A Yiddish smorgasbord
Book center schedules five days of festival fare
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The Yiddish Print Shop exhibit at the Yiddish Book Center, where a Paper Bridge Arts Festival talk will be held at 4:30 p.m. on July 13. Photos courtesy the Yiddish Book Center |
The Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., will hold its seventh annual Paper Bridge Arts Festival from July 10 to 14.
The five-day festival features concerts, theater, workshops, author lectures, and Yiddish film. Tours of the Yiddish Book Center’s repository and exhibits will be offered Sunday at 12:30 and Monday through Thursday at 1:30. Reservations are suggested for all performances.
Throughout the festival, authors will present lectures on a range of topics and preservationists will lead workshops on capturing oral histories, writing memoirs, and archiving ephemera. Yiddish translation sessions will be held Monday and Thursday at 4:30 p.m. A schedule of events follows.
Sunday, July 102 p.m.
Clare Burson, “Silver & Ash”
Indie songstress and former Book Center intern, Clare Burson performs work from her recently released CD “Silver & Ash,” a concept album that imagines Burson’s maternal grandmother’s life in Germany, from her birth in 1919 to her escape in 1938. Silver & Ash has been featured on NPR, in The New York Times, and Billboard magazine.
$22/general admission; $18/members
Monday, July 11 · 8 p.m.
“The Essence: A Yiddish Theatre Dim Sum”
Yiddish actors Allen Rickman, Yelena Shmulenson, and Michael Garin present an introduction to Yiddish theater, from the sublime to the preposterous, with melodies, ditties, drama, and songs in English and Yiddish with supertitles.
$22/general admission; $18/members.
Tuesday, July 12 · 8 p.m.
“His People” accompanied by Paul Shapiro & Band
Saxophonist/composer Paul Shapiro presents his original score for the newly-restored 1925 silent boxing classic “His People,” performed live by an all-star ensemble. Director Edward Sloman’s compelling vision of the painful depths and joyous heights of immigrant life endow the film with an exuberant vitality.
$22/general admission; $18/members.
Wednesday, July 13 · 8 p.m.
Klezmer Conservatory Band
In a rare western Massachusetts appearance by one of the most influential klezmer revival bands, the Klezmer Conservatory Band brings its high-energy brand of klezmer and Yiddish music to the Yiddish Book Center in a new program featuring vocalist and trumpet virtuoso Susan Watts.
$25/general admission; $20/members.
Thursday, July 14 · 8 p.m.
“The Dybbuk”
Boundaries separating the natural from the supernatural dissolve as ill-fated pledges, unfulfilled passions, and untimely deaths ensnare two families in a tragic labyrinth of spiritual possession in this classic Yiddish film based on the celebrated play by S. Ansky.
$22/general admission; $18/members.
Author and exhibit talks
Monday, July 11 · 3 p.m.
David Shneer: “Through Soviet Jewish Eyes”
Tuesday, July 12 · 3 p.m.
Rebecca Margolis: “Jewish Roots, Canadian Soil”
Wednesday, July 13 · 3 p.m.
Yuri Vedenyapin: “Dreaming of Distant Lands: The World of Yiddish Travelogues”
Wednesday, July 13 · 4:30 p.m.
“The Yiddish Print Shop”
Thursday, July 14 · 3 p.m.
Hankus Netsky: “S. Ansky: A Living Connection”
Events take place at the Yiddish Book Center, located on the Hampshire College Campus in Amherst, Mass. For a full schedule of events and to make reservations, call (413) 256-4900 or visit www.yiddishbookcenter.org/paperbridge.
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