Download 13th Singer`s Warsaw Festival 2016_press note

Jewish Culture Festival
Singer's Warsaw
This year, Warsaw will yet again be brimming with the Jewish cultural hosting the 13th edition of
Festival on 27 August - 4 September.
Singer's Warsaw Festival features the Jewish culture at its best. We offer to present our audience
numerous outstanding artists, writers, musicians and their innovative projects. In addition, our
audience has a chance to learn about Jewish history, tradition and customs. We talk to experts,
historians, researchers and scientists, provide the ground for a discussion, view and expertise
sharing.
Our Festival brings together all people who find the world of Yiddish an important element of the
Polish-Jewish heritage.
TRIBUTE TO TRADITION
Music is an extremely important part of Singer Festival. Through their work, the invited artists
show their desire to uncover not just the history but also the contemporary time. Therefore, this
year's edition will show the musical path taken and the directions followed by the Yiddish culture.
Already a tradition, the Festival will be officially opened with a concert performed in the Nożyk
Synagogue, during which we will have a chance to listen to the most distinguished cantors. Cast:
Yaakov Lemmer, Benzion Miller, Tzudik Greenwald accompanied by the excellent piano player
Menchaem Bristowski and the Warsaw Chamber Opera Orchestra. Additionally, the orchestra
will also perform on Grzybowski Square one of the most important liturgical works in the history of
music - Mozart's Requiem. The last work composed by the genius artist will be performed by four
excellent soloists, the Vocal Ensemble and the Sinfonietta Orchestra of the Warsaw Chamber Opera
House. We will go on a trip around "The Jewish String Music of the 20th century" guided by the
elite of Polish string artists. Katarzyna Duda, Katarzyna Brudnik-Gałązka and Marcin Zdunik.
We will watch an amazing project "Yiddish Tango" that will take us on a journey in time back to
1930s Warsaw. The singer, Olga Avigail and the composer and pianist Hadrian Tabęcki's
ensemble "Tango Attack" will perform new arrangements of tangos in Polish, Yiddish, Hebrew and
Spanish.
FROM ABROAD
This year's star of the finale concert will be the klezmer band from New York, The Klezmatics
(USA).The band's comprehensive and eclectic work combines the variety of styles and types of
music such as traditional Jewish songs, jazz, gospel and rock music. Open-air concert "The
Klezmers' Night" will be a good occasion to hear Hamsa (UK), a band performing Jewish music
of Eastern Europe and sephardic Turkey and thus making it one authentic, Mediterranean musical
melting pot. There will also be a performance by a band founded by two Iranians and one Serbian
from Austria, Sormeh trio, and their specialty is an eclectic way of combining lively improvisation
scooped from the tradition of oriental and Balkan music with Jewish music.
The writer, Primo Levi, and his concentration camps-related poems have become the basis for the
multimedia project by Francesco Bruno Ensemble "Remember" (Italy). Touching music is a
background for Levi's poetry and his testimony to the tragic reality in a death camp.
As always open to innovative music projects, the organizers invite the audience to the show of the
Israeli trio from Tel Aviv Savannah And The Stringz. During their first visit to Warsaw, the band
will present very bold musical experiments that combine jazz, Indie rock, cabaret and classical
chamber music into one contemporary style.
THE CLASSICS - JAZZ
Jazz music has already become a permanent part of the Festival. The fans of the music style will be
invited, for the third time already, to "Singer Jazz Festiwal."
We will be hosting a truly marvelous personality of the jazz scene, Włodzimierz Nahorny, who is
celebrating his 75th birthday. He will be presenting his program with the guest appearance of
Zbigniew Namysłowski, Wojciech Jachna and Wojciech Myrczek. We will listen to Sefardix Trio
founded by Oleś brothers featuring Jorgos Skolias. Oleś Brothers have been composing original
jazz projects for ten years, whereas Polish vocalist with Greek origins, Jorgos Skolias, uses the
ancient singing techniques in his fresh and inventive performances. Together, they will present
Jewish compositions from the trio's latest record "Maggid." Leszek Żądło, Polish saxophone
artist based in Germany will present us the music of the great lover of the Jewish culture, Krzysztof
Komeda, excerpted from the musical "Banishment from Paradise." In a unique place such as the
Nożyk Synagogue, the audience will have a chance to see and hear the pianist, Kuba Stankiewicz,
presenting his project "The Music of Henryk Wars." It is the third of a series of concerts dedicated
to Jewish composers with Polish origins. It is worth to mention that among small and intimate
ensembles performing during Singer Jazz Festival will be Sphere, Jachna/Wójciński/Szpura trio,
charismatic Obara/Wania Duo, the aforementioned Francesco Bruno Ensemble (Italy) supported
by two great Italian jazz musicians presenting a new project, "Welcome."
INSPIRED BY THEATRE
Theatre fans and connoisseurs of the best Polish and foreign productions will get their fair share of
emotions and impressions. This year, all Festival's shows will be presented in Kwadrat Theatre.
The most frequently translated book, right after the Bible, i.e. "The Diary of a Young Girl" is the
subject of Jakov Sedlar's show "Anne Frank" (Croatia). Told as a sort of theatrical/liturgical
service, it allows us to see the tragedy of the Holocaust as seen by a small, scared girl. Whereas
"The Kishke Monologues"
will take us on a culinary journey to
the Jewish cuisine in Eastern Europe. The amazing musical and
culinary show will include Jewish songs and Hebrew monologues recited by the actors of the
National Jewish Theatre Yiddishpiel from Israel, presented in a funny and at the same time touching
way. And with the help of Franz Froshauer's play "Eichmann" we will move in time back to 1960s
Jerusalem and the hearing of the former Obersturmbannführer SS (Austria). This is an emotional
and moving story by Adolf Eichmann, a war criminal sentenced for genocide, accompanied by a
choir of people challenging his testimonies and chasing him as a nightmare. Adapted for stage, the
book by Oto Pavel directed by Jan Szurmiej "The Dying of Beautiful Deers" tells the story of a
war-time, brutal reality in a way that is typical for Czechs: laughter through tears. How much is
human life worth, what is the price of a sacrifice? Those questions will be answered by Jerzy Zelnik
and Sebastian Ryś during the show "Memory Scars" dedicated to Jan Karski. On the same note,
the subject of loss and at the same time salvation has been raised by the performance "Mothers"
based on the idea by Gołda Tencer. The voice is given to mothers - those from the death camps who
save their newborn babies from a certain death and the other ones who took in and took care outside
of the ghetto walls. We will have a chance to watch one of the best, according to the audience and
the critics, shows of the past theatrical season directed by Anna Smolar.
stereotypes,
Challenging
"The Jewish Actors" aims at clearing and dealing with the infamous
opinions about the Jewish Theatre and the Jewish theatre scene. Questioned professionalism and
other detrimental and unfair opinions became the starting point for the show's formula. As part of
the project involving performative readings, "Home Recipes" created and curated by Mike
Urbaniak, the audience is getting familiar with classical Jewish plays presented in contemporary
translation into Polish. The Festival will also present "The Great Prize" by Sholem Aleichem
interpreted by Marta Guśniowska and directed by Tomasz Szczepanek.
THE MANY FACES OF THE YIDDISH CULTURE
Singer Festival is a time of multiple events that engage the audience. Those who are interested can
take part in the workshops dedicated to the Jewish cuisine, children can be as creative as possible
during art classes, together we will discover the secrets of the Jewish Warsaw and the fans of active
leisure will be able to dance into bliss during the Jewish dance workshops.
The Festival is a chance to learn about the Jewish history, tradition and customs. It is a meeting
place for all people who respect Yiddish culture and heritage, and at the same time appreciate its
contemporary character and the progress that it is making. We hope that the appealing program and
the variety of attractions offered will be a good match for the demands of both the fans and those
who are simply interested in the Jewish heritage.
THE END OF SUMMER FESTIVAL!
We welcome you to the greatest celebration of music, theatre, history and tradition!
Detailed
program
available
www.facebook.com/FestiwalSingera
Shalom Foundation
Sq. Grzybowski 12/16
00 - 104 Warszawa
at
www.festiwalsingera.pl
and
our
MEDIA CONTACT:
Grzegorz Kieniksman
REBELIA Media
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