26 May 2008

Poland: Krakow Jewish Festival, June 27-July 6

The 18th Jewish Culture Festival will take place in the Kazimierz quarter of Krakow, Poland, from June 27-July 6. Since 1987, the historic Jewish quarter fills with music, art, dance, lectures and exhibits celebrating the 900-year history of Jews in Poland.

World-famous Jewish music personalities appear, among them Michael Alpert, Brave Old World, Theodore Bikel, The Klezmatics, David Krakauer, Frank London, Cantor Ben-Zion Miller, Andy Statman and others. Fans come from Poland, Central and Western Europe, Israel, the United States, and elsewhere to participate in this event.

The Festival Program runs from morning to night with performances (theater, music) and exhibits (art, photographs) all over Kazimierz at such venues as the Popper Synagogue, Stara Synagogue, Tempel Synagogue, Kupa Synagogue, Wysoka Synagogue, Manggha Museum, Muzeum Inzynierii Miejskiej, Muzeum Etnograficzne, Galicia Museum, National Museum of Krakow and various galleries. Some are organized in connection with Israeli organizations.

There are walking tours (Polish and English) of the quarter's synagogues and Ghetto, Remuh and other cemetery visits, tours of former Krakow environs shtetls, poetry sessions, Yiddish and Hebrew workshops, Judaism lectures, children's workshops, Jewish cooking, Hebrew calligraphy, Jewish paper-cutting workshops, lectures and films.

Music includes lunchtime concerts, choirs, klezmer workshops, drumming workshops, free jazz, Jewish dance, Hasidic singing and dance, klezmer and gypsy musicians, Yiddish singing, Jass Klezmer and even a Sephardic music program with Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI from Spain.

Jewish genealogy will be represented several times during the festival by the well-known Yale Reisner and Anna Przybyszewska at the Galicia Museum.

See the program here.

See the past Festival posters here.

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