Song Workshop Jul 24 – 30 @Musikschule
10 a.m. – 1 p.m. & 3 – 6 p.m.

With Alan Bern (Co-Coordinator), Naomi Cohn Zentner, Yair Dalal, Yagel Haroush, Sasha Lurje (Co-Coordinator)
Artists-in-Residence: Efim Chorny, Susan Ghergus



Following this year's special topic, "The Other Israel: Seeing Unseen Diasporas," the Intermediate and Advanced Song Workshop will explore Yiddish as well as Moroccan-Jewish, and Iraqi (Jewish and non-Jewish) vocal traditions in Israel. A very special focus this year will be the songs contained in two largely unexplored archives in the National Library of Israel:

i) the  Ruth Rubin Archive, with more than 1000 recordings of Yiddish songs collected by the singer and ethnographer Ruth Rubin (1906-2000).

ii) the Leo Winz Archive, containing a similar number of notated songs from the first half of the 20th century, collected by the journalist Leo Winz (1876-1952) for the German/Jewish magazine “Ost und West” (“East and West”). Together, these two archives can transform our understanding of Yiddish song in the 20th century and we are very excited to start to explore them.

The stellar faculty includes Yair Dalal, Yagel Haroush, Naomi Cohn Zentner, Sasha Lurje, and Alan Bern. With their guidance, we will explore repertoire, vocal technique, performance style, instrumental accompaniment, theory and history in plenary sessions, ensembles, coaching sessions and lectures. We will also reflect on how these traditions resemble and differ from one another in their musical and social histories both inside and outside of Israel, and how they contribute to issues of Jewish, non-Jewish and Israeli identities.

Both vocalists and instrumentalists with experience in Yiddish or Middle Eastern music are very welcome! It is not expected that vocalists be fluent in Yiddish, Hebrew or Arabic, but some prior experience in one or more of these languages would be very helpful, and a willingness to learn songs in these languages is a necessity.  If you'd like to discuss whether this workshop is right for you, please contact the workshop's co-coordinator, Sasha Lurje: sasha@forshpil.com

SPECIAL TIP: You’re excited about the Song Workshop but you don’t read Yiddish and wish you did? The Beginning Yiddish Workshop is just the thing for you, then! Come to Weimar a week earlier, learn the Yiddish alphabet and the basics of the Yiddish language and go directly into the Song Workshop enriched and empowered by your new knowledge!

Workshop fee: Standard 460 € / Reduced 355 € / Supporter 635 € / Under 18: 180 €
For information about the Standard, Reduced and Supporter fees >> read about
>> Registration