Our Mission
The Klezmer Institute was founded in the fall of 2018 to advance the study, preservation, and performance of Ashkenazic Jewish expressive culture through research, teaching, publishing and programming. Klezmer Institute projects will build on previous scholarship to define and document the unique musical heritage of the Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern Europe. The Institute will seek to increase communication and collaboration between professional and amateur musicians, dancers, and scholars throughout the world, and will be a champion for Ashkenazic expressive culture as an important means to understand Jewish culture in the past, and as a springboard to inspire new generations to engage with an essential cultural legacy.
Research
The Klezmer Institute seeks to support and develop individual and collaborative research projects in our areas of focus: klezmer music, Ashkenazic dance, Yiddish song, and Hasidic music.
Publishing
The Klezmer Institute has begun a series of music folios by authors with specialized knowledge about klezmer music and its relationship to Ashkenazic dance. These folios will highlight the specialized repertoire of klezmer families and to document the repertoires of important klezmer musicians.
Programming
Klezmer Institute programming will support our research and publishing projects through outreach to the public, and as a means to raise the awareness of Ashkenazic expressive culture within Jewish and non-Jewish communities.
Responding to Covid-19
Our in-person programming is on hold, but check out our events pages for upcoming Zoom lectures and workshops!
Visit our Resource Pages
The current corona virus restrictions have resulted in a catastrophic loss of income for the klezmer community. But many have been using this period of physical isolation to find community through deep dives into some of the foundational texts of the klezmer corpus. Klezmer Institute is supporting "Archiving in real time" of some of these efforts so that this work can be visible to future musicians and scholars.
Meet the Directors
Our team of directors oversees day to day operations of the Klezmer Institute. Our work exists as the means to support the work of the many volunteers who have contributed their knowledge, artistry, and research to the projects we are working on. Find their names and their work throughout our project and resource pages!
Clara Byom, Development Director
Clara Byom is a versatile multi-instrumentalist, musicologist, arts administrator, and tunesmith based in Albuquerque, NM. As Development Director, Clara will coordinate grant writing for Institute projects, develop membership and fundraising drives, and oversee traditional outreach and social media campaigns for the Institute.
Christina Crowder, Operations Director
Christina is a klezmer accordionist, music researcher, and most recently music director and performing artist in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of the Broadway play “Indecent.” As Operations Director, Christina manages day-to-day operations for the Institute, including editorial supervision for publishing projects, grant administration, project development, and other back-end operations.
Walter Zev Feldman, Artistic Director
Walter Zev Feldman is widely considered the leading scholar of European klezmer music, viewed both in historical perspective and as an integral part of the music of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. As Creative Director of the Institute, Zev will develop and oversee research, publishing, and performance programming, as well as setting the artistic and creative vision of the Institute.
News & Events
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Klezmer Institute Awarded NEH DHAG Grant
Klezmer Institute Awarded NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant for Klezmer Archive Project.
2020 Fundraising Appeal
Today we are excited to launch our first Annual Fundraising Appeal for the Klezmer Institute, an organization solely focused on Ashkenazic expressive culture – the unique musical heritage of the Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern Europe. By the end of 2020, we hope to raise $3,000 to support the Klezmer Institute’s mission.