Evening programming
March 6
An Evening With Michael Wex
@ Minyan Ohr Chadash
Michael Wex opens the festival with an evening talking about… Yiddish of course!
Join the author of Born to Kvetch as he shares his funny yet poignant stories, musings and ancient wisdom about the value of Yiddish language and culture. It may not always be pretty (and it could even get a little sexy...) but it will definitely be an entertaining and educational even as we hear of the delights - and dangers - of a life spent devoted to the language that’s given us art songs, folk poetry, biblical commentary and more!
March 7
Vilde Verter - Wild Words: Art Exhibition opening night
@ Love City Love
Seattle Yiddish Fest presents for the first time a Yiddish Art show featuring a renowned artist Benny Ferdman and local Seattle artists.
Join Seattle Yiddish Fest for its first ever visual art exhibition, 'Vilde Verter- Wild Words' featuring the work of Los Angeles based artist Benny Ferdman. The evening will include a short talk by the artist about his work, some words from New York Times best selling author Michael Wex and a bit of live music from this year's featured musicians, Ilya Shneyveys, Susan Hoffman Watts and festival founder Craig Judelman. The evening concludes with a big jam session where everyone is invited to play!
March 8
A Yiddish Shabes
@ Love City Love
A community Sabbath event with singing, learning and togetherness!
As in years past, we’ll kick off the weekend with a heymish (cozy) gathering on Friday night. We’ll jam and nosh as folks gather, hear a bit from our faculty and sing some songs from our special SYF songbook.
Everyone is encouraged to bring food for a potluck dinner (please note beer and wine will be available for donation at the venue), which will give us some time to get to know each other and catch up with those we already know. We will do a few of the traditional blessings and songs for the sabbath, but we strive to create a space where everyone feels welcome and comfortable. Like the rest of the festival it is NOT a religious event!
After dinner there will be more singing, Faith Jones will present some of her translations of Yiddish poetry, and we will hear a bit from some of our featured faculty members, have a chance to ask them questions and finish the night with a jam and singing some nigunim (wordless songs) together.
March 9
Seattle Klezmer Showcase
@ Love City Love
An evening celebrating Seattle's Yiddish Music scene featuring: Talne, Varda, Godston & Falk and Shpilkis
A celebration of Seattle's own artists involved in Yiddish music. Sincethe early years of the Klezmer Revival Seattle has been an important place on the Yiddish aristic map of North America. With a new wave of bands forming and a number of musicians who have been playing for over 3 decades, we're thrilled to celebrate this cultural wellspring and the variety of local acts ranging from traditional klezmer to the most modern interpretations of the genre.
Of course we can't present all actors in this rich scene, but we hope this is just the beginning of an annual SYF event and that there will be even more bands to feature each year! Please contact us if you would like to be considered for next year's event
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March 10
Rhapsody in Shmaltz: Seattle Yiddish Fest Closing Concert
@ The Royal Room
An evening of klezmer, Yiddish songs and a bisl humor.
Join us for an evening of both kinds of songs - romantic and happy!
Plus some soulful klezmer tunes and maybe even that Yiddish country hit you always wanted to hear but kinda hoped you never would.
The final concert of Seattle Yiddish Fest features faculty from the weekend’s workshops, including:
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Toronto-based NY Times best-selling author Michael Wex (author of Born to Kvetch, Just Say Nu, Rhapsody in Shmaltz etc.)
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4th generation Philadelphia Klezmer musician, trumpet legend Susan Hoffman-Watts
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Latvian-American accordionist/multi-instrumentalist, arranger and electronic composer Ilya Shneyveys
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Berlin-based, Seattle-raised S.Y.F. Director and renowned klezmer/old time fiddler Craig Judelman
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Minneapolis' culture worker, percussionist and enchanting songbird, Sarah Larson
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Seattle's own Yiddish folk-punk heroes Brivele Duo (Maia Brown and Stefanie Brendler)