Alicia Svigals and the Klezmer Fiddle Express will perform as part of the Putnam Valley Town Board Concert series on Thursday, Aug. 18. Klezmer is the traditional celebration music of East European Jewry, played in the old world and the new at weddings, bas/bar mitzvahs and many other simkhes, or happy occasions.
Alicia Svigals, violinist/composer, is the founder of the Klezmatics and of the all-women band Mikveh. During the past decade, she has worked to revive klezmer fiddle playing, which came close to extinction in this century. The traditional klezmer violin style is now being played again by hundreds of her students, including most of today’s best professional players. She has taught and toured with violinist Itzhak Perlman, who recorded her compositions as duets accompanied by the Klezmatics, and she was awarded first prize at the Safed, Israel’s international klezmer festival competition.
The concert is free and open to the public. It starts at 7 p.m. at the Putnam Valley Fire House, 265 Oscawana Lake Road, on the second floor.
