Music Workshop | 1:00 pm

Dance Workshop | 3:00 pm

Concert & Dance Party | 7:00 pm

Dance leader Miryam Coppersmith will team up with Phoenix’s Little Chef Klezmer Band (LCKB) for the Phoenix Klezmer and Yiddish Dance Festival. Coppersmith and LCKB bandleader Max Schwimmer will present educational dance and music workshops, appropriate for participants of all ages and backgrounds. Participants in the music workshop will learn how to perform traditional klezmer melodies in a distinctive klezmer style, and dance workshop participants will explore the basics of Yiddish dance. All participants will be able to show off what they learned at the evening dance party and concert alongside LCKB and Coppersmith.

The Phoenix Klezmer and Yiddish Dance Festival is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. Festival events are open to individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.

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Christina Crowder, a leading researcher and performer of klezmer music, will perform a concert with the Little Chef Klezmer Band, spotlighting newly-available klezmer repertoire. Crowder’s visit is part of the “Trampled Manuscripts'' international residency touring program, showcasing a collection of about 1,400 songs from present-day Ukraine and Belarus, originating from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and made available to researchers and performers within the past three years. The “Trampled Manuscripts” touring program brings together local musicians and Jewish communities to engage in historical repertoire, deepening understanding of Ashkenazic expressive culture and encouraging audience members to adapt tradition into contemporary practice.

Christina has been performing and researching Jewish music for thirty years, beginning in Budapest, Hungary in 1993 as a founding member of Di Naye Kapelye, and continuing with a Fulbright grant to Romania to document Jewish music in 1999, and since 2002 with an active research, teaching, and performing career in the US. She is Executive Director of the Klezmer Institute, which has been awarded three NEH Grants for Institute projects (2021-2025).

The “Trampled Manuscripts" residency project is funded by a grant from the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix, with additional support from ASU Jewish Studies and the East Valley JCC.

A presentation and conversation with the Klezmer Institute’s Christina Crowder.

This talk will present two NEH-funded Digital Humanities initiatives of the Klezmer Institute: The Klezmer Archive Project, and the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project. These interlinked projects are using creative project design and novel technologies to center musicians and practitioners in the research process, and are developing groundbreaking tools for the documentation of heritage culture.

This program will be interesting for students in Jewish Studies, music and musicology, anthropology and folklore, and anyone interested in crowdsourcing methodologies and digital humanities.

Free admission, no registration required. Download flyer here.

The “Trampled Manuscripts" residency project is funded by a grant from the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix, with additional support from ASU Jewish Studies and the East Valley JCC.

Short performance featuring Max Schwimmer (saxophone), Dominique Holley (accordion) and Andy Gonzalez (tuba). The Simcha Showcase is a one-stop-shop for anyone planning a bar/bat mitzvah, wedding, or other Jewish celebration. Meet top Arizona Jewish event vendors including DJs, event planners, photographers & videographers, caterers & bakers, photo booths, and more. Free and open to the public, registration required. Learn more.

Music for dancing at a 75th-birthday party, including classical Yiddish song selections with guest vocalist Hazzan Bernard Savitz.

More here.

Community-wide celebration in honor of Israel’s 75th birthday with over 47 local Phoenix Jewish organizations coming together to host a fun, interactive event for all ages.

Learn more here.