May 25 Program to Showcase JCC’s Klezmer Treasures

LA JOLLA, California — Klezmer Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library will be presented Wednesday evening, May 25, 7 p.m. Register here.

This third program from the three-part series, Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library, will once again be hosted by me, Eileen Wingard, and my three distinguished guests will be Ron Robboy, founder of The Big Jewish Band and a former research fellow at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York; Robert Zelickman, co-director of the Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble and retired UCSD Lecturer on Jewish Music; and Yale Strom, director of Hot P’Stromi and Scholar Lecturer in the Music Department at San Diego State University. Robert Zelickman is joining me in person at the library and Ron and Yale will be joining via Zoom.

The playlist will include Freylachs, Bulgars, Niguns, Shers, Doinas and even a Tango. You will hear 1920’s artists like violinist Abe Schwartz from Rumania, called the Klezmer King, clarinetist Naftule Brandwein from the Ukraine and clarinetist Dave Tarras, from the Ukraine. Mickey Katz was one of the few post-WWII klezmer performers. He later turned to comedy, The Klezmer revival of the late 1970s will be illustrated by the Klezmorim of the Bay Area, the Klezmer Conservatory Band of Boston, Giora Feidman, of Israel, Andy Statman and the Klezmatics of New York, and selections by San Diego-based ensembles directed by our guests: Ron Robboy’s The Big Jewish Band; Robert Zelickman’s 2nd Avenue Klezmer Ensemble and Yale Strom’s Zmiros.

Ron Robboy, who recently retired from a 46 year tenure, playing cello in the San Diego Symphony, formed The Big Jewish Band, inspired by two of his UCSD professors, the acclaimed local Jewish poet Jerome Rothenberg and the electronic music pioneer Pauline Oliveros, an early director of UCSD’s Center for Music Experiment, where the band debuted. The Big Jewish Band, formed in 1980, performed monthly at the Old Time Cafe in Leucadia and at other venues and celebrations throughout Southern California and in Tijuana. Both Zelickman and Strom played in the Big Jewish Band before forming their own ensembles. Robboy’s research in Yiddish Literature and the Yiddish Theater resulted in his becoming a Researcher at YIVO, writing articles, lecturing and writing original scores.

Robert Zelickman, like Robboy, is a classically trained professional musician who earned degrees from UCLA and CalArts. He was principal clarinetist of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra for 23 seasons  and performed with the San Diego Symphony and other local ensembles. He lectured on Jewish Music at UCSD from 1983-2015. He founded the Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble with Deborah Davis in 1991.

Since 1981, Yale Strom, a graduate of New York University, has conducted extensive ethnographic research throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Of his nine documentary films, four have connections with klezmer music. Of his 14 books, six deal with klezmer subjects as well as the seventh soon to come out. His klezmer band, Hot P’stromi, has made 15 recordings and performed around the world. He is currently a scholar lecturer in the Music Department of San Diego State University. The night before this program, May 24, he and his band will be performing at the annual Klezmer Summit at the Lyceum Theatre in downtown San Diego, part of the Lipinsky Jewish Arts Festival. He has also composed klezmer-style scores as well as classical compositions with klezmer themes.