KlezFest is coming to Winnipeg on the weekend of Oct. 10 and 11 and co-producers Bev Aronovitch and Miriam Bronstein are anticipating a warm Winnipeg welcome for the first-time event, headlined by New York's The Klezmatics.
“The Saturday evening concert by The Klezmatics sold out quickly,” Aronovitch says. “That’s no surprise considering our community’s deep appreciation for Jewish culture. We’re expecting the Sunday afternoon concert to sell out, too – and we already have 75 local singers, dancers and musicians booked for the Sunday morning workshops.”
In addition to The Klezmatics, Winnipeg’s KlezFest will feature Montreal-based vocalist Janie Respitz and Winnipeggers Myron Schultz, Daniel Koulack, Kinzey Posen and Shayla Fink, four of the six members who founded the popular Winnipeg klezmer group Finjan.
Bronstein and Aronovitch are both longtime music teachers – although Aronovitch is best known for having founded the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre 27 years ago. Bronstein’s teaching career was largely in the Jewish school system here.
Aronovitch was inspired to create KlezFest after attending the annual KlezKanada in the Laurentians in the summer of 2014.
“It was the most amazing experience,” Aronovitch says of KlezKanada. “I had been more involved with jazz the last few years. I had lost touch with my connection to Jewish music. KlezKanada reconnected me with my Jewish musical roots.
“I persuaded Miriam that Winnipeg would be a perfect place for a KlezFest.”
Aronovitch notes that the Sunday morning workshops will revolve around the theme “Common Roots: a Musical Journey Through the Shared Roots of Klezmer and the Music of Other Cultures.”
The KlezFest faculty, she says, will be led by the four Finjan members, Klezmatics’ Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg, Respitz, and Yiddish dance expert Steven Weintraub from Philadelphia, who was previously in Winnipeg for a conference that was organized by the Manitoba International Folk Dance Association.
“The workshops have been designed to be interactive and informative,” Aronovitch says. “Musicians will be able to play along with workshop leaders and everyone will have a chance to sing and dance.”
Klezmer Jam, the final concert on Sunday afternoon, will showcase all of the klezmer performers.
