Brooklyn Center presents The Klezmer Conservatory Band 10/24

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College opens the 2010-2011 World Stages Series with The Klezmer Conservatory Band on Sunday October 24, 2010 at 2pm.

Klezmer music began in the shtetls of medieval Eastern Europe, where bands of itinerant Jewish musicians went from town to town playing for Jewish festivals and special events. By the 19th century, klezmer music had become a well-developed musical style, taking its inspiration not only from the synagogue, but from the non-Jewish culture that surrounded it. In America, immigrant Jewish musicians adapted their traditional melodies to the new rhythms and instruments they found, creating new klezmer forms that flourished both in jazz clubs and in the Yiddish American theatre circuit during the first decades of the 20th century. The tradition faded in the 1940s as immigrant Jews strove to appear more "American."

Today, a revival of Klezmer is in full swing, with the Klezmer Conservatory Band playing a prominent role. Fueled by a desire to return to his roots, and by the inherent appeal of the music, Founding Director Hankus Netsky discovered that both a grandfather and an uncle were in Philadelphia Klezmer orchestras in the 1920s. In 1980, while an instructor at the New England Conservatory of Music, he formed the band.

The Klezmer Conservatory Band has toured across the United States and internationally, including a performance at the first-ever International Yiddish Festival in Krakow, Poland. The band tours Europe regularly and has also appeared at WOMAD, Australia's Adelaide Festival, and New Zealand's International Festival of the Arts.

Their film and television appearances include the PBS special In the Fiddler's House withrenowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, the 1988 documentary film, A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden, and the film Enemies, A Love Story.They also filmed a children's video for Rabbit Ears Productions entitled "The Fool and the Flying Ship," with narration by Robin Williams and an original score composed by Hankus Netsky, which aired nationwide on Showtime Cable Network. Their discography of ten recordings includes A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden(1992), Dancing in the Aisles (1997), and A Taste of Paradise (2003).
In addition to Mr. Netsky, the ensemble includes Jim Guttman (String Bass), Ilene Stahl (Clarinetist), Yaeko Miranda-Elmaleh (Violinist), Robin Miller (Flute & Piccolo), Mark Berney (Cornet), Mark Hamilton (Trombone), Art Bailey (Piano), Brandon Seabrook (Strings) and Grant Smith (Drums, percussion). The production team includes Hankus Netsky (Founding Director), Jim Guttmann (Managing Director), John Servies (Sound Design & Audio Engineer) and Dana Parsons (Audio Engineer).

The Klezmer Conservatory Band at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
Walt Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College
2900 Campus Road, Brooklyn
(2 train to Brooklyn College/Flatbush Avenue)
Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 2pm
Tickets: $27 ($30 at door)

Online orders: BrooklynCenterOnline.org
Box Office: (718) 951-4500, Tuesday - Saturday, 1PM - 6PM
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Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts' 2010-2011 World Stages Series is sponsored by Macy's Foundation.

About Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
Founded in 1954, the mission of Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts is to present outstanding performing arts and arts education programs, reflective of Brooklyn's diverse communities, at affordable prices. Brooklyn Center's presentations explore both the classical traditions and the boldest contemporary performances, embracing the world culture that defines Brooklyn. Brooklyn Center welcomes over 70,000 people to the 2,400 seat Walt Whitman Theatre each season, and boasts one of the largest arts education programs in the borough, serving 46,000 schoolchildren from over 300 schools annually with its SchoolTime series.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts' programs are made possible in part with public funding from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding for the 2010-2011 season is provided by: Target: JP Morgan Chase; Brooklyn Community Foundation; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; National Grid; TD Bank; Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation; New England Foundation for the Arts; Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour; King's Plaza Shopping Center; The Harkness Foundation for Dance; Health Plus; and the Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund, established in the New York Community Trust by founders of The Reader's Digest Association. Additional support provided by CNG Publications, The Brooklyn Eagle, and WBGO Jazz 88. The Sheraton Brooklyn New York Hotel is the official hotel of Brooklyn Center's 2010-2011 season. Backstage catering is graciously provided by Applebee's.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges generous support from the Members of the Brooklyn Delegation to the New York State Assembly and Speaker Sheldon Silver; Members of the Brooklyn Delegation to the New York State Senate and Majority Conference Leader John L. Sampson; Members of the Brooklyn Delegation to the New York City Council and Speaker Christine C. Quinn; and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Kate Levin.