Memorial Concert
An evening for Nekhama Lifshits
July 25 Tue 8 p.m. @Kleine Synagoge  [YSW goes Erfurt]
Free admission



On April 20, 2017 the Jewish Nightingale, as they used to call Nekhama Lifshitz passed away. For several generations in The Soviet Union she was the voice of hope and in a certain way even freedom. Born in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1927, she survived WWII with her family in evacuation in Uzbekistan. After returning to Soviet Lithuania, she graduated from Vilnius Conservatory and her clear coloratura soprano started sounding in concerts all across the Soviet Union. In 1950s she started performing songs in Yiddish, creating real art pieces out of traditional or older songs and also with new songs written especially for her. After Stalin’s repressions to many it seemed a miracle, she dared to sing songs with religious context and tragic stories of Jewish people’s fate. By mid-60s she was almost forbidden in the Soviet Union, and immigrated to Israel in 1969. There she kept performing, started a school for young singers in Yiddish. In 2006 Nekhama Lifshitz was elected head of the International Council of Yiddish Culture.

At this event Yiddish Summer artists will share their experiences with Nekhama Lifshitz’s music and personality. Efim Chorny, Suzanna Ghergus, Alan Bern and Sasha Lurje will perform songs from her repertoire. We are happy to have Nekhama Lifshitz’s student, wonderful singer Sveta Kundish join us to perform for us and share stories.

The evening will be followed by an open jam session by the participants of the Yiddish Song Workshop.