2013 Jewish Music Festival

It seems to be a festive time of year!  The San Francisco Bay area's 28th Jewish Music Festival is on the horizon, from March 2-12, 2013.  Concerts will be in Berkeley and San Francisco and are accessible by BART.  There is a convergence of interest this year with Jewish genealogy because the festival is focusing on Jewish music from Poland, from which most American Jews have ancestors.

The opening night of the festival will be on Saturday, March 2.  The program will begin at 7:00 p.m. with a slide show and talk by Ruth Ellen Gruber, the author of Virtually Jewish:  Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe.  The concert, following at 8:00 p.m., will be from Shofar (Polish-Jewish jazz) and Polesye (joint Polish-Israeli Yiddish CD project).

One of the highlights of this year's festival will be a performance on Thursday, March 7, by Theodore Bikel (known worldwide for portraying Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof) with Yiddish singer Shura Lipovsky and Bosnian accordion player Merima Ključo.  There will also be a world premiere on Saturday, March 9, in commemoration of the 70th anniversarity of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising>.

A brochure about the festival is available online. General and ticket information are at the Jewish Music Festival site.  The festival offers discounts to seniors, students, and groups of ten or more.  For more information about the group discount contact Outreach Coordinator Lauren Weiss at (510) 848-0237 x118.