Boulder Jewish News Arts, Culture, Events, Lifestyles, Holidays, Synagogues, Education
Monday September 20, 2021
9:10-10:00am (MDT)
Join Zoë Aqua and Adah Hetko for a conversation/performance centered around the contemporary klezmer and Yiddish song scene. Zoë is a violinist based in Brooklyn, NY and Adah is a singer based in Boston, MA. Both are active as composers and teachers as well as performing with multiple local bands. Zoë and Adah will talk about their current projects, what inspires them, and how the histories of klezmer music and Yiddish song have influenced their work.
Zoë Aqua is a violinist, educator and composer. She was awarded a Fulbright research grant for the 2021-2022 academic year to study Transylvanian music pedagogy in Cluj, Romania. In 2017, she served as the full-time understudy for the Klezmatics’ Lisa Gutkin in the Broadway production of “Indecent”, ultimately going onstage over 18 times. Quickly becoming an in-demand violinist in the klezmer scene, Zoë is a co-founder of Tsibele and Farnakht, and performs regularly with Litvakus, the Honorable Mentschn, and more. She holds two degrees in music education and was the director of klezmer programming at the Brooklyn Conservatory from 2018-2021.
Adah Hetko is a Yiddish singer, songwriter and educator based in Somerville, MA. She is lead singer for Burikes band, an artist-in-residence at the Boston Synagogue, and Multidisciplinary Programs Coordinator for KlezKanada’s 2020 and 2021 retreats. She has taught Yiddish song and presented her research about Yiddish singers in a variety of academic and community contexts. Adah is also a co-leader of Oysters of Yiddish Song: The New Yiddish Songbook Project, which received a 2020-2021 New Jewish Culture Fellowship. The winner of the Boston Prize in Ezekiel’s Wheel Klezmer Band’s Babka Challenge (a singing contest!), Adah recently voice-acted and wrote and performed a lullaby for Theater Emory’s Yiddish/English puppet show “Labzik: Tales of a Clever Pup.”
This concert series is made possible by funding from the CU Boulder Office for Outreach and Engagement Arts and Humanities Initiative, the Roser Visiting Artist Program in the College of Music, and the David Shneer Fund for Community Programming, Public Scholarship, and the Arts.
Pre-Registration is required for the Webinar. Please register here.
