18th WJMF 2016 Brochure

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WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL 10.26.16 - 11.05.16

The Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation is the Major Sponsor of the Washington Jewish Music Festival

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TICKETS

PURCHASE TICKETS AT WJMF.ORG OR 202.777.3241* Same day tickets are available for purchase 45 minutes before the event (subject to availability) All events are general admission All ticket sales are final – no exchanges, no refunds Pass-holders and ticket-holders must check in no less than 15 minutes prior to the show start time to guarantee admittance Ticket prices subject to service charges *Note that additional service charges are applied to all phone orders

PASSES

SEE EVERY SHOW FOR A FR ACTION OF THE PRICE! General Public - $95 30 years and under - $40 Passes are non-transferable

VENUES

EDLAVITCH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON DC (EDCJCC) AARON & CECILE GOLDMAN THEATER 1529 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, DC BOSSA BISTRO & LOUNGE 2463 Eighteenth Street, NW Washington, DC THE HOWARD THEATRE 620 T Street, NW Washington, DC LISNER AUDITORIUM | THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 730 Twenty-First Street, NW Washington, DC TROPICALIA 2001 Fourteenth Street, NW Washington, DC

CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 7:30 PM OPENING NIGHT

AvevA Music Howard Theatre

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 7:30 PM

Pitom Tropicalia

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28

Shabbat in Song Various times; all around DC

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 8:00 PM

Noa with Special Guest Mira Awad Lisner Auditorium

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 10:00 AM

Brunch Conversation with Noa and Mira Awad Day of Education on Arab Citizens of Israel EDCJCC

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 3:00 PM

Solace for the Soul: Music For Survival WJMF and Levine Music Explore Protest Music EDCJCC

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 7:00 PM

Strange Fruit: Music from–And Inspired By –The American Civil Rights Movement WJMF and Levine Music Explore Protest Music EDCJCC

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 7:30 PM

Sandcatchers | Seth Kibel and Tom Teasley present Desert Echoes Bossa Bistro & Lounge

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 7:30 PM

Junun (film screening) and Sandaraa EDCJCC

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 7:30 PM

Steven Hancoff’s From Tragedy to Transcendence: Bach, Casals, and the Six Suites for Cello Solo EDCJCC

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 7:30 PM

Eleanor Reissa & Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars present Vilde Mekahye EDCJCC

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4

Shabbat in Song Various times; all around DC

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 8:00 PM CLOSING NIGHT

Odessa/Havana EDCJCC

18 TH WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

Opening Night

AVEVA MUSIC

Sponsored by the Arthur Tracy ‘The Street Singer’ Endowment Fund

The Festival kicks off with US debut of Israeli Afro-Soul stars AvevA Music, who filter Tel Aviv’s urban beat through traditional Ethiopian sounds, R&B, funk,

and pop. Lead singer AvevA Dese effortlessly swings between Amharic and English, commanding attention with a singular voice that skips from lilting playfulness to plaintive soulfulness without ever missing a beat.

The Arthur Tracy ‘The Street Singer’ Endowment Fund honors the memory and musical legacy of Arthur Tracy – the renowned radio, stage and screen singer and entertainer whose talent delighted millions around the world – the arts programs supported by this fund continue Tracy’s ability to entertain for years to come.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26

7:30 PM

THE HOWARD THEATRE

$28

WJMF.ORG

PITOM

Avant-garde rock meets the Jewish tradition in Pitom, a shredding instrumental band led

by WJMF Artist-in-Residence Yoshie Fruchter.

Born in DC and now living in Brooklyn, Yoshie combines influences from Frank Zappa,

Sonic Youth, late Miles Davis, and John Zorn’s Masada into what Zorn himself refers to as “a rocking band performing catchy, hooky compositions that both pay tribute to and

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“Equal parts jazz school, seminary school and Nirvana’s ‘School’” -The Village Voice THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27 7:30 PM TROPICALIA $8

challenge the Jewish tradition.”

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18 TH WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

NOA WITH SPECIAL GUEST MIRA AWAD

Israel’s leading singer-songwriter, Noa (Achinoam Nini) has shared the stage with superstars such as Sting, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, and

Andrea Bocelli and performed in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to the White House and the Vatican. In 2009, she joined forces with Mira Awad,

composing and performing the song “There Must Be Another Way” in the Eurovision Song Contest, making it all the way to the final round. Noa is

Jewish-Israeli, and Mira Awad is Arab-Israeli. The duo perform together to “show a situation that we believe is possible if we just make the necessary effort.”

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“[Noa] slips in and out of English, Hebrew and Yemenite Arabic lyrics as if each were a stage costume tailor-made for her.” –The Boston Globe SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29

8:00 PM

LISNER AUDITORIUM

$36 FOR CONCERT-ONLY $40 FOR CONCERT & BRUNCH (p.7)

WJMF.ORG

DAY OF EDUCATION ON ARAB CITIZENS OF ISRAEL: BRUNCH CONVERSATION WITH NOA & MIRA AWAD Sponsored by the Greater Washington Forum on Israeli Arab Issues Lead Support Provided by the Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation

The morning after the concert, Noa and Mira

Awad join us for an intimate brunch conversation

moderated by Mohammad Darawshe, Director of

Center for Equality and Shared Society at the Givat Haviva Institute in Israel, as part of the ongoing

series of education days on Arab Citizens of Israel.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30 10:00 AM EDCJCC $12 GENERAL

$6 STUDENTS

$40 FOR CONCERT (p.6)+ BRUNCH CONVERSATION

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18 TH WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

SOLACE FOR THE SOUL: MUSIC FOR SURVIVAL

As part of the Music Festival’s year-long partnership with Levine Music

celebrating protest music, Levine Music’s students and faculty present a

chamber ensemble exploration of 20th century composers, including Gideon Klein (who perished in the Holocaust), and the exiled Bohuslav Martinu and Alfred Schnittke, who transcended adversity through music.

These artists and others braved persecution and targeted oppression

from Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, laying their lives and livelihoods on the line for freedom, art, and change.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30

3:00 PM

EDCJCC

$8

WJMF.ORG

STRANGE FRUIT: MUSIC FROM–AND INSPIRED BY–THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Continuing our celebration of protest music with Levine Music, WJMF hosts a band drawn from their top faculty. This project examines the musical legacy

of the Civil Rights Movement. Pulling from traditional spirituals and extending to the work of Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Gil Scott Heron, and Billie Holiday, the 10-person jazz and R&B outfit promises an evening of big sound and revolutionary culture.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30

7:00 PM

EDCJCC

$8

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18 TH WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

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WJMF.ORG

SANDCATCHERS

WJMF Artist-In-Residence Yoshie Fruchter’s

Sandcatchers blend middle-eastern oud-based

sounds with the dreamy Americana, inspired by

Middle Eastern maqam and the traditional music of the Appalachian Trail.

SETH KIBEL AND TOM TEASLEY PRESENT DESERT ECHOES Two wildly talented multi-instrumentalists perform the world premiere of their new project, Desert

Echoes, which swirls jazz, middle-eastern, and klezmer melodies into a sweet, unique, and downright dazzling concoction.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31

7:30 PM

BOSSA LOUNGE & BISTRO

$8

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18 TH WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

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“Sandaraa meld together a strangely compelling group of vast and exotic musical inclinations.” -PopMatters TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1

7:30 PM

EDCJCC

$18

WJMF.ORG

An evening of intersections between South Asian and Jewish music kicks off with a screening of Junun and then the stage is set for the Pakistani-Jewish wonder-group Sandaraa.

JUNUN (Film)

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (54min, USA, 2015)

English, Hindi, Hebrew, and Urdu with English subtitles Documentary

Academy Award nominee Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) takes

a mind-blowing musical journey to Jodhpur, India, featuring Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. With a group of India’s finest musicians, they build a makeshift studio and joyously make music together for three weeks straight.

A cross-cultural meeting point between the mystical Islam of Sufi, Qawwali,

and devotional poetries in Urdu, Hebrew, and Hindi—and an extraordinary visual and sensory experience that will capture your imagination.

SANDARAA

Star Pakistani vocalist Zeb Bangash joins forces with clarinet virtuoso Michael Winograd to explore a vast repertoire of South Asian musical traditions

blended with the sounds and sensibilities of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and New York.

Joined by a cadre of leading Brooklyn musicians, the pair take cues from legendary artists such as Sabzal Saami, Beltoon, and Haji Saifudin while

investigating and building upon the cultural legacy of trans-Eurasian regions steeped in ecstatic mysticism and spiritual migration.

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18 TH WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

FROM TRAGEDY TO TRANSCENDENCE: BACH, CASALS, AND THE SIX SUITES FOR CELLO SOLO

Using music, video, and hundreds of historic images and contemporary art

stills, master guitarist—and official Artistic Ambassador of the United States for fifteen years—Steven Hancoff presents a concert-length story about

the life of Bach, the creation of his masterful Cello Suites, the role of Felix

Mendelssohn in resurrecting the music, and cellist Pablo Casal’s rediscovery and recording of the suites.

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“[B]lends music, videos, and well over a thousand still images—like a Ken Burns documentary gone wild!—into a vivid and compelling tapestry of history, stories, ruminations, and fascinating tangents that grow like vines off the main Bach saga.”

–Classical Guitar Magazine WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2

7:30 PM

EDCJCC

$18

WJMF.ORG

ELEANOR REISSA & FRANK LONDON’S KLEZMER BRASS ALLSTARS perform VILDE MEKAHYE (WILD ECSTASY)

The soulful and inimitable “Yiddish Diva” Eleanor Reissa and the “mystical

high priest of New Wave Avant-Klez jazz” Frank London have been inspiring each other to great heights for over a decade.

Together with the Klezmer Brass Allstars, whose recording Carnival

Conspiracy was in Rolling Stone’s top ten world music recordings of 2006, they explore the world of Yiddish song, from the obscure to the chestnuts.

Their music together combines the blasphemous with the blessed, pulling the past into the future and up to the heavens.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3

7:30 PM

EDCJCC

$18

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18 TH WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

Closing Night

ODESSA/HAVANA

Jewish trumpeter, composer, and cultural inventor David Buchbinder teams up Grammy-nominated Cuban pianist Hilario Duran and a crew of top

Jazz and World musicians to present this unprecedented project of musical discovery: the Jewish-Cuban connection. David Buchbinder’s Odessa/

Havana presents delicately textured and dazzlingly tuneful music, with

powerful, swinging, and lyrical playing, that is passionate, dancing, and

completely irresistible. Together, these forces take audiences on a journey of cross-cultural discovery, that consistently engages, challenges, and delights.

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“[Odessa/Havana is an] absolute cooker…that produces a seamless blend of Cuban and Jewish forms, that makes the mesh seem like the most natural thing in the world. Oh man, this is a good one!” –Classical Guitar Magazine SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5

8:00 PM

EDCJCC

$28

WJMF.ORG

HIGH NOTES Educational &

community-based programming

SHABBAT IN SONG

Join local congregations for Shabbat in Song. This free

community-wide celebration of Shabbat and music highlights musical services and events around Washington, DC.

See WJMF.ORG for a full listing of participating congregations FRIDAYS, OCTOBER 28 & NOVEMBER 4

VARIOUS TIMES

ALL AROUND DC

FREE

LEVINE MUSIC

The 18th Music Festival kicks off a year-long collaboration

with Levine Music exploring the cultural legacy and artistic contribution of protest music. Levine Music students and

faculty present Solace For The Soul: Music For Survival (p. 8) and Strange Fruit: Music From–And Inspired By–The American Civil Rights Movement (p.9) on Sunday, October 30.

Levine Music is a non-profit community music center serving

the Greater Washington DC metropolitan area, and is open to anyone who wants to learn about and study music, regardless of age, ability, or means.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30

3:00 PM & 7:00 PM

EDCJCC

$8 EACH

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18 TH WASHINGTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL

WJMF ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE: YOSHIE FRUCHTER Yoshie Fruchter grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household in Silver Spring, MD, studied jazz at the University of

Maryland, and is now based out of Brooklyn, NY. He is a

guitar, bass, oud player, and

composer whose band, Pitom (Tzadik Records) received

critical acclaim from the Wall Street Journal, Guitar Player Magazine, and many more.

The unique blend of rock, jazz, experimental, and

Jewish styles in his playing

and composing is a defining

characteristic of his music. He has toured the US and Europe with Pitom and other groups, playing the Atlantique Jazz Festival in

France, the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, Saalfelden Jazz Festival in Austria, and others.

He recently released an album of post-rock arrangements of old cantorial recordings entitled Schizophonia.

During the 18th WJMF, Fruchter performs with Pitom (p. 5), Sandaraa

(p.13), and Sandcatchers (p.11), and leads a masterclass for musicians at American University.

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PURCHASE TICKETS AT WJMF.ORG OR 202.777.3241

Thank You to Our Supporters FESTIVAL SPONSOR

Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation CONCERT SPONSOR

Anne and Ronald Abramson The Dweck Family

Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation Elise and Marc Lefkowitz

Arthur Tracy “The Street Singer” Endowment Fund CONDUCTOR

The Embassy of Israel MAESTRO

Media Sponsors

Melanie and Larry Nussdorf COMPOSER

Janet B. Abrams

Sara C. Cohen and Norm J. Rich Marshall Wolff MUSICIAN

Michael R. Smith and Holly A. Larisch

PRODIGY

TRIVIA

Lorraine Gallard and Richard Levy Tamara and Harry Handelsman Alma and Sid Kaplan

Mindy Strelitz and Andrew Cornblatt Diane Abelman Wattenberg

Listed as of September 13, 2016

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WJMF STAFF LIST Ilya Tovbis, Director Kaitlin Whitman, Associate Director of Operations Alexis Rodriguez, Outreach and Communications Manager Hannah Grace Heartfield, Administrative Coordinator

WJMF COUNCIL Janet B. Abrams, Co-Chair Norm J. Rich, Co-Chair Marshall Wolff

EDLAVITCH JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WASHINGTON, DC Stephen J. Kelin, President Carole R. Zawatsky, Chief Executive Officer

1529 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036