Department of Music

The University of Virginia McIntire Department of Music, together with the Jewish Studies Program, the Center for German Studies, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, the Drama Department and the Creative Writing Program, will host singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Kahn (Berlin), and violinist Jake Shulman-Ment (New York) from the groups The Painted Bird and the Brothers Nazaroff for a residency from April 19-23, 2015. Highlights of the residency wi​ll include a public klezmer workshop on Sunday, April 19 from 11 am – 2 pm in Old Cabell Hall 107, a combined Jewish Studies and Center for German Studies lunch colloquium, “Yiddishland in Berlin: Subversive Traditions for a Radical Contemporary Discourse,” on Wednesday, April 22 from 12 – 1:30 pm (Nau 342), and will culminate with a performance with the University of Virginia Klezmer Ensemble under the direction of Joel Rubin on Thursday, April 23rd, 2015 at 8pm in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium. The residency will be filled out with numerous classroom visits as well as less formal gatherings with students and faculty.

Daniel Kahn is a singer-songwriter who works at the seams of Yiddish, German and English in a klezmer-influenced multilingual translation project. He is originally from Detroit and has been based in Berlin since 2005. Originally trained in theater and writing, Daniel won major awards in theater and poetry at the University of Michigan and is currently also involved in a number of theatrical and musical projects in Germany, especially at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. The Painted Bird is an eclectic mix of punk cabaret, radical Yiddish song, Gothic American folk and Klezmer Danse Macabre – Verfremdungsklezmer (“alienation klezmer”). The Painted Bird has released four albums to date, of which “Lost Causes” was awarded the prestigious German Record Critics’ Prize. Kahn’s songs address political issues and Jewish social movements such as the workers' party known as the Bund, while accompanied by klezmer, punk and folk melodies. Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird (http://www.paintedbird.de/index.php?lang=en) have travelled around the globe to play for fans and comrades at rock clubs, theatres, festivals and shtetls. Violinist Jake Shulman-Ment (http://www.jakeshulmanment.com) is among the leaders of a new emerging generation of klezmer and Eastern European folk music performers. Jake displays a remarkable versatility as violinist, composer, improvisor, arranger, bandleader, and producer, while consistently remaining true to his deep roots in traditional Jewish music. He is also well-versed in traditional styles from Transylvania and the Republic of Moldova. Besides leading his own group and being a member of the Painted Bird, Jake is a part of the acclaimed An-Sky Yiddish Heritage Ensemble of the New York Center for Traditional Music and Dance. Both Kahn and Shulman-Ment are members of the Brothers Nazaroff (https://www.facebook.com/thebrothersnazaroff), a group dedicated to the repertoire of dedicated to legendary outsider Yiddish troubadour, “Prince” Nazaroff. The group is releasing a CD on the Smithsonian Folkways label in 2015.

“When it comes to wicked freaky Klezmer music, the Americans were always way ahead. Daniel Kahn ... belongs to this caste of Yiddish music agitators. An absolute must for lovers of unusual, intelligent, challenging, exciting folk music and a blast at every instant.” – Klaus Halama, Sound & Image

“Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird are to Klezmer what the Pogues were to Folk: shtetl music spiked with a proper shot of Punk. . . Polyglot, Paneuropean Punkfolk. Kahn writes great crooked songs between Leonard Cohen and Mordechai Gebirtig, between Nick Cave and Hirsch Glik. With a light hand, he translates and adapts old songs, making them his own.”  – Die Zeit

The UVA Klezmer Ensemble, now in its ninth year, has become a vital part of the musical community of Central and Northern Virginia, performing in Old Cabell Hall as well as at conferences, festivals, and clubs in Central and Northern Virginia. The ensemble is made up of both undergraduate and graduate students from across grounds, faculty, alumni and other members of the greater Central Virginia community, and is dedicated to exploring klezmer and other Jewish and Eastern European musical traditions from the 18th to the 21st century. The group is committed to ethnic, racial, cultural and religious diversity. Current and recent members have backgrounds from the US, Russia, Israel, Lebanon, Armenia, Korea, Iran, and India, with religious backgrounds ranging from Jewish to Christian, Hindu and Muslim. Each year, the ensemble hosts klezmer artists of international stature, who coach the group for a week and perform with them.

Joel Rubin was a 2013-14 recipient of the Mead Endowment, a program whose mission is to promote the University’s unique tradition of faculty involvement with students by identifying outstanding teachers and encouraging them to take part in that tradition. The Mead funding enabled the UVA Klezmer Ensemble to record the CD, “Let’s Dance,” which is available for downloading at: http://uvaklezmerensemble.bandcamp.com/track/lets-dance. Rubin’s recent activities include teaching at the International Master Classes of the World Klezmer Center in Safed, Israel and at KlezKamp in New York, and performances at the International Festival of Sacred Music in Fribourg, Switzerland, and at the KlezCalifornia festival. This year he will be both a teacher and featured performer at the 15th annual Yiddish Summer Weimar (Germany), at Klezfest (SOAS, University of London), and at Cornell University.

A YouTube video by Painted Bird can be accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KFVVKFxr60.

Tickets for the Klezmer Ensemble performance are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets for University of Virginia students are free if reserved in advance at the Arts Box Office www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu. Tickets are available in advance or at the door.

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA’s historic Lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda. Parking is available in at the Central Grounds Parking Garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Rd, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner. Handicap parking is available in the small parking lot adjacent to Bryan Hall.

For more information please call the McIntire Department of Music at 434.924.3052.

Sponsored by:

McIntire Dept. of Music


James Dunton Gift (Jazz Program)


Jewish Studies Program


Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies


Center for German Studies

Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

Drama Department

Creative Writing Program