A Klezmer Shavuot

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Happy Shavuot everyone! We’ve passed the four-week mark until Paromita and I depart for the Netherlands to start our European adventure. Of course, there’s not nearly enough time to get everything done before we leave!

Before we get to that, however, the Mike Anklewicz Klezmer Trio will be taking part in a really cool event this Saturday night to commemorate Shavuot at the Solel Congregation in Mississauga, Ontario.

The program consists of a catered dinner at 6:00pm followed by a lecture on Klezmer music with performances by the Mike Anklewicz Klezmer Trio at 7:00pm. The lecture/performance will be followed by Shavuot services at 8:30pm (in which we’ll participate and play) and then dessert at 9:15pm. This is going to be a little bit of a different format than I’ve used before for my lectures. You may have seen me talking about klezmer in either an academic setting or in a “continuing education” context where I’ve basically just talked about the music and played a few mp3s to illustrate some points. In this one, I’ll have my fantastic trio (with Ali Berkok on accordion and Jim Sexton on bass) to give LIVE demonstrations of the music.

I’m really excited for this format, mainly because it will use the energy of live performance to supplement a more generic lecture format. Hopefully we can start a trend where we can educate more people about the rich history of klezmer music while also treating them to the sounds of that music right there! It’s a great opportunity to provide a context for the music that people might not think otherwise about when listening.

We’ll also join Rabbi Stephen Wise who will sing and play guitar during the Shavuot services following the lecture and we hope to add yet another dimension to the Shavuot experience!

To hire the Mike Anklewicz Klezmer Trio for a lecture or performance of your own, just send an email to booking@klezfactor.com!

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