Klezmer Conservatory Band

 Would you know how to dance to the riotous, celebratory music of a Jewish wedding?  Have you ever heard it?  Klezmer music draws from an amazing variety of sources - the songs of itinerant medieval Jewish minstrels, Eastern European folk traditions, synagogue chant, American blues and Jazz. "In America, immigrant Jewish musicians adapted this music to the new rhythms and instruments they found, creating new klezmer forms. Until the 1940's, klezmer orchestras flourished, but with the new styles of music, and the immigrant Jews' desire to appear 'American,' the klezmer tradition faded. Today, however, a klezmer revival is in full swing, with the Klezmer Conservatory Band playing a prominent role."  

Sunday, February 10, the world-renowned Klezmer Conservatory Band comes to the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom from 3:00 - 6:00 PM.   Holy Cross students, members of the greater Worcester Jewish Community, and other interested friends and neighbors are invited for a free concert including dancing in the aisles and educational opportunities to learn about the fusion of cultures that came together in Klezmer music.
Co-sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding, The Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts, and the Office of Student Programs and Leadership Development. 

Now entering its seventeenth season, the Band has performed concerts from coast to coast, at such prestigious venues as Wolftrap, Great Woods, Radio City Music Hall, the Ravinia Festival, the Saratoga Music Festival, and the Mann Music Center (Philadelphia).   The band regularly tours Europe, having appeared in the first-ever International Yiddish Festival in Krakow, Poland, and at the Dranouter Folk Festival in Belgium.  They have also performed at Australia's Adelaide Festival and New Zealand's International Festival of the Arts .