Gaucho with Tamar Korn CD release party Saturday, October 16, 2010, JCC East Bay
JMF stretches its tent to embrace this inspired collaboration between Gaucho (SF Weekly’s Best Jazz/Blues Band of 2009) and vocalist Tamar Korn, one of the most exciting new voices on the New York scene. In collaboration with Porto Franco Records, a San Francisco-based music label focusing on Bay Area artists
Ben Goldberg / Myra Melford Duo and John Schott, Frank London and Glenn Hartman, February 10, 2011, house concert.
This fundraising concert raised almost $3000 in support of two special JMF projects: meeting a challenge grant by the East Bay Community Foundation in support of a commission of new work by Bay Area composer and clarinetist Ben Goldberg, and the completion of the JMF 2009 Ark Project CD, scheduled for release in Fall, 2011.
The 26th Jewish Music Festival, Spring Season March 5 – 13, 2011
A year ago, as we prepared for our 25th anniversary, it was difficult to conceptualize what the year after such a benchmark would look like. It is deeply gratifying to report that the 26th JMF was the strongest festival ever. Each concert fulfilled our mission with flying colors, presenting unique Jewish music from around the world, bringing to the Bay Area an incredibly array of talent and virtuosity. Almost every event sold out. Highlights included:
Yemen Blues, Opening Night, March 5th, Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse
The Bay Area premiere of a highly original mix of jazz tonalities and funk, with an ode to African grooves. An Israeli of Yemeni background, Ravid Kahalani and his nine person ensemble sold out the first show at Freight and Salvage and a second show was added. Both performances garnered standing ovations. The group has been invited to perform again in the Bay Area at the Independent in San Francisco, in August, 2011.
The Ger Mandolin Ensemble, 2011, March 6th, Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse, Berkeley
an original project showcasing repertoire of the 1920s and ‘30s that the Jewish mandolin ensemble of Gora Kalwaria, Poland might have played. Artistic director Mike Marshall, an internationally renowned mandolinist, put together a dream team of eleven stellar players, including Avi Avital, nominated this past year for a GRAMMY as best soloist with an orchestra (the first time a mandolin player had been nominated in this category.) We encouraged Mike to include two players with extensive experience specifically in Jewish mandolin music, Eric Stein of the Canadian group Beyond the Pale; and Jeff Warschauer, of the Strauss-Warschauer Duo. The result was a mandolin orchestra that produced a sound rarely heard in this era; the sold out performance received a standing ovation. The project has now been invited to participate in the Singer Jewish Music Festival in Warsaw, Poland, August, 2011, as well as perform at the synagogue that still stands in Gora Kalwaria. For the latest on this project, view the trailer of a film-in-progress of this project Shalom Aleichem: The Ger Mandolin Project
Veretski Pass, March 6, Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse, Berkeley
This virtuosic trio comprising three leading players on the international Jewish music scene, Joshua Horowitz, Cookie Siegelstein and Stuart Brotman, had a rare opportunity to perform their original composition Klezmer Shul. This project, originally commissioned through a Creative Work Fund grant, was complimented by rarely heard Eastern European Jewish melodies.
Noah Bendix-Balgley, Multiple Appearances – March 8: The Crowden Center, Berkeley; March 9th: San Francisco Public Library; March 10: JCC East Bay, Berkeley.
A virtuosic violinist and laureate of the prestigious 2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, At the urging of JMF, Noah took on repertoire from the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music, an early 20th century, pre-Revolution organization founded by students of Rimsky-Korsakov. It was a coup to present the Bay Area premiere of this emerging international star. The Crowden performance sold out and achieved a standing ovation. In July, Noah was appointed Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, one of the top orchestras in the United States.
David Buchbinder’s Odessa / Havana, March 10th: Club Fox (Redwood City); March 12: Berkeley Repertory Theatre
David Buchbinder (the Flying Bulgars) and Cuban pianist/composer Hilario Duran (recently based on Toronto)—leading figures of both Jewish klezmer music and Afro-Cuban music created a unique sound from two celebratory musical styles. This successful collaboration with the Peninsula Jewish Community Center allowed us to present two Bay Area shows. Outreach to the Cuban music community helped us sell out both venues.
Festival Finale Dance Party, with guest dance instructor Erik Bendix March 13, JCC East Bay
Music by Veretski Pass, Noah Bendix Balgley and David Buchbinder. This multi-generational event attracted a capacity crowd to the JCC to learn from a renowned researcher of traditional Jewish dance.
In addition to Berkeley, Festival events took place in San Francisco – San Francisco Public Library (Noah Bendix-Balgley and co-sponsorship of two music programs of local artists at the BJE Jewish Community Library. In San Leandro, JMF presented members of Yemen Blues at Temple Beth Sholom. In Redwood City, JMF co-sponsored Odessa / Havana with the Peninsular JCC at the Club Fox.
New collaborations for our 26th season included Porto Franco Records (co-producer Gaucho), Subterranean Art House (JMF arranged a related Festival performance by 25th JMF performers Beyond the Pale), co-presentations of two events at the Bureau of Jewish Education Community Library: Bridge Players Perform Mendelssohn in March, and Josh Horowitz: Ko-opting Klezmer in May; co-promotion of Trinity Chamber Concerts performance of songs by San Francisco composer David Garner, set to texts by Polish/ German Jewish poet Mascha Kaleko.
The 26th JMF was perhaps the most successful festival to date in terms of the new aspects and consistent world class quality of the Jewish music presented. Of the eight public events, one was an original commission / world premiere (The Ger Mandolin Orchestra); three were Bay Area premieres (Noah Bendix – Balgley, David Buchbinder’s Odessa / Havana, Yemen Blues), and one was a CD release (Gaucho). The other events presented unique styles of music and dance (Veretski Pass) and the Finale (Erik Bendix, one of few world specialists of Jewish traditional dance)
The JMF takes particular pleasure in facilitating connections between artists. Due to active encouragement by the JMF that culminated in a meeting during the Ashkenaz Festival in Sseptember, two international artists on the Jewish music scene have initiated a new project that we will present in 2011-12 (Babel – Ashkenaz with Frank London and Yair Dalal); In 2011, the finale dance party provided a unique opportunity for locally based and guest musicians to meet and work together (Veretski Pass with Noah Bendix-Balgley and David Buchbinder); the private fundraising concert facilitated networking between Frank London with locally based Myra Melford and Ben Goldberg; at the Opening Night after-party visiting artists also met and improvised with each other.
The Ger Mandolin Orchestra has provided a unique entry into Jewish culture and history for mandolin players and music-lovers, in general. Through a common love of the sound of this instrument, the Polish Jewish experience has become known to an entirely new constituency. This was dramatically realized when the Project performed Jewish music and pre-War mandolin repertoire to primarily non-Jewish audiences in Warsaw and Gore Kalwaria, Poland in September, 2011.
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