May 05, 2024 May Soul Sounds:
Catalan Mahzor Suite

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Catalan Mahzor Suite

(This concert will also commemorate Yom HaShoah)

Performers:
Ira Klein – Composer, Guitar
Rachel Linsky – Choreographer, Dance
Beth Bahia Cohen – Violin, Yayli Tanbur

Jerusalem-born guitarist and composer Ira Klein combines his love of traditional Jewish music and contemporary music to create a cutting-edge performance combining music, dance, and visuals, all inspired by the mysterious 13th-century Catalan Mahzor manuscript.

The Catalan Mahzor is a micrographical anthology of psalms and medieval Judeo-Spanish poetry, which weaves a story about spiritual redemption. Inspired by the haunting symbolism of the Mahzor’s imagery, and its turbulent history, Ira’s compositions fuse influences from Judeo-Spanish and Middle-Eastern music with the contemporary sounds of jazz and folk music.

Combining Ira’s musical compositions with dance created and performed by celebrated Boston dancer/choreographer Rachel Linsky, and live projections of images from the manuscript, The Catalan Mahzor Suite immerses audiences in a one-of-a-kind art experience. While doing so, it brings an obscure Jewish cultural treasure into the 21st century.

6:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
7:00 p.m. — Concert begins

Event organizational partners: Base Boston and campus partner Jewish Arts Collaborative (JArts).

Tickets

Tickets: $5, $18, $36. Purchase tickets online here. Exact change or check only at the door.

Thank you to our Series Underwriters

The Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation
Kavod Boston and the Kavod Jews of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Caucus (JOCISM)
Suzanne Priebatsch
Susan and James Snider
The William Davidson Foundation and The Wexner Foundation

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Preview

Our Performers

Ira Klein is a guitarist, composer, producer, and educator from Jerusalem, and based in Cambridge, MA. Through his art, he shares his love of folk traditions and passion for artistic risk-taking. His main areas of focus are Middle-Eastern music, American folk and blues, and collaborations with visual artists and choreographers. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music, and a master’s degree from Longy Conservatory, Bard College.

Rachel Linsky. is a Boston-based contemporary dance artist. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a B.A in Arts Administration from Elon University where she graduated summa cum laude. She directs and choreographs ZACHOR, an ongoing series that seeks to preserve the words of WWII Holocaust survivors through dance. She has presented work at venues throughout Boston including New England Conservatory, the Boston Center for the Arts, The Huntington Theater and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has presented dance films in national and international festivals such as Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance “Dance is Activism Film Festival ”, Prague International Film Festival, and many more. Most recently, Rachel was one of the 2022-23 JArts and CJP Community Creative Fellows, and is currently a member of the 2023-24 Next Steps for Boston Dance cohort.

Beth Bahia Cohen is a violinist of Syrian Jewish and Russian Jewish heritage. Inspired at a young age by the sounds she heard at family gatherings, she went on to study with master musicians from Hungary, Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. She plays the violin, viola, Greek lyras, Turkish bowed tanbur and kabak kemane, Norwegian hardingfele, and Egyptian rababa. She has performed with Led Zeppelin, Itzhak Perlman, Eubie Blake, Phillip Glass, numerous orchestras, and Greek, Turkish, Hungarian, and Klezmer ensembles, among others.

Save the Date!

Spring Soul Sounds June Concert

June 6: The Rabbi’s Family Band
Featuring multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Lisa Mayer, Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and Zachary Mayer
7:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
8:00 p.m. — Concert begins

Steeped in tradition but with a fully modern and inclusive sense of Yiddishkeit, the trio has performed their beautiful and authentic nigunim (wordless melodies) all over the world.

>> Learn more & purchase tickets

thank you to our series organizational partners

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