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Alicia appears in
Freida Lee Mock's new doc about Tony Kushner, Wresting With Angels! |
Great
review of Alicia Svigals’ Klezmer Fiddle Express concert in NYC, on the Lucid
Culture website
Concert Review: Alicia
Svigals’ Klezmer Fiddle Express at St. Marks Church, NYC 7/16/09
July 20, 2009
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“In case you have any simchas coming up, we’re available for bar and bas mitzvahs, talk to me after the show,” Alicia Svigals grinned. The Klezmatics co-founder, original violinist and her four-piece band – rhythm section and first-call accordionist Patrick Farrell – definitely brought the simcha (party). This was one of those only-in-New-York moments, a casually brilliant, frequently transcendent show played to a neighborhood lunchtime crowd on the steps of Second Avenue’s St. Marks Church courtesy of the folks at the Third St. Music School Settlement. Besides being a blazing player, Svigals brings an impressive social consciousness and historical awareness to her music, not particularly surprising since, as she told the crowd, her immersion in classic Jewish folk and liturgical music was fueled by seders at the Workmen’s Circle. She sang a particularly tongue-in-cheek yet forcefully populist one of those numbers and got the crowd going on its playful, “oy, oy, oy” chorus.
Otherwise, the show was a trip through worlds both lost and found. She delved into the Moisey Beregovsky archive of stark, rustic, ominously atmospheric pre-Holocaust Ukrainian Jewish repertoire along with her own composition, the Healthy Baby Girl hora which she said she’d pieced together from a documentary film soundtrack she’d done. Farrell got a couple of chances to take center stage and as usual, made the most of them with mordant wit and blistering speed. Svigals is a world-class player who matches precision to a raw, unselfconsciously emotional edge and a frequently devious sensibility – she’s recorded with Itzhak Perlman and similar luminaries. She saved her wildest playing for the series of dizzying freilachs at the end of the show, finally taking off with some wild trills and flights to the uppermost registers, playing off her bandmates and bringing the energy to redline. They closed with a similarly upbeat number from the renowned catalog of the Hoffman Watts family of Philadelphia, drummer Elaine Hoffman Watts and her trumpeter daughter Susan Hoffman Watts continuing the tradition their ancestors brought over from the Ukraine over a hundred years ago. One of the factors that gives klezmer such a poignant, frequently biting edge is that like American blues musicians, not only were klezmers (Jewish musicians) outsiders in society as a whole but also frequently within the more pious sectors of their own Jewish communities. Which translates richly into both the pain and the joy of so much of what Svigals and her band of hellraisers played.
In addition to the weekly free concerts that the Third Street Music School Settlement puts on during the school year, they also host the June-July series of which this show was a part. The concluding concert is this Thursday with Cheres playing traditional Romanian, Ukrainian and Moldavian music.
Past Performances
Thursday,
February 26, 2009, 8 pm, Grinnell University, Herrick Chapel: Klezmer Unfettered – Alicia Svigals and
Marilyn Lerner
Sunday,
March 1, 11 am and 12:15 pm, City Winery’s
Klezmer Brunch Series: Klezmer
Unfettered – Alicia Svigals and Marilyn Lerner
Alicia and
Canadian jazz piano virtuoso Marilyn Lerner join forces to create Jewish
instrumental music like you've never heard it before, spinning symphonies out
of simple melodies on the fly. Expect the unexpected! 155 Varick Street (between Spring and Vandam
Streets) New York, New York 10013, 212.608.0555.
Thursday,
March 5, 7 pm, Riverdale YM-YWHA: Klezmer Reimagined -- Alicia Svigals and Uli
Geissendoerfer
Jazz
pianist Uli Geissendoerfer’s imaginative responses to Alicia’s klezmer fiddling
offer a fresh perspective on this ancient and beautiful tradition. Riverdale Y, 5625 Arlington Avenue, Bronx, NY
10471, (718) 548-8200.
Thursday,
April 2, 8 pm, Klezmer
at Carnegie Hall, with Alicia’s all-gal supergroup Mikveh
Also on
bill: David Krakauer, So-Called, the
Klezmatics, Brave Old World, Michael Wex, and more
Thursday,
May 1, 2008, 7 pm, at the Workmens Circle in New York: Alicia Svigals and author Thane
Rosenbaum: The Golems of Gotham -- A
reading with original music
Join us for a quintessential New York experience featuring distinguished novelist Thane Rosenbaum and world-renowned klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals. the mystery of New York City and the magic of the old-world shtetl come alive and unplugged in a haunting blend of word and song. The program centers on Rosenbaum's novel and the final installment of his acclaimed post-Holocaust trilogy, THE GOLEMS OF GOTHAM. Set in New York city on the eve of the new millennium, GOLEMS is a novel of Jewish renewal and repair in which the music and spirit of a vanished world are transplanted to the Upper West Side of Manhattan through the persona of Ariel, a 14 year-old street musician and klezmer violin prodigy. As she serenades the shoppers on Upper Broadway, she embodies the novels message of second chances, Jewish continuity, truth and salvation. Svigals performs the music from the novel and plays the role of Ariel while Rosenbaum reads life into his words as both the narrator and in the role of the music teacher, who, like everyone else, is amazed that the lost melodies of the Jewish forests have magically been transplanted to the streets of New York City. Following the performance the artists will discuss the inspiration of this unusual collaboration and the broad moral, philosophical and humanistic themes that arise from the novel.
The performance of Golems of Gotham on May 1st will take place at the Hebrew Union College at One West Fourth Street at approximately 7:00 and it will be free of charge. The program will be presented as a Workmen’s Circle Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Commemoration event, co-sponsored by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. For more information or to RSVP, people can call Liz Rosenfeld at 212/889-6800, Ext 215 or email elizabethr@circle.org.
The Workmens Circle: 45 East 33rd Street New York, NY 10016 Ph: 212/889-6800, Ext. 271 www.circle.org.
Thursday, April 24, 2008, 7 pm, Alicia
Svigals' Klezmer FIddle Express with Nicki Parrott, at the Riverdale Y.
Part of The Riverdale Y’s Unleavened Cafe music series. http://www.riverdaley.org/, 5625 Arlington Avenue, Bronx, NY 10471.
Sunday, April 13, 2008, 7:30 pm, Alicia
Svigals joins David Krakauer at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall!
Culmination of David Krakauer’s Workshop For Individuals and Ensembles: Exploring Klezmer, April 8–13, 2008. David Krakauer, an internationally acclaimed clarinetist and one of the foremost musicians in the new wave of klezmer music, leads a six-day workshop exploring both the traditional and experimental sides of klezmer. Renowned klezmer musicians Alicia Svigals (fiddle) and SoCalled (digital sampling/DJ) join Mr. Krakauer as guest faculty and offer instruction in their various areas of expertise. The workshop culminates in a public performance by the participants in Zankel Hall on April 13, 2008. Approximately 20 participants will be selected.
Thursday, March 13, 2008, 7 pm, Alicia
Svigals’ Klezmer Fiddle Express performs at benefit for Keshet
in Boston
For more info: http://www.boston-keshet.org/ Keshet is a not for profit whose mission is to ensure that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews are fully welcomed and included in all parts of the Jewish community. The event will be at the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center 85 W. Newton Street, South End, Boston. Doors open at 7pm, show from 8pm to 10pm. $75 ticket price includes hors d’oeuvres and 2 complimentary drinks. Jewish dietary laws observed. Individual and corporate sponsorships of the event are available. Also on the bill: Joel Derfner, lyricist, composer, and author of Gay Haiku, Jaclyn Friedman, spoken word artist, writer, and activist Michelle Citrin, singer-songwriter, Master of Ceremonies Faith Soloway, musician, performer, and creator of hilarious “schlock operas” such as Jesus Has Two Mommies.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 7 pm, at the
Winter Garden, New York: Alicia joins
David Krakauer and Socalled in a new klezmer score for the Battleship Potemkin.
For the first musical score commissioned by arts World Financial Center, clarinet powerhouse David Krakauer and beat scientist Socalled were invited and given artistic liberty to create a new score for a silent film of their choice. They found their inspiration on a Klezmer Heritage Cruise that traveled down the Ukraine’s Dnieper River, stopping in cities along the way to explore the remaining Jewish communities and perform. A visit to the legendary city of Odessa, the location for Sergei Eisenstein’s classic, The Battleship Potemkin, was the catalyst for these musicians’ first-time collaborative film composition. Commissioned for the World Financial Center 20th Birthday. This performance is part of New Sounds Live, which is curated by John Schaefer, host and producer of WNYC Radio’s popular shows New Sounds and Soundcheck..
The World Financial Center is located in Lower Manhattan, in the heart of Battery Park City. The complex is bordered by Vesey Street along the north, West Street to the east, Liberty Street on the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Click here for directions.
Saturday, April 2, 2005, 9 p.m.: BAM
Cafe Tribute to Alicia Svigals
This event featured clarinet superstar David Krakauer!
On the bill were: Alicia's Klezmer Rock Project, her duo with Canadian jazz
keyboard virtuoso Marilyn Lerner, and a trad fiddle band roots set. And,a
quartet with Krakauer, electronic violist Martha Mooke and tango bassist Pablo
Aslan performing new works, including Rocketekiya, an Osvaldo Golijov
composition originally commissioned for the quartet. Documentary filmmaker
Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl, A Healthy Baby Girl) MCed the evening!
May 21, 2005: Alicia Svigals Fidl Ensemble in
In a"Soiree Klezmer" at the Cite De La Musique, one of Paris' largest halls.
This concert was part of a klezmer series which included Alicia's old bandmate
David Krakauer and his Klezmer Madness. In Alicia's band: fiddlers Mimi Rabson
and Rohan Gregory, Jim Guttman on bass, Pete Rushefsky on tsimbl and Larry
Eagle on drums/percussion.
Thursday, June 16, 2005: Alicia and Mikveh at Carnegie Hall!
Opened a star-studded benefit for the
Folksbiene Yiddish Theater, featuring Mandy Patinkin, David Krakauer and
others. 8 p.m.
June 29, 2005: Alicia Svigals with Mikveh
in
At the 2005
Jewish Culture Festival in Cracow.
Wednesday, July 19, 2005: Alicia and Mikveh at Yiddish Fest 2005
This outdoor concert in the Clark Botanic
Garden in Albertson, NY, also featured legendary singer Claire Barry of the Barry
Sisters -- who joined Mikveh on trumpeter Susan Watt's rendition of
"Joseph, Joseph", to the delight of everyone present!
Saturday, August 6, 2005: Alicia at The
Center for Cultural Exchange in
With Pete Rushefsky on tsimbl and Jim Guttman
on bass.
Sunday, September 18, 2005 at 7:00 PM: Alicia and Mikveh
at Temple Shalom,
Alicia's all-women, all-star klezmer and Yiddish song ensemble in concert. With special guest Marilyn Lerner, celebrated Canadian Latin jazz/new music pianist. Co-sponsored by the JCC of Metrowest, NJ, as part of the New Jersey Jewish Music FestivalMonday, September 19, 2005 at 7:30 PM: Alicia and Mikveh at Satalla
With special guest Marilyn Lerner.
Sunday, December 11, 2005: Alicia at The Brooklyn Public Library
Performing a holiday concert of Jewish music.
Sunday, January 29, 2006 at 11:00 AM: Alicia at the Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan
With a quartet performing a children's
concert of klezmer music and Yiddish song.
Thursday, February 2, 2006: Alicia at Jazz at Lincoln Center
Performing Osvaldo Golijov's Rocketekya
with David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness! in the
Sunday, March 26, 2006: Mikveh at Temple Israel of W. Bloomfield, Michigan
Alicia's all-star all-women rocking klezmer
and Yiddish song group.
Saturday, April 1, 2006: Alicia's Klezmer Party at the Lucille Lortel Theatre
with accordionist Lauren Brody. For kids!
10:30 a.m.
Friday May 19, Mikveh with Top Brass French Horn Choir,
at the
7:00pm 26 Bedford Road, Katonah, NY 10536 914-232-3508. Mikveh will be accompanied by a couple dozen French horns and Alicia will be featured on their arrangement of the Who's Baba O'Reilly.
Friday May 26, 9:26-9:36 p.m. Alicia Svigals and Marilyn
Lerner: Klezmer Unfettered at the
Marilyn is a jazz/new music
improvising pianist extraordinaire, in from
Late Thursday June 1/Early Friday June 2, 1:45-2:35 a.m., 92nd St. Y. Alicia Svigals' Klezmer Fiddle Party
Alicia keeps the crowd awake at the Y's all-night-til-dawn 'Tikkun Leil' Shavuot celebration. Films, lectures, music all night long. http://www.tikkunny.org/
Thursday July 6, Alicia Svigals' Klezmer Fiddle Party
Free admission - rain or shine!
12:30 p.m. lunch concert at Abe Lebewohl Park (formerly St. Mark's Park) in the
East Village; part of the Third Street Music School Settlement's concert
series. Second Avenue and 10th Street, in front of historic St. Mark's
Church-in-the-Bowery. For further info, check
http://www.thirdstreetmusicschool.org and click on "Music in
Tuesday July 25, 9 pm, Mikveh at Mo Pitkin's
34 Avenue A NYC 10009, 212 777 5660 http://www.mopitkins.com/mosshows.html
Thursday August 3, Alicia at Johnny D's in
In a duo with tsimbl player Pete Rushefsky, joined by guest artists: fiddler Mimi Rabson and bass player Jim Guttman. Jazz violinist Matt Glaser opens at 9 p.m.! Klezmer Fiddle Express at 10.
August 5, 2006: Alicia at the Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, NY
In a duo with tsimbl player Pete Rushefsky, plus a kids show in the afternoon.
Saturday, October 28, Mikveh at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia
Alicia's all-women band in concert.
Sunday Oct 29 and Mon Oct 30, at the Metropolitan Room in NYC. Two special nights of klezmer violin, now with special guest, Cantor Lisa B. Segal of Congregation Kolot Chaiyenu!
Lisa B. Segal is the Music Director, Chazzan and founding member of Congregation Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, under the leadership of Rabbi Ellen Lippmann (www.kolotchayeinu.org). Most recently, Lisa appeared in Off the Bimah, an evening of original and traditional jazz, standards and Jewish folk with a twist, featuring clarinetist Marty Ehrlich, saxophonist Roy Nathanson. In 2002 Lisa was a featured artist and soloist for Zero Church: the Prayer Project, in concert with Suzzy and Maggie Roche (of the Roches).
Sunday,
October 29, 9:30 p.m. Alicia Svigals and Pete Rushefsky, tsimbl.
Magical old-world klezmer string sounds.
Monday, October 30, 9:30 p.m. Alicia's party band! A
great opportunity for people planning weddings and bat/bar mitzvahs to
experience the group live. With Aaron Alexander, drums, Art Bailey, accordion,
and Marty Confurius, bass. $25 cover plus two drink minimum.
Metropolitan Room at Gotham, 34 West 22nd St. between 5th & 6th Ave., Tel.
212-206-0440.
Sunday, August 6, 4:45 p.m. Alicia Svigals' Klezmer Fiddle
Express at
With special guest dance instructor Steve Weintraub. Band includes Pete Rushefsky on tsimbl, Jim Guttman on bass, Mimi Rabson on violin. (Time subject to change)
Thursday, November 2, Mikveh at Southern Adventist
University, TN
Monday, November 6, 7:30 p.m. Take a Step for Children Concert with Randy Herman
With special guests including
Alicia. JTS Feinberg Auditorium, 3080 Broadway at
November 18 Alicia Svigals' Klezmer Fiddle Express with guest vocalist Magda Fishman in White Plains, NY.
At Memorial United Methodist Church. For flyer with full information, click here
Wednesday, Dec 20 5:45 p.m. Alicia's Klezmer Party
A Chanukah program followed with latke dinner for under 6-year olds and their families, at the JCC in Manhattan. www.jccmanhattan.org
Saturday, Jan 27 2007 8 p.m. Mikveh at Temple Rodef Shalom, Falls Church, Virginia
http://www.templerodefshalom.org/
Saturday, Feb 18, 2007 Klezmer Unfettered: Marilyn Lerner and
Alicia Svigals at Chutzpah Festival in
Alicia and Canadian jazz piano virtuoso Marilyn Lerner join forces to create Jewish instrumental music like you’ve never heard it before, spinning symphonies out of simple melodies on the fly. Expect the unexpected!
Alicia Svigals curates eclectic April concert series at the
Stone in NYC.
For full schedule, go to www.thestonenyc.com.
Violinist Alicia Svigals, a founder of the
Grammy-winning Klezmatics and the world's best-known klezmer fiddler, is the
curator for the month of April at the Stone, John Zorn's performance space on
the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
John Zorn, the composer who was recently awarded a MacArthur genius grant,
opened the Stone to provide a venue for the most creative new music in
The fifty acts Svigals booked revolve around three themes: Jewish music, virtuoso
female instrumentalist/improvisers/composers, and all kinds of string music,
traditional and contemporary. From an electronic violist turning Bartok on his
head to the lightning speed of traditional Bulgarian fiddling; from a master of
the traditional klezmer clarinet to spontaneous 21st century keyboard
explorations of those ancient melodies, the month is a feast of the most
interesting music coming out of New York and beyond.
Svigals' own shows are Saturday night April 7 and Friday night April 27; she'll
also be sitting in with a number of the artists throughout the month. The week
of the 9th spotlights klezmer and a dozen great women artists take the stage
from the 21st on.
Saturday, April 7 2007 Alicia
and pianist Uli Geissendorfer and
friends at the Stone, 8 pm
Friday, April 27 2007 Alicia
and pianist Marilyn Lerner at the Stone,
8 pm
Sunday, May 20 2007 Vodkazak at Brooklyn Center for Performing Arts
Alicia's program of Lubavitcher Hasidic "nigunim" (wordless spiritual songs) played on fiddle, mandolin, accordion and bass.
Sunday, June 3 2007 Alicia
‘s party band at Great Jewish Wedding Event in NJ
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Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9 2007 Alicia
and tsimbl player Pete Rushefsky in Cincinnati dance concert
Monday, June 25, 2007 Alicia and author Evan Eisenberg at Scribblers on the Roof, Ansche Chesed, New York
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Premiere of a unique collaboration -- Evan Eisenberg's new novel, Mary Christ, set to Alicia Svigals' music and performed live |
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Monday, June 25 at 8 pm, at Ansche Chesed, 251 W. 100th
St. (at West End Ave). On the roof if weather allows, indoors otherwise.
Suggested contribution: $5. |
Friday, June 29 at 8 pm, at Sideshow Gallery, 319 Bedford
Avenue, 718-486-8180, $10. On the L Train. Sideshowgallery.com
A collaboration with pianist Uli
Geissendoerfer, whose imaginative responses to Alicia's klezmer fiddling offers
a fresh perspective on this old and beautiful tradition. At 9 p.m., after
Alicia and Uli's set, raga singer Steve Sandberg and his band perform -- and
Alicia and Uli will sit in.
Pianist, composer and arranger Uli Geissendoerfer is a versatile and remarkable
musician exploring rhythms and melodies across many styles of music, with a
special emphasis on Latin and modern jazz and improvisation. Originally from
Munich he has worked with among others William Cepeda (awarded a Grammy
nomination), Jimmy Cobb, Tito Puente, Giovanni Hidalgo, Blood Sweat &
Tears, Leslie Uggams, Cirque du Soleil and Ute Lemper. His current projects include DE.US a Bavarian
World Jazz crossover and Bangalore Breakdown an Indian World Jazz project
featuring Premik Russell Tubbs and Badal Roy. You may reach Mr. Geissendoerfer
at ulimusic@gmail.com.
Emmy-nominated composer, vocalist and keyboardist Steve Sandberg has worked
with musicians from all over the globe. His encounter with noted African art
theorist Robert Farris Thompson inspired him to immerse himself in the world of
Afro-Caribbean, Brasilian and eventually North Indian music. He has toured with
Celia Cruz, Bebel Gilberto, Ruben Blades and David Byrne. He is the musical
director and composer for the hit children's TV series "Dora the Explorer"
and "Go, Diego, Go" and studies raga singing with Ustad Mashkoor Ali
Khan.
Friday, July 14, 2007 Alicia
and tsimbl player Pete Rushefsky at Maverick Concerts, Woodstock
In a Mahler-themed show!!
Thursday, July 19, 2007, 12:30 p.m. Alicia’s
party band in free outdoor concer
Music in Abe Lebewohl Park: Every summer since 1982, Third Street Music School Settlement and the 10th & Stuyvesant Streets Block Association, in cooperation with St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, have presented Music in Abe Lebewohl Park, a series of free outdoor concerts. These eight programs by professional artists offer a wide spectrum of music, much of which reflects the Lower East Side's diverse ethnic culture. Concerts take place on eight Thursdays in June and July at 12:30 p.m. in Abe Lebewohl Park, Second Avenue and 10th Street, in front of historic St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery. In case of rain, performances are held on the portico of the church. http://www.thirdstreetmusicschool.org/community.htm
Sunday, October 7, 2007 Alicia and accordionist Art Bailey at the 92nd St Y in NYC
Bringing back to life long-lost
Jewish melodies of pre-war
Friday , November 23, 2007 –
Concertgebouw (Amsterdam)
Saturday, November 24, 2007 – RASA
(Utrecht)
Sunday, November 25, 2007 – Zuiderpershuis
(Antwerpen)
Alicia and tsimbl player Pete Rushefsky, presented by RASA Centre for World Cultures
Stay tuned for details
Tony Kushner's Its An Undoing World, or Why Should It Be Easy When It Can Be Hard, with music by Svigals
Svigals' collaboration with playwright Tony
Kushner (Angels in America) continued on January 22 at the Jewish Museum
in NYC and on April 19 at the Classic Stage Company in NYC with readings of
this work-in-progress, a surreal homage to the playwright's female forebears. The
performances featured Kathleen Chalfant, Swoosie Kurtz, Alice Playten, Wendy
Wasserstein and other great actors, and Alicia's original score and music
direction, including new songs co-written by Svigals and Kushner. Click here to hear a clip of the title song,
performed by the Klezmatics, and here for a clip of Heart
of the World, on Mikveh's eponymous debut CD. Future performances to be announced soon!
Alicia and friends live on WFMU's Transpacific Sound Paradise
Click here
to hear Alicia, tsimbl player Pete Rushefsky and trumpeter/vocalist Susan
Watts. Featuring live music and discussion with host Rob Weisberg, plus rare
and not yet released recordings!
American Classics: Klezmer Concertos and Encores
Renowned composer Osvaldo Golijov, who has
written extensively for the Kronos Quartet and was recently profiled in the New
York Times, was commissioned by Merkin Concert Hall in New York to write a
piece especially for Alicia and clarinetist David Krakauer. A recording of the
work, entitled Rocketekya, appears on this volume, just released, of the
Milken Archive for Jewish Music's new music series, on the
Alicia's writing on klezmer revival published in book
American
Klezmer: Roots and Offshoots has just been published by
Alicia records with jazz composer Terry Dame and her all-women outfit
Monkey on a Rail – the new album of Terry Dame's
groove-based modal jazz – is now in stores, and it features Alicia on
psychedelic electric violin.
Last year, Alicia was engaged by Chabad rabbi
Zalman Goldstein to arrange traditional Lubavitcher nigunim (ecstatic and
spiritual Hasidic melodies) for a quartet of fiddle, mandolin, accordion and
string bass. The resulting recording, Vodkazak, is out in stores now. The album
includes several bonus live tracks by a group of Russian folk musicians
wielding fiddles and balalaikas.
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Books with Alicia's transcriptions of her tunes and ornaments!
Alicia is included in two books designed to teach a whole panoply of fiddle styles to interested musicians – these collections of sheet music also include accompanying CDs, interviews and playing tips: The Contemporary Violinist by Julie Lyon Lieberman and Fiddler Magazine Favorites . The winter 98/99 issue of Fiddler Magazine also includes one of Svigals' transcriptions: order it here.