San Diego REP Announces Klezmer Summit Lineup

San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) announced today the details of the 19th annual Klezmer Summit, this year entitled "Jews, Jazz, and Justice." The concert, performed by Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival favorites Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi, will be streamed live on Thursday, November 19 at 7 p.m.

This year's performance will also feature two special guests: 6-time Emmy and Tony Award nominee Tovah Feldshuh honoring the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and 2020 San Diego Music Awards Artist of the Year Rebecca Jade. Tickets start at $18 and are available now at sdrep.org.

"Our yearly world music celebration always brings so much uplift and good feeling," says Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival founder and San Diego REP Associate Artistic Director Todd Salovey. "November 19th seems the perfect time for a big klezmer boost! The all-star line-up makes it even more special."

"Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Tovah Feldshuh are two of our country's greatest Jewish female role models. RBG of course has inspired young women to fight for their beliefs, while Tovah inspires us all to reimagine Jewish female characters with nuance and depth," says Festival Associate Producer Ali Viterbi. "This year's Klezmer Summit will celebrate the strength of Jewish women striving to build a more just world."

The Jewish Arts Festival's annual concert brings together local and national stars for a musical celebration that looks back and looks ahead. The crowd-favorite Klezmer Summit returns with a musical tour around the world celebrating klezmer, Yiddish, jazz, world music and songs of social justice. Joining Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi will be San Diego's very own jazz vocalist Rebecca Jade, the 2020 San Diego Music Awards Artist of the Year, and 6-time Emmy and Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh. The selections will range from intimate jazz standards to Yiddish songs about women, songs about justice to klezmer and Roma instrumentals that are spiced with wild improvisation. Hot Pstromi includes Strom, vocalist Elizabeth Schwartz, bassist Gunnar Biggs, guitarist Fred Benedetti, percussionist Kevin Koch, and flutist and saxophone player Tripp Sprague.

Tickets for the 19th Annual Klezmer Summit are on sale starting at $18. For $36, audiences can purchase a Sponsor Ticket and receive access to the live streamed concert as well as a director's cut DVD of Strom's documentary, The Last Klezmer: Leopold Kozlowski, His Life and Music. Tickets are available for purchase online at sdrep.org or by calling 619.544.1000. Prices subject to change. Please note the Lyceum Theatres Box Office is currently closed for in-person visits.

Yale Strom is one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Roma music and history. He has done extensive ethnographic research in Eastern Europe. His findings were instrumental in forming the repertoire of his klezmer band, Hot Pstromi, based in New York and San Diego. Since his ensembles inception in 1981, Strom has composed original New Jewish music that combines klezmer with Khasidic melodies, as well as Roma, jazz, classical, Balkan, Arabic and Sephardic motifs. Strom's compositions range from folk to orchestral, and works have been performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Hausmann Quartet, Burdick-Thorne String Quartet, Rachel Barton Pine, Mike Block, Bordeaux Philharmonic, the Ostrava Philharmonic of the Czech Republic, and others. In addition, he has composed original music for theatre, film and television. The musicians of Hot Pstromi are virtuosos in their own right, each having achieved international recognition for their work. Strom's latest recording of new arrangements of Ladino, Yiddish, Hebrew and English Khanike songs was released in fall of 2018.

Tovah Feldshuh (born Terri Sue) is a six-time Emmy & Tony nominee and has been awarded three honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters. Additionally, for her theatre work, she has won four Drama Desks, four Outer Critics Circle, three Dramalogues, the Obie, the Theatre World, and the Helen Hayes and Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Actress. She is a playwright, concert artist, and author. Her memoir, Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played, comes out April 13, 2021 for Mother's Day. TV credits include: Holocaust, Law & Order, The Walking Dead, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Films include: Kissing Jessica Stein, A Walk on the Moon, The Idolmaker, and Clifford (release November 2021). Broadway: Yentl, Golda's Balcony, Irena's Vow, Pippin, etc. Most recent theatre portrayal: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Sisters in Law by Jonathan Shapiro and Ms. Feldshuh's nightclub acts, Aging is Optional and Tovah is Leona! (Helmsley). Her one-woman show, Tovah: Out of Her Mind won Best Show of the Year in the Boston Globe. Follow Tovah on Instagram @tovahfeld, and on her website www.tovahfeldshuh.com

Rebecca Jade is an accomplished singer/songwriter, and has been singing as long as she can remember. She is the 2020 San Diego Music Awards artist of the year. She has performed with some of the most sought-after musicians all over the world, and her versatility has allowed her many unique opportunities to perform: Rebecca has been touring with the Queen of percussion, Sheila E. since 2017 and most recently appeared in the Emmy-nominated show, Let's Go Crazy: The GRAMMY Salute to Prince that aired on CBS in April of this year; she also sang background vocals for Sir Elton John at the 2020 Academy Awards. Rebecca has over 27 years of recording studio experience. She has sung background vocals, demos and jingles on many different projects, including sessions with Kiko Cibrián (Luis Miguel), and has been featured in a variety of works, including being featured on two songs on DW3's newest self-titled album that went #1 on the UK Soul Charts this year, and singing backing vocals on Aubrey Logan's 2nd full-length album, Where the Sunshine is Expensive, which went #1 on the Billboard charts in 2019. She released her 1st album collaboration in 2011, The Jade Element and opened for Grammy-nominated artist, Musiq Soulchild on two separate occasions. Her sophomore album was released with her new group, Rebecca Jade & the Cold Fact, which earned them San Diego Music Awards in 2014, 2015 and 2017, a "Best of San Diego" Award in 2016, and the opportunity to open for and sing with El DeBarge. Rebecca is also a jazz vocalist and released an album of Cole Porter classics, titled Planet Cole Porter, with arranger/producer/jazz guitar virtuoso Peter Sprague, which earned them a 2018 San Diego Music Award for "Best Jazz Album." Rebecca Jade & the Cold Fact recently released their sophomore album, Running out of Time. Rebecca is currently co-producing her first solo project with Carnell Harrell (Jacksons, J-Lo, Dave Koz), set for 2020 release, and earned the "Artist of the Year" award for this year's SDMAs.

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