Instrumental Music Workshop (Klezmer)
July 13 – 18 @Musikschule

Intermediate Level (Please click here for help in choosing the workshop that’s best for you.)
10 a.m. – 1 p.m. & 3 – 6 p.m.

With Joshua Horowitz, Emil Goldschmidt & Cookie Segelstein



Academic credit for this workshop!


Are you an undergraduate or graduate student at a university or conservatory? If so, you can probably get 1-3 academic credits for taking this workshop, thanks to our new cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, Germany. Please send an email to for more details.

This year, we will explore traditional klezmer music using archival materials. The workshops will focus on how to (re)create klezmer music based on historic recordings using a range of techniques. The intermediate level will concentrate on understanding and interpreting the intricacies of klezmer and Yiddish music. We will also examine the aesthetic issues that we, as 21st-century musicians, face when navigating the concepts of "old" and "new" in music – in particular, the question of innovation within tradition.

The instructors will impart techniques of listening and transcription to reveal the music's internal rules and suggest ways to refashion historic material using new tools for testing the confines of the traditional. The materials examined include recordings by Moshe Beregovsky, Sofia Magid and Ruth Rubin as well as lesser-known European and American recordings. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the distinctions between field recordings and commercial records and between the designations "amateur" and "professional," which will hopefully inspire them to seek their own, personal place within the tradition. Rather than approaching these topics in a dogmatic way, the instructors will encourage an open-minded approach toward refashioning tradition in a way that balances the concepts of "then" and "now."

A month or two before the workshop begins, participants will receive historic recordings for the preparation of the workshop.

If you're unsure about whether this workshop is right for your musical level of experience, please click here.

Workshop fee: 405 € Standard / 315 € Reduced / 555 € Sponsor / 165 € under 18
For information about the Standard, Reduced and Supporter fees >> read about

The evening program that caps each workshop day has much to do with the unique atmosphere of Yiddish Summer Weimar. On some evenings we meet for jam sessions in Weimar's cafés or in the Other Music Academy (OMA), a great opportunity to put into practice what you've been learning during the day and connect with the other participants. On other evenings, we present concerts connected to the workshop topic performed by internationally recognized artists. During the Festival Week (July 27 - August 3), directly following each evening's featured event in the mon ami cultural center, we meet again in the OMA for the Late Night Cabaret, an informal and fun atmosphere for short performances by anyone ready to jump on stage. In Yiddish Summer Weimar, learning, playing and connecting with each other go hand-in-hand.