Alicia Svigals’ Klezmer Fiddle Express

Celebrated klezmer musicians Alicia Svigals (violin/vocals/composition), Lauren Brody (accordion/vocals), and Steven Weintraub (dance leader) perform a program of ecstatic Jewish instrumental music and song, both ancient and brand new. Steven Glaser, professor at the School of Music at Ohio State, will introduce the concert.

Cosponsored by Ohio State’s Melton Center for Jewish Studies. Support for this presentation is provided by the Columbus Jewish Foundation and the Adrienne and Sidney Chafetz Wexner Center for the Arts Endowment Fund of the Columbus Jewish Foundation.

Participants

Alicia Svigals

Svigals is the world’s leading klezmer fiddler. She cofounded the Grammy Award–winning Klezmatics and coled the group for 17 years, and in 2014 she received a MacDowell Fellowship. She has played with and composed for violinist Itzhak Perlman, the Kronos Quartet, playwrights Tony Kushner and Eve Ensler, poet Allen Ginsberg, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Avraham Fried, singer/songwriters Debbie Friedman, Diane Birch, Gary Lucas, and Najma Akhtar, and many others.

Lauren Brody

Brody has been an active performer and teacher of Bulgarian folk music and singing since the early 1970s.She leads a dual life as a klezmer musician and has been a member of music ensembles Di Naye Kapelye and Mikveh, with whom she has appeared in films, recorded, and toured extensively through the US, Canada, and Europe. Brody also appeared on two albums as vocalist and keyboard player with the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble.

Steve Weintraub

Weintraub is a teacher, choreographer, and performer of Jewish dance, particularly Yiddish dance. He received his dance training with Alvin Ailey and Erick Hawkins, among others. Weintraub is in demand as a teacher at workshops internationally including KlezKamp, KlezKanada, and festivals in Poland, Germany, France, and the UK. His years of experience leading and researching Yiddish dance allow him to quickly weave dancers and music together in astonishing ways.