On January 27 at 7 PM ET, KlezKanada will present the world premiere of
Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango. This concert will feature new Yiddish songs based on testimonies of Canadian Holocaust survivors, composed by the leading musicians Aviva Chernick, Lenka Lichtenberg, Olga Mieleszczuk, & Payadora Tango.
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In the 1990s, Dr. Paula David (University of Toronto, Social Work and Gerontology) began a project listening to women Holocaust survivors at the Baycrest Geriatric Centre. Dr. David encouraged them to write poetry to help deal with their trauma. Now, for the first time, these women’s stories will see the light of day in the form of Yiddish music.
The musicians will also premiere new compositions based on the poetry of Canadian author and Holocaust survivor Molly Applebaum (Buried Words). Olga Mieleszczuk, the world’s leading exponent of Yiddish Tango, teamed up with the ensemble Payadora Tango to set some of Applebaum’s writing to music.
Please join us for this special event on January 27, 2022 at 7 PM ET on Facebook Live to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.
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AVIVA CHERNICK: Canadian Folk Music Association Award Winning and Juno-nominated vocalist.
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LENKA LICHTENBERG: Independent Music Award Winning Vocalist and Composer.
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OLGA MIELESZCZUK: Vocals (also known as The Queen of Yiddish Tango).
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PAYADORA TANGO ENSEMBLE, featuring:
REBEKAH WOLKSTEIN: Composer and Violinist on this project (and violinist for the Canadian Opera Company).
DREW JURECKA: Bandoneon. Violist, Arranger and Engineer for Dua Lipa’s Grammy-Award winning album Future Nostalgia and jazz instructor at Humber College.
ROBERT HORVATH: Piano, graduate of the prestigious Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary.
JOSEPH PHILLIPS: Double Bass (and principal bassist at London Ontario’s Symphony Orchestra.
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DR. PAULA DAVID (University of Toronto). Speaker, and leader of the Baycrest Holocaust Survivor Poetry Project.
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This event is made possible by the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Workmen’s Circle Foundation.