Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 8 PM – 11:55 PM
PLACE for Sustainable Living
1121 64th Street,
Oakland, California
Coming together on the eve of Hanukah, a lineup of three
great klezmer and Romanian projects will perform individual sets and
collaborations for a not-to-be-missed concert featuring master musicians
touring from New York City and Montreal.
Orchestra Euphonos is a Bay Area-based Eastern European
folk and klezmer band. Their uplifting sound is characterized by a brass and
woodwind melodic front line. Orchestra Euphonos performs songs and melodies
from Romania and Moldova. Their performances are joyous occasions filled with
wild takes on old favorites, group improvisations and more than a few
opportunities to dance.
Peter Bonos (trumpet), Balder Ten Cate (cimbalom), Zina
Pozen (accordion), Matthew Stein (Violin), Asaf Ophir (clarinet) Travis Hendrix
(bass), & Ivan Velev (percussion)
Sergiu Popa - Accordion
Sergiu was born in 1981, in Chisinau, Moldova. He had
completed his studies at Stefan Neaga music college as well as two years of
studies at the Conservatory of Moldova before emigrating to Canada in 2002.
Since a young age, he also simultaneously studied traditional folk and Roma
(Gypsy) styles with his father, Ion Popa, himself a well-recognized Gypsy
accordionist in Moldova. Over many years of playing alongside his father at
weddings, he became familiar with Jewish, Turkish, Russian, Serbian and
Bulgarian styles as well. Despite his young age, he is quickly establishing a
reputation as one of most brilliant accordionists in Canada today. He has
co-founded the Sergiu Popa Ensemble with his wife (violinist Jessica Gal), a
group which was discovered by Musique Multi-Montréal, a reputable world music
agency, in 2006. Since then, they have performed at numerous festivals and
concert series in Quebec, and were selected to receive the 2007 Radio-Canada
Étoiles Galaxie award.
Jake Shulman-Ment - violin, vocals, accordion, guitar
Eleonore Weill - vocals, flutes, accordion, hurdy gurdy
Internationally acclaimed musicians from New York and
France, Jake Shulman-Ment and Eleonore Weill share an exceptionally expressive
and intimate understanding of klezmer and Yiddish folk song. In this program,
they perform old songs of political and social resistance, wandering, and love,
instrumental dances and improvisations, and spiritual melodies. Combining music
they have played since childhood with material they have collected along their
many roads through Europe and North America, as well as original compositions,
they explore the boundaries of Yiddish music with creative repertoire,
instrumentation, and interpretation. The concert will also include
participatory dancing.
