KlezCalifornia Presents Yiddish Cabaret

KlezCalifornia, the leading Yiddish-inspired cultural organization in the Bay Area, will showcase contemporary, traditional, and original interpretations of Yiddish culture and music at their annual Cabaret by the Bay. The Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Los Gatos will host KlezCalifornia on October 22 from 4:00-6:00pm.

“We are thrilled to announce this year’s performers and musicians. Each cabaret will present different solo performers. Both events will feature the some of the Bay Area’s most beloved entertainers designed to reach both young audiences and baby boomers,” said Judy Kunofsky, Executive Director. Cabaret by the Bay will feature radio personality Andy Muchin as the Master of Ceremonies. Klezmer music will be provided by the hot klezmer band, The Gonifs (Jeanette Lewicki, Sheldon Brown, Richard Saunders, Aaron Kierbel, plus Joshua Laurenzi in Berkeley) and klezmer dancing will be led by Bruce Bierman.

Solo performers at Cabaret by the Bay in Los Gatos will be comic vaudevillian and juggler Sara Felder, Yiddish vocalist Heather Klein, and klezmer trumpeter and vocalist Stephen Saxon. The House of Bagels will sell traditional East European Jewish foods including knishes and egg creams (chocolate soda creams).

Cabaret by the Bay in Los Gatos takes place on Sunday, November 20, 2017, at 4:00pm at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center, 14855 Oka Rd, Los Gatos, CA 95032.

Tickets are $25 general; $20 for APJCC members; $18 for students, seniors; no charge 6-12 with a ticketed adult. For ticket sales and more details please go to www.klezcalifornia.org or call 415.789.7679.

There will also be a second Cabaret by the Bay at the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut Street, Berkeley 94709 on November 5 from 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets for Berkeley are $25 general; $10 for teens; no charge kids 6-12 with a ticketed adult.

More About KlezCalifornia and Yiddish Culture

KlezCalifornia is a Bay Area-based group founded in 2003 to connect people and communities with Yiddish culture.

Yiddish is a Jewish language that was spoken by millions of Jews in Eastern Europe for a thousand years. Yiddish was used for everyday speech, for commerce with other Jews, and for discussions about religious subjects. For many years Yiddish was the international language that united most Ashkenazi Jews of the world. Yiddish is written in the Jewish alphabet, also known as the Hebrew alphabet. In the mid-20th century after the Holocaust, for most Jews, Yiddish moved from being a language of communication to a language of creativity and expression. Writers, poets, actors and singers wrote and performed in Yiddish. Some ultra-Orthodox Jews in the U.S. and in Israel still use Yiddish as their everyday language.

Yiddish culture encompasses the language, arts, and customs of 1,000 years of Jewish community life across Eastern Europe, and now flourishes in the U.S., Canada, Israel, South Africa, Argentina, and elsewhere. While the Holocaust destroyed Jewish life in most of Eastern Europe, the past forty years have witnessed a revival of many artistic and cultural components of pre-Holocaust life, such as klezmer music, song, food, dance, calligraphy, paper cutting, film, and folklore, as well as short stories, poetry, and theater (in their original language and in translation).

Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe, originally consisting largely of dance tunes and instrumental pieces for weddings and other celebrations, and now used for "simkhehs" (family and community celebrations a.k.a. "simchas"), concerts, dance parties, and personal enjoyment. Its traditional sources include synagogue prayer melodies and the tunes of other ethnic groups in Central and Eastern Europe. Now, some musicians combine traditional klezmer with other kinds of music, for contemporary sounds.

For more information and tickets: www.KlezCalifornia.org or please call 415.789.7679.

About the JCC

The Addison-Penzak JCC of Silicon Valley (www.apjcc.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community center and is open to people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Its programs and services include a state-of-the-art Fitness Center, Aquatics Center, and Tennis Complex, full gymnasium, highly regarded APJCC Preschool, summer camps and after-school programs, adult education, art exhibits and cultural events, and social and enrichment programs for children, teenagers, adults and seniors.

The Addison-Penzak JCC is a beneficiary of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley and is affiliated with the JCC Association of North America.