Tales From The Jewish Tradition"

with Lucia Thomas on oud and violin

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Susan Stone has been a storyteller/ teaching artist for adults and children for over 30 years. Jewish folktales, Midrash, and Chasidic tales make up her repertoire, as she puts the tales back into true oral tradition weaving her personal narratives throughout the programs, illuminating the tales.

This event is free and open to the public

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 17 2019

2:00 pm

Morton Grove Public Library

6140 Lincoln Ave, Morton Grove

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FEATURE FILM

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"Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem"

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Portraits of two beloved icons--Sholom Aleichem and Theodore Bikel--are woven together in this enchanting new documentary. The two men have much in common: wit, wisdom and talent, all shot through with deep humanity and Yiddishkeit. 

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TUESDAY, JULY 9 2019

2:00 pm

Northbrook Public Library

1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook

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MULTIMEDIA

Charles Troy:
"The Creation of West Side Story"

This brave, brilliant musical tragedy, born into a world of musical comedy, took years to crystallize for its creators, then overcame daunting challenges just to get onstage.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 16 2018

9:00 pm

MARTYRS'

3855 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago​

MUSIC

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DANIEL KAHN &
THE PAINTED BIRD

“Freedom Is A Verb” Tour and
CD release party

 

Apocalyptic Klezmer-punk anthems
for the revolution

 

Click here for ticket information

With their new record The Butcher's Share, The Painted Bird returns to the road as the original radical Yiddish borderland bandits. The Berlin-based Detroit-born poet / translator / singer / multi-instrumentalist (accordion, piano, guitars) Daniel Kahn has reformed the band with new and old comrades: Berlin’s clarinet/sax/brass master Christian Dawid, New York’s Yiddish fiddle virtuoso Jake Shulman-Ment, expat experimental contrabassist Berlin composer Michael Tuttle, and classic klezmer drummer Hampus Melin.

The live show features projected translations and images by legendary NY underground artist Eric Drooker, whose work is woven into the album’s design, as well as material from the band’s new videos.
 

SUNDAY, MARCH 25 2018

2:00 pm

Congregation Sukkat Shalom

1001 Central Ave, Wilmette IL

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LECTURE

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Kolya Borodulin

“Love on Stage: Chagall and the Moscow Yiddish Theater (GOSET)”

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Marc Chagall forged a remarkable collaboration with the avant-garde Yiddish Theater in 1920-21, that testifies to the revolutionary artist’s intimate knowledge and love of Yiddish culture and folklore. 

 

Kolya will discuss this collaboration and show rare footage of GOSET performances.

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Kolya Borodulin is the master teacher and Director of Yiddish programming at the Workmen’s Circle in New York. He was born in Birobidzhan (Russia) and started to learn and teach Yiddish simultaneously when he was a young adult. 

 

He teaches Yiddish language and culture to multigenerational audiences: kids, teens, and adults (sometimes four generations together), nationally and internationally, and is credited with giving hundreds of Yiddishists their foundation in the language. His dynamic style has garnered a growing fan base across the United States and beyond. 

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He is the organizer of the Trip to Yiddishland program (Circle Lodge, Hopewell Junction, New York) and Yiddish programming coordinator at KlezKanada. Borodulin is the author of Yiddish Year Round: A Curriculum for the Young Beginners and a number of Yiddish educational materials for children. He is the organizer of live, online Yiddish classes at the Workmen’s Circle.

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This event is free and open to the public

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 15

2:00 pm

Wilmette Public Library

1242 Wilmette Ave, Wilmette

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STORYTELLING​

 

Susan Stone: "Come and Listen...Mayses for a Summer Afternoon"

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SUSAN STONE has been a storyteller for adults as well as children for over 30 years. Jewish folktales and Midrash, as well as Chasidic tales, make up her repertoire. The telling puts them back into true oral tradition. Susan opens her heart and hopes the tales reach the hearts of her listeners, as she weaves her personal narratives throughout the programs, illuminating the tales.

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This event is free and open to the public

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 10

2:00 pm

Highland Park Public Library

494 Laurel Ave, Highland Park

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LECTURE

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JEFFRY MALLOW: Professor Emeritus, Loyola University: Yiddish Translations into English and Vice Versa"

 

"There are well-known translations from Yiddish into English, (“Gimpel the Fool”, “Yentl”). There are also well-known translations from English into Yiddish (“Hamlet”,”King Lear”). But there are many others. Professor Mallow will present examples: some serious, some charming, some hilarious.

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This event is free and open to the public

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 8

2:00 pm

Northbrook Public Library

1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook

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MULTIMEDIA

Charles Troy:
"The Creation of FunnyGirl"

Charles Troy is America’s most acclaimed dramatic musical theatre historian. His multimedia presentation tells the unusual backstory of this popular musical. 

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This event is free and open to the public

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THURSDAY, JULY 27

2:00 pm

Northtown Public Library

6435 N. California Ave., Chicago

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MUSIC

Soprano, Eileen Berman

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Eileen Berman is experienced as a cantorial soloist who Berman performs for many Jewish organizations, charities, fund-raisers, and sister/brotherhoods.  

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Eileen will be accompanied by Jane Kenas-Heller on piano.

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This event is free and open to the public

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TUESDAY, JULY 25

2:00 pm

Skokie Public Library

5215 Oakton St, Skokie

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MUSIC

CHICAGO KLEZMER ENSEMBLE

Kurt Bjorling, leader

 

CKE performs both modern and traditional klezmer music that draws directly from historical sources. Avoiding the clichés of Yiddish theater and Jewish-American popular music, they create original interpretations and compositions which build upon the rich history and tradition of the Eastern-European klezmorim. The result is a repertoire that is equally at home at a concert stage or at a wedding or celebration. Four of the five members have been in the band together since 1988 and today’s ensemble have been playing together for over fifteen years.

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This event is free and open to the public

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TUESDAY, JULY 18

2:00 pm

Highland Park Public Library

494 Laurel Ave, Highland Park

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MUSIC

CANTOR PAVEL ROYTMAN

"Yiddish Songs"

 

Cantor Roytman has performed as a conductor and a soloist with Kol Zimrah Jewish Community Singers and Queen of All Saints Basilica Choir. He has served as a conductor for Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale and as an executive director and conductor for Zemer Am, the Chicago’s Annual Festival of Jewish Choral Music.

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This event is free and open to the public

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TUESDAY, JUNE 27

2:00 pm

Northtown Public Library

6435 N. California Ave, Chicago

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MUSIC
 

DUO CONTROVERSO

Kurt Bjorling, CLARINET

Annette Bjorling, KLEZMER HARP

 

Annette Bjorling (harp) and Kurt Bjorling (clarinet, basset-horn) perform a variety of ethnic and classical music, jazz and improvisation  – specializing in klezmer.

From virtuosic listening music to engaging dance rhythms, the program includes traditional East European Shtetl wedding dances, liturgical melodies and  instrumental interpretations of Yiddish & Israeli songs. 

 

In their own interpretations & improvisations, Annette & Kurt present beloved melodies and lesser known gems of Yiddish music.

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This event is free and open to the public

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THURSDAY, JUNE 15

7:00 pm

Highland Park Public Library

494 Laurel Ave., Highland Park

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MUSIC

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"STEWART FIGA'S WORLD OF YIDDISH"  

 

Stewart Figa has served as cantor at West Suburban Temple Har Zion in River Forest, Illinois, since 1998 and has been a cantor in the Chicago area since 1990. An established and in-demand performer of Yiddish and Jewish music, his programs for the annual Chicago YIVO Society Summer Festival have been cheered by capacity audiences. 

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In 2015, Mr. Figa received a Grammy nomination for his work as a vocalist with the New Budapest Orpheum Society on their CD “As Dreams Fall Apart,” and in June of 2016 he appeared with the ensemble on a successful four- city tour in England. 
 

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TUESDAY, JUNE 13

2:00 pm

Wilmette Public Library

1242 Wilmette Ave., Wilmette

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MUSIC

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JAZMER ENSEMBLE

SHIRLEY TODD, LEADER AND VOCALS

 

 Jazmer was founded in 1995 by lead vocalist Shirlee Todd. The band offers a fresh and creative approach to Jewish and American music with its extensive repertoire and interesting arrangements bridging the music of the Old World with the New.

 

Jazmer is a popular longtime participant in the annual Chicago Yivo Society Summer Festival Of Yiddish Culture.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 8

6:30 pm

Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center

9603 Woods Drive. Skokie

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MUSIC

Seventh Annual Sarah Lazarus Memorial Concert

GERRY TENNEY in Concert

with Leslie Tenney and Noah Tenney, vocals
 

Gerry Tenney is a singer of Yiddish songs, children’s entertainer, musican and teacher. He is also the longtime leader of one of the West Coast’s leading Klezmer bands, California Klezmer. This will be a special concert with his wife Leslie, a singer of Yiddish and Balkan music, and their son, Noah, who grew up around the West Coast Klezmer scene.

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TUESDAY, JUNE 6

2:00 pm

Northbrook Public Library

1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook

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MUSIC

 

MAXWELL STREET KLEZMER QUINTET

VOCALS, VIOLIN, CLARINET, PIANO AND BASS.

 

In the 18th century, Jewish and Roma musicians crisscrossed Eastern Europe, playing for weddings and other celebrations. The unique musical style that emerged from this cross-fertilization of Chassidic and gypsy folk styles is called “klezmer,” a Yiddish word meaning “folk musician.”  The Fiddler on the Roof—he was a klezmer!

 

Audiences of all backgrounds are delighted by Maxwell Street's high-energy performances that glow with warmth and humor.

 

Founded in 1983 by Lori Lippitz, Maxwell Street has played at Carnegie Hall and toured Europe.  The band marked its 30th “Bandiversary” at The Old Town School of Folk Music in 2013.   

 

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This event is free and open to the public

SUNDAY, MARCH 19

2:00 pm

Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation

303 Dodge Ave. EVANSTON

LECTURE

Lynching, Race and Racism in American Yiddish Fiction
 

This lecture will discuss Joseph Opatoshu's 1923 story Lintsheray ("Lynching") to examine the resonances of this them in Yiddish culture.

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Location:

Morton Grove Public Library

6140 Lincoln Ave

 

Thursday June 30, 2016

2:00 PM

MUSIC

Jazmer

For Shirlee, music and languages seem to go hand in hand. She comes from a bilingual home where both English and Yiddish were spoken, and she has performed in those languages since childhood. She also performs in Spanish, which she speaks fluently, as well as Russian, ladino (judeo espanol) and Hebrew. Her cantorial experience comes from being the lead soloist for Cantor Dale Lind for over 12 years. She also opened for the Zim Brothers and the Andy Statman Klezmer Band at the Old Town School of Music.

 

Before co-founding Jazmer with Don Jacobs (Clarinet & saxophone), she was the lead vocalist for M’Chaiya. In addition to working with Jazmer , she is part of a piano-vocal duo which performs music from the Great American Songbook, jazz standards, show tunes and international music for private parties, organizations and special events.

 

The ensemble brings a lot of talent to the stage. Don Jacobs has played klezmer and Jewish music for over 25 years and is a founding member of Jazmer, as well as its musical director. Ruby Harris (mandolin, violin and vocals) was born and raised in New York but lived in Israel for 12 years where he toured and recoreded with the Diaspora Yishgiva  Band. In the US, he has performed with Buddy Guy and opned for Ray Charles and Marshall Tucker. Gail Mangurten (piano) has played with musical theatre groups such as Tuxedo Junction and regularly performs with the College of DuPage Jazz Band. She is also a member of the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band and Michael Gassman (percussion) has with such local bands as the Del Crustaceans, The Little Cow and The Leaders. Mike owned and operated the Percussion Shop in Evanston for 17 years and manufactured his own line of drums.

Richard Armandi (bass and tuba) has performed with such luminaries as Marion Mc Partland, Rosemary Clooney, Bob Newhart, Martin Short, Rich Little and many others. As a tubist, he has performed with the Lyric Opera, American Ballet Theatre, Grant Park Orchestra and Chicago Brass Quintet while John Vitale (guitar) is fluent in rock, blues, pop, jazz, R&B and country. John was the musical director for the Free Street Theatre in 1978 and 1981, and he and the entire cast were nominated for a Jeff award for the musical “I’m Getting My Act Together”. John and his wife, Susan, have their own musical ensemble , the Vitale Group
 

http://jazmerband.com/

Location

Chicago Public Library, Northtown

6435 N. California Ave.

Thursday June 29, 2016

2:00 pm

 

LECTURE, BOOK SIGNING: 

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Professor Jeffry Mallow

 

Zionist Diarist:

Reflections on antisemitism, Radical Islam, and more from a Labor Zionist

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Professor Jeffry V. Mallow will discuss selected topics from his book Zionist Diarist. These will include anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, Europe and Israel, Radical Islam, and the so-called “Jewish American Princess.” Personally autographed books will be available for sale after the program.

Jeffry V. Mallow, emeritus professor, Loyola University Chicago, is past national president of the Labor Zionist Alliance and a member of the board of the American Zionist organization Ameinu. He has also published books of Jewish humor. His books can be found here on Amazon but come get Professor Mallow's latest, Zionist Diarist, in person and signed.

Thursday June 23, 2016

2:00 pm

 

MULTIMEDIA LECTURE: Charles Troy

 

The Creation of

Fiddler on the Roof

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Location

Skokie Public Library

Oakton St.

Join educator and graphic designer, Charles Troy, for a multimedia presentation on the creation of Fiddler on The Roof - a smah hit musical based on 'Tevyeh the Dairyman' by Sholem Aleichem. In 1964, the Broadway musical broke records and, the film won three academy awards.

Location

Northbrook Public Library

1201 Cedar ln.

 

Tuesday, June 21  2016

2:00 PM

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MUSIC

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Chicago Klezmer Ensamble

Kurt Björling – clarinet, tsimbl and accordion
Eve Monzingo – clarinet, piano
Joshue Huppet – violin
Deborah Strauss – violin
Alan Enrich – bass

 

Active since 1984, the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble is one of the oldest of the klezmer music groups in America. By the late 1980s they were playing “the most authentic and the most exciting Jewish instrumental music in this country”. By that time the ensemble’s leader Kurt Björling had learned almost the entire accessible klezmer repertoire and was actively teaching it to aspiring instrumentalists.The members of the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble have discovered real power of musicality in the Jewish klezmer repertoire and style. While many Jewish – American klezmer music groups have subordinated musical taste to ethnic nostalgia, this ensemble looks for the essence of the musical structures underlying klezmer music and takes these as the starting point.To understand the performance of the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble contemporary listeners must realize that pre-emigration times klezmer music had a dual function, both as ecstatic dance music and as sophisticated music for listening.

 

 

http://muziker.org/chicago-klezmer-ensemble/

Location:

Evanston Public Library

1703 Orrington

 

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MUSIC

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Cantor Pavel Roytman
“Yiddish Songs”
 

Wednesday, June 14  2016

2:00 PM

Cantor Roytman will perform classic Yiddish songs. Cantor Pavel Roytman is a native of Nikolaev, Ukraine. At the age of seven he was accepted as a piano student to a specialized music school for gifted children. He continued his studies in piano and conducting at the Kaliningrad Music College (Russia) and later at Petrozavodsk State Conservatory. While in Petrozavodsk, Pavel joined the Klezmer Shpil Orchestra as a soloist. Between 1991 and 1994, Pavel and the Klezmer Shpil Orchestra performed extensively throughout Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden. In 1993, the orchestra made its first recording–“Yiddish Songs” by Klezmer Shpil.

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Cantor Roytman has performed as a conductor and a soloist with Kol Zimrah Jewish Community Singers and Queen of All Saints Basilica Choir. He has served as a conductor for Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale and as an executive director and conductor for Zemer Am,the Chicago’s Annual Festival of Jewish Choral Music.udied chazzanut. http:

 

cantorpavelroytman.com

APRIL 2016

3rd Int’l Polish Jewish Studies Workshop

“Doikeyt, Diaspora, Borderlands: Imagining Polish Jewish Territories”
University of Illinois at Chicago

April 10-12, 2016

All campus events are free and open to the public!

Featuring 9  lectures & programs on Yiddish Culture!

 

On April 10-12, 2016, the UIC Department of Slavic & Baltic Languages & Literatures, in cooperation with Princeton University, Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (Warsaw) will be hosting the 3rd Annual International Polish Jewish Studies Workshop. Convened by the Polish Jewish Studies Initiative, this three-day workshop will highlight key developments and new directions in the growing field of Polish Jewish studies, with a particular focus on changing scholarly approaches to Polish Jewish territories, both geographical and imaginary.

 

Many speakers this year will focus on YIDDISH CULTURE and Jewish Political Life in Interwar Poland. Below is a sampling. The full program follows or can be viewed by clicking this button:

 

 

Kenneth Moss (Johns Hopkins University) -  Keynote Tuesday, April 12th, 11:15 am:  “Polish Jewish Political Culture in the Shadow of a Polish Jewish Condition: Renegotiating Minorityhood, Diaspora, Zionism, and Home in the 1930s.”

 

Karolina Szymaniak, ŻIH, Warsaw and University of Wrocław: “Yiddishland - The Trouble with an Elusive Subject or How (Not) To Write the History of Yiddish Culture from a Polish Perspective.”

 

Marc Caplan, UM Frankel Institute: “A Disenchanted Elijah: Folklore, Conspiracy Theories, and Allegory in S. Ansky’s Destruction of Galicia.”

 

Sam Kassow,  Trinity College: “Polish Jews, Know Your Land: Landkentenish in the 1930's.”

 

Mikhail Krutikov, UM Ann Arbor: “Belarus in Yiddish Modernist Poetry.”

 

Michael Steinlauf, Gratz College: “’Jews of All Lands and Peoples, Unite!…’ Y.L. Peretz & Diaspora Nationalism.”

 

Julie Cooper, Tel Aviv University: “A Diasporic Critique of Diasporism.”

 

Daniel Kahn, Songwriter & Translator; Director, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin. “Subversive Song Smuggling and Universal Golus.”

 

Anita Norich, University of Michigan: “Yiddish Translation Matters.”

 

Panels, held at Richard J. Daley Library on UIC’s downtown Chicago campus, will explore physical territories and cultural spaces that have shaped Jewish, Polish and Polish Jewish cultures and histories, and that have come into being at and through the intersection of Jewish and Polish cultures.

 

ACCOMPANYING LECTURES and FILM SHOWINGS before and during the conference:

 

- Krzystof Czyżewski (Founder & Director, Borderlands Foundation, Sejny) “Borderland as Koinos Logos” -The Stefan & Lucy Hejna Annual Lecture - Friday, April 8th, 4:15 pm – UIC Daley Library

 

-"Karski & the Lords of Humanity" Film Showing with Director Sławomir Grünberg - Friday, April 8th, 7:30 pm – Copernicus Center - 5216 W. Lawrence Ave.  [TICKETS]: **Filmmaker – Author – Critics Special Event** with E. Thomas Wood & Panelists

 

- “Raise the Roof” – The Handshouse Gwoździec Synagogue Project. Film Showing with Laura & Rick Brown, Creators of the Handshouse Project -  Monday, April 11th, 7:45 pm - UIC Theatre School – 1040 W. Harrison St.

 

(Complete Schedule of Conference Panels and Roundtable Discussions Follows Below)

 

About the Polish Jewish Studies Initiative

 

The April 2016 workshop and conference at UIC will be the third in a series of gatherings bringing together international scholars working in Polish Jewish Studies — following previous workshops held in March 2014 at Ohio State University, and April 2015 at Princeton University. The goal of these workshops has been to establish an international forum for communication among scholars working at the intersection of Jewish and Polish Studies; to identify theoretical and methodological developments of greatest relevance to new research in the field of Polish Jewish Studies; and to mark a path for scholars, educators and activists who would like to see the study of Polish and Jewish cultures more intentionally and productively intertwined.

 

                                                                                           With the Generous Support of:

Culture.pl-IAM Campus Project •  Sigmund Rolat • The Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture • The Jan Karski Educational Foundation • Andrzej Rojek • Copernicus Program in Polish Studies, University of Michigan • UIC Fund for Polish Jewish Studies • Stefan & Lucy Hejna Fund, UIC • Loyola University Program in Polish Studies •  School of Literatures, Culture Studies & Linguistics, UIC • Chicago YIVO Society • UIC Program in Jewish Studies •  YIVO Institute for Jewish Research • UIC Institute for the Humanities • UIC Richard J. Daley Library