Carnegie Hall

As part of its citywide festival, Migrations: The Making of America, Carnegie Hall presents a special one-night-only event entitled From Shtetl to Stage: A Celebration of Yiddish Music and Culture in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage on Monday, April 15 at 8:00 p.m. Led by Music Director Frank London, the program celebrates the journey of Yiddish culture from Old World to New through music, song, poetry, and humor. The evening will feature a company of extraordinary Yiddish talent as well as stars of the classical, film, and theater worlds as they mix chestnuts from the Yiddish theater and folk song repertoire with Yiddish-tinged vaudeville, art song, classical music, and klezmer. Among the featured artists on the stellar lineup include clarinetist David Krakauer, violinist Gil Shaham, pianist Evgeny Kissin, 2018 Tony Award winner and star of Broadway’s The Band’s Visit, Katrina Lenk, and vocalists Mike Burstyn and Eleanor Reissa.

This program will explore the ways in which Russian and Eastern European Jewish traditions helped shape and continue to influence American music today. In speaking about the show, Seth Rogovoy (who co-created From Shtetl to Stage with Eleanor Reissa) said “We want to explore the music and the culture that came out of the Old World—how those things evolved and mixed with other cultures in the New World.”

“We’re excited that the artists participating in this event have a relationship to this music and this culture, and have infused their own lives—their own tastes and their own art and skills—into what was,” said Eleanor Reissa, speaking of such contributors as clarinetist David Krakauer, actress Katrina Lenk, and pianist Evgeny Kissin. “The artists and the music that we will feature express a living culture—it won’t be a museum type of evening.

Carnegie Hall’s programming exploring the Russian and Eastern European Jewish migration kicked off on March 14 with a sold-out Zankel Hall performance by American klezmer clarinetist and bluegrass mandolinist Andy Statman and his trio.

Carnegie Hall’s musical exploration continues with Standard Time with Michael Feinstein on Wednesday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. This evening with the beloved pianist and vocalist will feature unforgettable popular songs written by Jewish-American composers performed by Feinstein and his trio. Feinstein will be joined by the legendary Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof, The Rothschilds) with singers Danny Bacher and Alexandra Silber for a joyous celebration of songwriters who reached extraordinary levels of inspiration, expressing the essence of America in words and music. The program will include songs by Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, and others drawn from the Great American Jewish Songbook.

“Migrations is about building bridges, connecting the dots, looking at our history, which is a cultural history unlike any other nation,” said Michael Feinstein. “The only reason America exists in the way that it does is because of the contributions of every culture from around the planet: religiously, spiritually, every color, every hue—it all creates who we are today.”

In partnership with prestigious Russian and Eastern European Jewish institutions across New York City and beyond, programming in the form of concerts, talks, exhibitions, films, and digital events throughout March and April will explore these traditions as part of the Migrations festival. Highlights include a talk entitled The Musical Legacy of Eastern European Jews, presented by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (April 10), that explores the music of From Shtetl to Stage: A Celebration of Yiddish Music and Culture, presented at Carnegie Hall on April 15; the Yiddish Book Center’s concert, Diaspora Songs: Yiddish Meets Ladino with Sarah Aroeste, Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, presented at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan (March 28); a discussion about Jerome Robbins’s Poppa Piece presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (March 21); and Immigration Matters: Jews, Other Immigrants, and America, a symposium presented by the Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History at New York University in conjunction with the Center for Jewish History and the American Jewish Historical Society (March 31). A full listing of Russian and Eastern European Jewish Migration events follows below. 

Click here for a complete list of Russian and Eastern European Jewish  Migrations festival events.

About  Migrations: The Making of America

Carnegie Hall’s citywide festival  Migrations: The Making of America traces how large-scale movements of people—both to and within our country—have helped shape American arts, culture, and society. The festival features more than 100 events, with musical programming at Carnegie Hall and public programming, performances, exhibitions, and other events at more than 75 leading cultural and academic institutions across New York City and beyond.

At Carnegie Hall, festival concerts will examine the musical legacies of three migrations: the crossings from Scotland and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries, the immigration of Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe between 1881 and the National Origins Act of 1924, and the Great Migration—the exodus of African Americans from the South to the industrialized cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1917 into the 1970s. Events at festival partner organizations, ranging from music and dance to exhibitions, talks, and films, will further amplify the themes celebrated by Carnegie Hall as well as explore many other migrations from around the world—from elsewhere in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia as well as the internal migration of Native Americans—all of which have contributed to American culture today. Programming throughout the festival also focuses on New York City’s history and identity as a city welcoming to immigrants, highlighting traditions and cross-cultural collaborations among the city’s many diverse communities. 

UPCOMING MIGRATIONS: THE MAKING OF AMERICA FESTIVAL RUSSIAN AND EASTERN EUROPEAN JEWISH MIGRATION 
PROGRAMMING AT CARNEGIE HALL 

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
Standard Time with Michael Feinstein
Michael Feinstein, Artistic Director

Guest Artists
Danny Bacher
Alexandra Silber

with Special Guest
Sheldon Harnick

Tedd Firth, Piano
Phil Palombi, Bass
Mark McLean, Drums

THE GREAT AMERICAN JEWISH SONGBOOK: KERN, BERLIN, ARLEN, RODGERS, AND MORE

Produced for Carnegie Hall by Michael A. Kerker / ASCAP.

Sponsored by Aon.

Support for the Russian and Eastern European Jewish Migration series of the Migrations festival is provided by The Polonsky Foundation, Igor Tulchinsky, and Anonymous (2).

Additional support is provided by Dr. Lynne Harrison.

Lead support for Migrations: The Making of America is provided by the Ford Foundation, The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, and Igor Tulchinsky.

Additional support is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tickets: $93, $110

 

Monday, April 15, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
From Shtetl to Stage: A Celebration of Yiddish Music and Culture
Seth Rogovoy, Creator and Producer
Eleanor Reissa, Creator, Director, and Vocalist
Frank London, Music Director, Conductor, and Trumpet

Mike Burstyn, Vocalist
Evgeny Kissin, Piano
David Krakauer, Clarinet
Katrina Lenk, Vocalist
Gil Shaham, Violin

Shane Baker, Actor
Joanne Borts, Vocalist
Avi Hoffman, Vocalist
Elmore James, Vocalist
Daniel Kahn, Vocalist, Accordion, and Guitar
Dani Marcus, Vocalist
Cilla Owens, Vocalist
Allen Lewis Rickman, Actor
Yelena Shmulenson, Actor
Lorin Sklamberg, Vocalist and Accordion
Eri Kang, Piano
Zalmen Mlotek, Piano
Kathleen Tagg, Piano

Richie Barshay, Drums
Dan Blacksberg, Trombone
Yoshie Fruchter, Guitars, Banjo, and Mandolin
Keryn Kleiman, Violin
Dan Rosengard, Piano
Jordan Sand, Bass
Michael Winograd, Clarinet

Boris Sandler and Lyudmila Sholokhova, Historical Advisers

Support for the Russian and Eastern European Jewish Migration series of the Migrations festival is provided by The Polonsky Foundation, Igor Tulchinsky, and Anonymous (2).

Additional support is provided by Dr. Lynne Harrison.

Lead support for Migrations: The Making of America is provided by the Ford Foundation, The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund, and Igor Tulchinsky.

Additional support is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tickets: $45 - $150

Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.

Photo block L to R: Mike Burstyn by Mariella Productions, Evgeny Kissin, David Krakauer by GMD, Katrina Lenk by Susan Stripling, Eleanor Reissa by Adrian Buckmaster, and Gil Shaham by Luke Ratray. 

Ticket Information

Tickets for events at Carnegie Hall are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

For Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.

In addition, for all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.