Ms. Pechersky reports: From Carnegie Hall to Lincoln Center – EWSIS students sing in Yiddish! The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF — the last word in the title means “People’s Stage”) is the longest continuously-producing Yiddish theatre in the world and the oldest continuously-producing performing arts institution in the USA. This year it celebrated its 101st anniversary with a Gala Concert in honor of Zalmen Mlotek, the Folksbiene Artistic Director and his wife Debra, an educator. Broadway, television, and film stars Mandy Patinkin and Adam Ben-David starred in the show. Please see http://nytf.org/gala-artists-honorees/ for more information on these celebrities. The concert took place at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 23, 2016. The event was featured in multiple media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, NBC, etc. http://www.wsj.com/articles/mandy-patinkin-digs-deep-to-sing-yiddish-music-1463479200 http://causeceleb.newsvine.com/_news/2016/05/11/35530268-world-renowned-pianist-zalmen-mlotek-honored-by-yiddish-theatre-at-mandy-patinkin-gala-celebration?lite East-West School of International Studies was invited to perform at Lincoln Center following our stellar performance with Itzhak Perlman and Folksbiene at Carnegie Hall last year. EWSIS teacher, Ms. Pechersky, an internationally renowned folklorist and author, has taught, studied, and performed with Zalmen Mlotek in numerous projects in the Netherlands, Russia, and the USA since 1994. EWSIS multitalented music teacher, Ms. Minckler, has been instrumental and inspirational for our students to learn and engage with a new culture and musical tradition. Striving to build bridges among NYC diverse communities, Ms. Pechersky and Ms. Minckler spearheaded East-West’s collaboration with the Folksbiene Yiddish Theater to bring a new aspect to our International Studies theme. A selected group of very talented and hardworking EWSIS students in grades 6-10 spent several months studying Yiddish musical folklore, basic vocabulary and grammar, various dialects and pronunciation in order for them to sound authentically and meaningfully during this very prestigious and unforgettable performance. From one of our 9th grader performer:
I really enjoyed our practices for Lincoln concert hall. It was really a fun and amazing experience to learn a beautiful song in a different language. We can learn a lot about a culture through music. I had a great time and it's upsetting that our practices are over. I hope we have more amazing opportunities like this. -Lovepreet Kaur