Department of Music

• Sunday, November 23, 2008
• Old Cabell Hall
• 8:00pm
• Adults - $10, Students -$5, UVA Students - $5 Arts$

In its Fall 2008 concert, the UVA Klezmer Ensemble under the direction of McIntire Department of Music’s Director of Music Performance, Joel Rubin, will host special guest trumpeter and vocalist, Susan Hoffman Watts. The UVA Klezmer Ensemble, now in its fifth semester, is dedicated to exploring klezmer and other Jewish musical traditions from the 18th century to the present. The ensemble, made up of UVA undergrads and grad students, faculty and other members of the greater Charlottesville community, will perform a new program of instrumental klezmer music and Yiddish songs, focusing on repertoire from the Hoffman family of Philadelphia, formerly Ukraine.

Susan Watts not only plays klezmer exquisitely, she also has an intriguing family background. The daughter of Elaine Hoffman Watts, a brilliant percussionist who was awarded a 2007 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship for her contribution to klezmer music, Susan is a fourth generation klezmer performer from the Hoffman family, Philadelphia’s premier klezmer family. Her family emigrated from the Ukraine, and as a result, pioneered the Philadelphia style klezmer sound, a tradition that Susan’s music continues. Watts has enjoyed a vibrant klezmer career, appearing with such groups as the Klezmer Brass All-Stars, Mikveh, and the KlezDispensers. She has toured extensively, continuing a cultural and family tradition and teaching people of all different backgrounds about her music and heritage.

With additional support from the UVA Jewish Studies Program, Watts will be in residency at UVA from November 20-23 and will coach the ensemble on its interpretation of klezmer tunes and Yiddish songs in preparation for this concert, as well as make visits to various music and Jewish Studies classes.