KLEZMER´S BOYZ OF SUMMER! June 16, 2024

KLEZMER´S BOYZ OF SUMMER!

Featuring music by Alex Parke (clarinet), Raffi Boden (cello)

 & Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl/hammered dulcimer)

Sunday night, June 16, 7:30pm

at the Old Broadway Synagogue

(15 Old Broadway between 125th & 126th Streets in Manhattan)

Suggested donation: $10

A concert featuring three of the contemporary Yiddish music scene's leading performers - featuring the Old Broadway debut of São Paulo-based clarinetist Alex Parke, well-regarded for a performance style that captures the nuances of old-time 20th century European and New York klezmer clarinetists such as Titunshneyder, Belf, Brandwein and Tarras. Parke is accompanied by Raffi Boden (cello) and Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl/hammered dulcimer). This program is presented by the Old Broadway Synagogue in partnership with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance and Yiddish New York.

Biographies of performers:

Alex Parke is a clarinetist, ethnomusicologist, and composer working in NYC and São Paulo who specializes in Klezmer and Brazilian music. He has performed with leading figures in the contemporary klezmer scene such as Frank London, Michael Winograd, Jake Shulman-Ment, Christina Crowder, Ilya Shneyveys, Pete Rushefsky. Parke is well-regarded for a performance style that captures the nuances of old-time 20th century European and New York klezmer clarinetists such as Titunshneyder, Belf, Brandwein and Tarras. He works as a freelancer in NYC and São Paulo and has been part of various musical projects, gaining renown for his musicality and musical intention.

Raffi Boden has forged his own expansive style on the cello, combining his fluency on the instrument with a reverence for folk traditions and a flair for experimentation and improvisation. Since graduating from the Juilliard School, Raffi has cultivated a multi-dimensional career as a NY-based freelance musician, performing in ensembles from experimental chamber trios to raucous klezmer big bands and in venues ranging from intimate neighborhood haunts to Carnegie Hall. He's active in the klezmer scene in NY, where he plays with the acclaimed band Mamaliga – their debut album of original klezmer music was hailed as "virtuosic and vibrant." He's also part of chamber jazz group Arco Belo, with whom he's toured internationally and performed at the Kennedy Center; of Ensemble Phoenicia, a group dedicated to middle eastern contemporary classical music; and Levyosn, a yiddish song quartet. Raffi holds a Master’s from the Juilliard School and a B.M./B.A. from Oberlin College & Conservatory.

Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl) A leading performer, composer and researcher of the Jewish tsimbl (cimbalom or hammered dulcimer), Rushefsky tours and records internationally with violinist Itzhak Perlman as part of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and collaborates with a number of leading figures in the contemporary klezmer scene including Andy Statman, Adrianne Greenbaum, Steven Greenman, Joel Rubin, Eleonore Biezunski, Michael Alpert, Madeline Solomon, Zhenya Lopatnik, Zoe Aqua, Jake Shulman-Ment, Keryn Kleiman, Eleonore Weill, Alex Parke, Ira Temple, Lauren Brody, Avi Fox-Rosen and Michael Winograd. Since 2006 he has served as Executive Director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of diverse immigrant music traditions from around the world. He is a founder of the annual Yiddish New York festival, curated the Yiddish program at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and has authored a number of articles on traditional music and culture.

We are grateful for the support of the Atran Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.