Musical Ensembles

	Musical ensembles

			Carmi and Eran are a couple, both musically and in life. Thet write, compose and perform together. They have just completed their debut album, full of acoustic beauty, poetic lyrics and graceful songs.

			Avishai Cohen, brilliant bassist, composer and band leader, has been called "Jazz visionary of global proportions" by Downbeat Magazine and was declared one of the '100 Most Influential Bass Players of the 20th Century' by Bass Player Magazine.

			Pharaoh's Daughter - Lead by Basya Schechter, the band has been playing their unique brand of cutting edge contemporary singer/songwriter material mixed with Klezmer, Middle Eastern, Indian and Balkan influences.

			Giora Feidman, one of the most important interpreters of contemporary music, has over the decades evolved into a phenomenon. He is an artist, a discoverer and a sensation, a tireless ambassador with an act of undiminished appeal. It is difficult to describe what he does on stage with his clarinet, how it laughs, cries and narrates, captivating his listeners, constantly amazing them with something new.

			Golem is where Eastern Europe meets the Lower East Side. Golem’s sound evokes wisps of old-world elegance filtered through the successes and disappointments of new-world dreams. These are the songs to which Eastern European grandparents danced over a century ago, and now Golem has its unwrinkled fans moshing to the same pulsing beats. "Golem produces the sort of music you'd expect if the shtetl were filled with punks instead of peasants" - The Washington Post

			HaBanot Nechama are a live band in the deepest sense, having built themselves a huge and very dedicated following before releasing even one single. Reggae influences, soul-folk melodies, one of a kind harmonies and impeccable song-craft are highlights of this perfect showcase of how English and Hebrew can co-exist.

			Meg Okura, composer, erhu player and premier jazz violinist, leads a group of virtuosi, Pan Asian Jazz Ensemble, inventing and defining "world chamber jazz" today. Her credits include over fifty appearances on albums, movie soundtracks, television and music videos, and performing with musical icons such as David Bowie, Mary J. Blige, Michael Brecker, Phillip Glass, Ziggy Marley, Lee Konitz, Lenny Kravitz, Steve Swallow, Kanye West and others.

			Ofer Assaf is a jazz saxophonist and composer, and has performed with a wide range of artists including Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock in Carnegie Hall as part of the JVC jazz festival. He toured Europe with a modern jazz quintet, Kamafra, and subsequently released a live album, "Kamafra Live." Ofer has recently released his own debut album, “Tangible Reality”, on summit Records, featuring trumpeter Jim Rotondi, bassists Don Pate and Essiet Essiet, and drummer Bruce Cox.

			Good for the Jews is the duo of David Fagin and Rob Tannenbaum, known for their irreverent mix of music and comedy. Good for the Jews celebrates Jewish traditions and history with unorthodox - and of course HILARIOUS - songs about Bar Mitzvahs, Hannukah and Mel Gibson's stupidity.

			The Strauss/Warschauer Duo draws from Klezmer, Yiddish, Hasidic and liturgical traditions. Violin, guitar, mandolin and accordion combinations create a dynamic atmosphere and exceptional range of feeling - from delicately refined to foot-stomping exhuberance.

			The Gerard Edery Ensemble explores several of the world's musical traditions. Commanding songs in some dozen languages, these gifted musicians bring an ancient repertoire to the contemporary stage.

			Rabbi Andrew Hahn is an ordained rabbi who has forged two ancient traditions into a timely and universal message of the sacred. He is Kirtan Rabbi, an artist who is at the epicenter of a new musical expression which is fully participatory, breaking down the barrier between “leader” and “listener.” Hebrew kirtan is for anyone who is open to it, singer and non-singer alike, Jew and non-Jew. No knowledge of Hebrew is necessary, it's enough to know that one is chanting, praising the beauty of the world.

			Howard Leshaw and The Golden Land Orchestra - Top-notch New York City jazz players achieve a unique blend of imagination, ethnic integrity and straight-forward virtuosity that regularly leaves audiences breathlessly begging for more. Klezmer and much more!

			Two Faiths One Voice - Maria Krupoves and Gerard Edery present a beautiful fusion of music drawn from their respective roots in the Christian and Jewish cultures. By weaving together folk songs, chants, and prayers from across centuries and across Europe they show that the human need for spiritual dimension defies all boundaries of time and place.

			Nikitov - Yiddish songs meet Gypsy Jazz. Led by charismatic Yiddish song maven Niki Jacobs, this brilliant acoustic quartet has riveted audiences in Europe and the US with its originality and driving Eastern European rhythm. A rising star on the World Music scene.

			Divahn seeks to underscore the interconnectedness of diverse Middle Eastern cultures and religions. The group captures the breadth and diversity of Mizrakhi and Sephardic music throughout the centuries, while simultaneously creating and redefining innovative directions for the music in the present.

			Greek born musical arranger, lead guitarist, and bouzouki virtuoso Avram Pengas is a versatile performer who plays popular Israeli hits, exotic Arabic melodies, pulsating Persian and Turkish rhythms, Armenian dances and traditional Yiddish songs. Avram Pengas' Noga Group has been a staple of New York's downtown music scene for nearly twenty years.

			Soulfarm's textured wall of sound is nothing if not unique, and offers those rarest of qualities in contemporary music: multigenerational and cross-cultural appeal. A heaping helping of international flavors, many of them Middle Eastern in origin.

			Klezmer Mountain Boys - Virtuoso clarinetist Margot Leverett joins forces with today's stars of klezmer and bluegrass to explore the shared musical spirit of two genres literally worlds apart. Appalachian and southern fiddle tunes meet klezmer melodies from pre-war Russia and Eastern Europe. The resulting medleys and improvisations are at once raw, funny, melancholic and footstomping.

			The Afro-Semitic Experience is a band of African-American and Jewish-American musicians dedicated to preserving, promoting and expanding the rich cultural heritage of the Jewish and African Diasporas. With interpretations from the rich traditions of our two cultures: Gospel, Klezmer, Nigunim, Spirituals, Bebop and Swing, they also frame the music, telling stories about what the pieces mean, how they relate to us as individual members of the community, and how they reflect upon the relations between Blacks and Jews.

			A soul-stirring musical journey, The Spirit of Sepharad: From Casbah to Caliphate traces the unique migration of Sepharadic music from medieval Spain, across North Africa, to the Middle East. Combining music, dance and illuminating projections, this dynamic mixed-media performance brings to life all the rich cultural strains that influenced Sepharadic/Mizrahi Jews.

			Visions has performed a message of tikkun olam for synagogues nationwide, the UJC General Assembly, Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Federations, AIPAC, the Hadassah National Convention, Cantors Assembly, Hillel, the Maccabi Games, the UJC National Young Leadership Conference, the JCC Biennial Convention, the National Conference for Community and Justice, the Anti-Defamation League, Seeds of Peace, the Valley Jewish Festival in Los Angeles, Give Kids the World, the Jewish National Fund, Israel Bonds, Hadassah Chapters, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, B'nai Brith International, Jewish Family Services, CAJE, the Jewish community of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and many more.

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