All workshops begin at 10 am on the first day and end in the late evening on the last day. Please plan to be in Weimar the day before your workshop begins and leave no earlier than the day after it ends. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our office by email or phone and we’ll do our best to answer them.
YIDDISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM
July 29 - August 11, 2023
With Dr. Khayele Beer, Dr. Diana Matut, Janina Wurbs and others (tba)
(If you’re planning to take this workshop, consider staying on for a few more days to catch the Festival Weekend, August 12 & 13, with hands-on “taster” courses, concerts, lectures, sing-alongs and other events!)
INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED SONG WORKSHOP
July 18 - 25, 2023
With Sveta Kundish, Dilek Türkan, Tayfun Guttstadt, Vassilis Ketentzoglou, Alan Bern and others (tba)
INTRODUCTION TO YIDDISH SONG WORKSHOP
July 20 - 25, 2023
With Sasha Lurje, Sanne Möricke and others (tba)
INTRODUCTION TO KLEZMER MUSIC WORKSHOP
July 19 - 25, 2023
With Szilvia Csaranko, Susi Evans and Johannes Gräßer
INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED INSTRUMENTAL WORKSHOP SESSION I
July 27 - August 3, 2023
With Tayfun Guttstadt, Ilya Shneyveys, Kyriakos Gouventas, Vassilis Ketentzoglou, Mark Kovnatskiy, Marine Goldwasser, Yazan Alsabbagh, Alan Bern
Artist-in-Residence: Sanne Möricke
(Please note: to make room for more participants, there are two different Intermediate/Advanced Instrumental Workshop Sessions this year. Both workshops focus on the same basic topics and both are for intermediate and advanced participants. The differences between them are their dates and the teaching teams. It is possible to register for both sessions.
INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED INSTRUMENTAL WORKSHOP SESSION II
August 5 - 12, 2023
With Tayfun Guttstadt, Ilya Shneyveys, Susi Evans, Zoë Aqua, Danai Loukidi, Alan Bern and others (tba)
Artist-in-Residence: Szilvia Csaranko
(Please note: to make room for more participants, there are two different Intermediate/Advanced Instrumental Workshop Sessions this year. Both workshops focus on the same basic topics and both are for intermediate and advanced participants. The differences between them are their dates and the teaching teams. It is possible to register for both sessions.
AND! If you’re planning to take this workshop, consider staying on for a few more days to catch the Festival Weekend, August 12 & 13, with hands-on “taster” courses, concerts, lectures, sing-alongs and other events!)
HASIDIC MUSIC WORKSHOP
July 30 - August 3, 2023
With Sasha Lurje, Craig Judelman
(for instrumentalists and singers)
YOUTH KLEZMER BAND
August 8 - 12, 2023
With Hannah Ochner
(If you’re planning to take this workshop, consider staying on for a few more days to catch the Festival Weekend, August 12 & 13, with hands-on “taster” courses, concerts, lectures, sing-alongs and other events!)
YIDDISH & GRECO-TURKISH DANCE ORCHESTRA
August 14 - 19, 2023
With Emil Goldschmidt, Patrick Farrell and others (tba)
(If you’re planning to take this workshop, consider arriving a few days earlier to catch the Festival Weekend, August 12 & 13, with hands-on “taster” courses, concerts, lectures, sing-alongs and other events!)
YIDDISH & GRECO-TURKISH DANCE WORSKHOP
August 15 - 19, 2023
With Erik Bendix and others (tba)
(If you’re planning to take this workshop, consider arriving a few days earlier to catch the Festival Weekend, August 12 & 13, with hands-on “taster” courses, concerts, lectures, sing-alongs and other events!)
YIDDISH CHOIR WORKSHOP
August 16 - 19, 2023
With (tba)
(If you’re planning to take this workshop, consider arriving a few days earlier to catch the Festival Weekend, August 12 & 13, with hands-on “taster” courses, concerts, lectures, sing-alongs and other events!)
FESTIVAL WEEKEND
August 12 - 13, 2023
From the story of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream we know that there are both “fat years” and “lean years.” Under both circumstances, it’s our task to create as much joy and meaningful experience as we can. This year, we are working on a new concept – a Festival Weekend. There will be hands-on workshops, lectures, city tours, concerts and large-scale outdoor events, but concentrated in two days instead of spread out over four or five. For newcomers to Yiddish Summer Weimar as well as friends from past years, the Festival Weekend is the place to meet or re-connect with other festival visitors and to celebrate being together in a spirit of music and hope for the future.
Dr. Alan Bern awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on September 30th!
Download the press release here.
Photos: Andreas Welskop (above)/Adam Berry
Hi everybody, here’s the Yiddish Summer Weimar 2022 wrap-up!
July 14 – August 20
Thanks to daily testing and taking the temperature of all participants, teachers, staff and volunteers, we were able to conduct most of our workshops, concerts and other events indoors again this year. More than 200 people from around the world participated in 14 immersion-style workshops that explored this year’s special topic: Greco-Turkish-Yiddish Connections. The workshops were led by 33 teachers, supported by 8 Artists-in-Residence and 42 volunteers, and we were delighted to welcome the return of the Dance Workshop after a 2-year break.
We presented 95 public events such as concerts and jam sessions in Weimar, Erfurt, Eisenach and other cities and towns in Thuringia, attended by approximately 9000 people. During the Festival Week, in addition to 5 stellar evening concerts, we presented 6 audience participation “mini-workshops” led by 11 teachers, a lecture series, Meet-the-Artist, the Late-Night Cabaret, and, thanks to a new cooperation with Lernort Weimar, daily city tours presenting the history of Jews and Jewish culture in Weimar over the past centuries.
The Final Dance Ball returned in full glory as an outdoor public event, and for the first time ever we presented a 4-hour outdoor concert that filled the Herderplatz with people, music and joy.
Yiddish Summer Weimar artists and workshop participants joined and contributed music to a very special commemorative walk from Weimar’s main train station all the way to the entrance of Buchenwald, a distance of 7.5 kilometers.
Thank you to everyone who gave their utmost to make Yiddish Summer Weimar 2022 a success! Keep your eye on this website and our social media to stay informed about our plans for 2023. For the very latest information, sign up for our newsletter.
We wish you all good health and look forward to seeing you again next year, if not sooner!
The YSW-Team