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Unique klezmer + Yiddish song residency features diverse guest artists

Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Dmitri Gaskin

Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell and Dmitri Gaskin. Photo by Stefan Loeber.

On Oct. 24-29, the CU Boulder College of Music will host a unique klezmer and Yiddish song residency featuring singer Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, accordionist and composer Dmitri Gaskin, violinist Zo禱 Aqua and cellist Raffi Bodenall leading musicians in the international Yiddish music scene.泭

Organized by Associate Professor of Music Theory Yonatan Malin, the residency will include workshops for the strings, voice and composition areas; guest performances in several classes; a泭 featuring Yiddish song, klezmer dances and Central European folk tunes (Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., Grusin Music Hall); a泭 on the use of black music in Jewish spaces (Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m., S102, Imig Music Building); and a colloquium on klezmer and Transylvanian folk music pedagogy (Oct. 27, 2:30 p.m., S101, Imig Music Building). The concert, workshop and colloquium are all free and open to the public.

Zoë Aqua

Zo禱 Aqua

Im excited for this residency because it will bring in a remarkable group of young musicians who have followed unique musical and personal paths, says Malin. Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell is an operatic bass who combines African American traditions with music of Jewish Eastern Europe in a multi-diasporic sound. Zo禱 Aqua is a klezmer and classical violinist and educator who spent several years studying folk music pedagogy in Transylvania. And Raffi Boden and Dmitri Gaskin also have followed unique pathsBoden is an Oberlin- and Juilliard-trained cellist who has a dynamic freelance career in New York playing experimental chamber music, jazz and klezmer. Gaskin is an accordionist, composer and arranger specializing in klezmer and Polish and Romanian folk music.泭

Raffi Boden

Raffi Boden

All four are multiskilled, multidisciplinary artists who will serve as models and inspiration for our students.

Adds Malin, The residency involves so many departments in the College of Music! Anthony Russell will give a workshop and master class for voice majors, Zo禱 Aqua will lead a workshop for all the string studios and Dmitri Gaskin will give a guest presentation in泭Associate Professor of Composition泭Annika Socolofskys orchestration class.泭

All four guest artists will also perform and present in Malins course, Music in Jewish Cultures; and in泭Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology + International Affairs泭Ben Teitelbaums course, Introduction to Musical Styles and Ideas. Additionally, Aqua and Boden will lead a rehearsal for the colleges泭Cross-Genre American Roots String Ensemble, taught by Jazz Studies Lecturer Enion Pelta-Tiller.

Malin concludes, This residency has been a remarkable opportunity for campuswide collaboration. These interdisciplinary connections reflect the College of Musics泭universal musician approach to achieving our mission, supporting our students to become compassionate and engaged world citizens.

The klezmer + Yiddish song residency is a campus collaboration among the College of Music, the Program in Jewish Studies, Jews of Color: Histories and Futures, the Center for African and African American Studies, the American Music Research Center, the Religious Studies Department and the History Department. In the College of Music, this residency is supported by泭the Roser Visiting Artist Endowment.