Department of Music

The University of Virginia McIntire Department of Music, together with the Virginia Film Festival and the UVA Jewish Studies Program present a screening of Erik Greenberg Anjou’s documentary film “On Holy Ground” (2011, http://klezdoc.com/) about the Klezmatics as part of the Virginia Film Festival, on Sunday afternoon, November 6, 2011 (4 pm at Regal Theater Number Three on the Downtown Mall). Klezmatics’ co-founder Frank London will be present for a Q&A session after the screening, and the film will be introduced by Joel Rubin (UVA McIntire Department of Music/Jewish Studies Program).

From the film’s website: “The Klezmatics’ holy ground is where a Quaker bassist and Reform Jewish trumpeter, Yiddish language, Hasidic dance, gospel music and Woody Guthrie meet. The feature-length documentary is the crown of a four-year journey alongside the band members, their music and their creative process. Time Out, New York magazine announced, ‘The Klezmatics aren’t just the best band in the klezmer vanguard; on a good night, they rank among the greatest bands on the planet.’ From New York’s Lower East Side to Krakow, Poland, this film shows why.”

The screening is in conjunction with London’s 5-day residency at UVA from November 6-10, 2011. Other highlights of the residency will include a concert by London with the UVA Klezmer Ensemble under the direction of clarinetist and ethnomusicologist Joel Rubin on Thursday November 10 at 8:00 pm in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium, as well as a roundtable discussion with London and UVA professors on Monday, Nov. 7 from 5:00-6:30 pm in Gibson 211 in the South Lawn.

Grammy-award winner Frank London (http://www.franklondon.com) is a member of the Klezmatics and Hasidic New Wave, leader of the Klezmer Brass Allstars, and has performed with a plethora of artists ranging from John Zorn to LL Cool J, Mel Tormé, Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy, LaMonte Young, They Might Be Giants, David Byrne, Jane Siberry, the Ben Folds 5, Mark Ribot, Maurice El Medioni and Gal Costa.

He is featured on over 100 recordings. Besides his numerous CDs with the Klezmatics, including the Grammy-winning “Wonder Wheel,” and Hasidic New Wave, London’s own recordings include: “Invocations” (cantorial music); Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars’ “Di Shikere Kapelye” and the “Brotherhood of Brass”; “Nigunim” and “The Zmiros Project” (Jewish mystical songs, with Klezmatics vocalist Lorin Sklamberg); “The Shekhina Big Band”; “The Debt” (film and theater music); soundtracks to “The Shvitz” and Perl Gluck’s “The Divahn;” and the folk-opera “A Night in the Old Marketplace,” based on Y.L. Peretz’s classic Yiddish play of the same name. Other projects include “Davenen” for Pilobolus and the Klezmatics, Great Small Works’ “The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln” and Min Tanaka’s “Romance.” He composed music for Tony Kushner’s adaptation “A Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds,” John Sayles’ “The Brother from Another Planet” and “Men with Guns,” Yvonne Rainer’s “Murder and Murder,” the Czech-American Marionette Theater’s “Golem,” and Tamar Rogoff’s “Ivye Project.”

London was music director for David Byrne and Robert Wilson’s “The Knee Plays,” has collaborated with Palestinian violinist Simon Shaheen, taught Jewish music in Canada, the Crimea and the Catskills, and produced CDs for legendary Romani (Gypsy) vocalist Esma Redzepova and Algerian Pianist Maurice el Medioni. He has been featured on HBO’s “Sex and the City,” at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Lincoln Center Summer Festival, and was a co-founder of Les Miserables Brass Band and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.

Tickets for the film screening are $7 for adults and reduced for non-UVA students with valid ID.  Tickets for University of Virginia students are free if reserved in advance. Tickets can be purchased at https://artsboxoffice.virginia.edu/ or by calling the Arts Box Office at 43.924.3376.

Residency events include:
Film screening of "The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground" - Sunday, November 6, 4 pm
Roundtable: Frank London's Transnational Sonic Stew: Klezmer as Post-Modern Phenomenon? - Monday, November 7, 5 pm
Concert with the UVA Klezmer Ensemble & Joel Rubin - Thursday November 10, at 8 pm

For more information, contact Joel Rubin (joelerubin@virginia.edu) or Jennifer Fields (jrf3hy@virginia.edu)

Arts Box Office: (434) 924-3376