Next activity
Concert Gennady Fomin and friends at the JCC Erfurt on July 27.
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Dear Friends!
The hottest month of summer seems to have begun, which in my case means that soon, namely on July 11, I will traditionally go to the Yiddish Summer Weimar festival, which will start on July 12 and end on August 17.
Before that, however, I will give a concert with my own concert program Di naye Yidishe Melodyes (new Yiddish melodies) As part of a private event that will take place in Hamburg on July 10, the day before I leave for Weimar.
This year is the festival's 25th anniversary, so this year's festival will have the most diverse program, incorporating themes from previous years. You can check out all of the festival's events on its page at this link: https://yiddishsummer.eu.
Speaking about the festival events with my participation, here is a list of them for the time of the festival:
On July 15, I will take part in a faculty concert Milestones I, in which I will perform as a singer with Dr. Alan Bern, singing a song from the musical theater piece “Di Megile fun Vaymar”, with lyrics by Itzik Manger and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and music by Alan Bern. The concert will take place at the music school “Johann Nepomuk Hummel” (Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1, 99423 Weimar) at 8 pm.
On July 19, together with Alan Bern and Morgan Maruthiah, I will participate in the concert Dray Doyres (Three Generations, Yiddish). This will be a very interesting concert featuring three generations of Yiddish musicians. The concert will take place at the small synagogue in Erfurt (An der Stadtmünze 4, 99084 Erfurt) at 8 pm.
On July 27 I will participate in the concert Gennady Fomin and Friends, in which I will have the honor to share the stage with one of my earliest teachers of klezmer music, the clarinetist of the Kharkiv Klezmer Band, Gennday Fomin (Kharkiv, Ukraine), with whom we have been deeply connected since 2003, as well as the director of the Yiddish Summer Weimar festival, my long-time friend and mentor Dr. Alan Bern, and Gennday's daughter, flutist and saxophonist Daria Fomina, who lives in Hamburg, Germany, at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The concert will take place at the cultural and educational center of the Jewish Land Community of Erfurt (Juri-Gagarin-Ring 21, 99084 Erfurt) at 5 pm.
From August 4-9, together with one of the world's best klezmer clarinetists, Christian Dawid (Berlin, Germany), I will be leading the workshop Advanced Introduction to Klezmer & Yiddish Music, designed exclusively for conservatory students and professional instrumentalists. I would like to remind you that it is still possible to register for the Workshop by first sending your demo recording to my e-mail and then, if approved, registering via this link.
On August 10, as part of the duo Di Yidishe Neshome, I will be playing a concert together with Dr. Alan Bern at Tonndorf Castle (Das Schloß 156, 99438 Tonndorf). As part of our concert, we will play traditional Klezmer and Hassidic melodies as well as our own compositions. The concert starts at 7 pm.
On August 16, I will be present with several other members of the Semer Ensemble project at the presentation of the film “I dance, but my heart is crying” directed by Christian Weinert, about the history of the Jewish recording studio and store “Semer” that operated in Berlin in the thirties until the November 1938 ferry, and about the Semer Ensemble itself. The film will be shown at the Lichthaus Weimar Cinema (Am Kirschberg 4, 99423 Weimar) at 8 pm.
And finally, on August 17, together with numerous other Yiddish Summer Weimar artists, I will participate in the final festival concert called Mazltov!, which will take place from 4 to 10 pm at the Weimar Market Square (Markt 1, 99423 Weimar).
I would be very happy to see all of you at any of these events! I wish you an enjoyable vacation, and hope to see you at my concerts!
Best wishes, yours,
Mark Kovnatskiy.
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Check my calendar for more information about my future concerts!
My concert schedule is gradually filling up, which is good news.
On the other hand, this means that if you would like to organize an event with my participation (be it a concert, a klezmer music workshop, a Yiddish dance workshop, or a lecture), then now is the time to hurry up and contact me regarding possible dates!