ISRAFEST Held At City Winery 1/12

Israeli pop superstar Rami Kleinstein will perform with its dynamic young collective of artists at ISRAFEST, a mega event celebrating Israeli and Jewish-American music, comedy, fashion and art, on Wednesday, January 12, 2011. ISRAFEST is the closing night event of The Oy!hoo Music Festival at City Winery, presented in conjunction with the International Jewish Presenters Association's Schmooze '11 and in association with Teev Events.

Rami Kleinstein, often referred to as the "Israeli Elton John", is known for his beautiful love songs, soothing voice and delicate piano-playing. One of Israel's top recording artists, Kleinstein is actually a native New Yorker. At eight-years-old, his family moved to Israel, where his music has been blazing up the charts for over 20 years.

"Rami Kleinstein is the ultimate Isramerican," ISRAMERICA Artistic Director Sivan Hadari notes. "Born in the United States and raised in Israel, he has been influenced by the cultural heritage of both countries. It is a great honor to perform on the same stage with a living legend, and we are incalculably grateful to Michael Dorf, founder of The Oy!hoo Music Festival at City Winery and David Azulay of Teev Events for this amazing opportunity."

Joining Kleinstein on stage are up-and-coming Israeli and Jewish American performers, including The ISRAMERICA House Band (with Judah Gavra, Omer Shaish, Talya Smilowitz, Stav Livne and Natalie Tenenbaum), Paula Valstein (A Star Is Born, Israel's American Idol-style reality show), Jewish Rock band The Groggers, singer-songwriter Rony Corcos, Noah and the Maccabees, Rony Stav, and a snippet from Sivan Hadari's award-winning Off-Broadway one woman show: The Emancipation of the Sassy Jewish Woman.

The walls at City Winery will be adorned with extraordinary visual art, paintings, murals and more all courtesy of the talented pro-Israel artists from Artists 4 Israel. The back walls will be draped with an endless array of ethnic, Pro-Israel fashion items and accessories. But most importantly will be the Kick-Tuchess performances on stage by these young, breakout Isramerican artists.

ISRAMERICA is a non-profit organization comprised of emerging Israeli and Jewish-American artists working together to create meaningful art inspired by the duality of leading a Jewish/Israeli/American lifestyle as a young artist in New York. Past ISRAMERICA events have included The Sukkot Sizzle, Tikkun Shavuot and most recently J-SLAM; Jewish Storytelling at its BEST at Standup NY. They have also been involved in co-producing various Off-Broadway shows such as SABRA and A Daughter of Israel.

ISRAFEST, part of the Oy!hoo Music Festival, will take place Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 7:00 pm at City Winery (155 Varick Street at Van Dam Street, Subway: C/E to Spring or 1 to Canal). ISRAFEST tickets are $25 to $60 at www.citywinery.com. For additional information, visit www.isramerica.com.

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