Yiddish Futures: Goleslider

Goleslider is a new project that combines newly-composed Yiddish songs with klezmer improvisation and live electronics.

Artistic directors Francesca Ter-Berg (cello/voice/electronics), a pioneer of combining experimental electroacoustic music with klezmer, and Daniel Kahn (multi-instrumentalist/voice), a leading Yiddish songwriter of the 21st century, explore the concept of goles, a Yiddish word that means both exile and diaspora.

The program explores many forms of “exile”, from migration and historical exclusion to cultural and linguistic ruptures. Through new songs that set existing and newly-written Yiddish poetry, Goleslider reconsiders the broad concept of goles in the context of rising nationalism.

Goleslider is the first project in the series Yiddish Futures, a series of new performance projects that fuse traditional Yiddish expressive culture with contemporary artistic styles.

Performers

Daniel Kahn (US/G; composition, voice, multi-instrumentalist) is a Detroit-born troubadour, songwriter, translator and musician who combines English, Yiddish, and German in a radical mix of klezmer, folk, cabaret, and punk. His ensembles include The Painted Bird, Brothers Nazaroff, Semer Ensemble, and The Unternationale. Kahn played the Badkhn in the Netflix series Unorthodox and was featured in Carnegie Hall’s From Shtetl to Stage. He was named the inaugural Theo Bikel Artist in Residence by the Ashkenaz Foundation, received the 2018 Chana and Joseph Mlotek Award for Yiddish Continuity, and was honored with the 2023 Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish Award.

Francesca Ter-Berg (GB/G; composition, cello, voice, live electronics) is a cellist, composer and producer known for blending klezmer music, improvisation, and electronic synthesis to create a one-of-a-kind sound. In 2024, her critically acclaimed duo Fran & Flora with violinist Flora Curzon released its second self-produced studio album, Precious Collection, which was named among theTop 10 Folk Albums of 2024 by The Guardian. Francesca  regularly performs and teaches at klezmer festivals around the world, including KlezMore Vienna, KlezFest London, and Yiddish Summer Weimar.

Anna Lowenstein (GB/IR; violin) is a klezmer violinist, teacher and music therapist from London. She frequently teaches workshops both in the UK and internationally including Klezfest, KlezNorth (UK),  and Yiddish Summer Weimar among others, and she has been a guest lecturer in the World Music programme at the Irish World Academy of Music (Limerick, Ireland). Her theater credits include the European debut of Indecent (Menier Chocolate Factory, 2021) and the award-nominated Jewish pantomime Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Pig (JW3, 2023). Anna’s debut album, Through the Walls, recreates the ‘sound world’ of her childhood, in which the languages of Beethoven, Bartok, Shostakovich commingled with Yiddish music, through Eastern European Jewish folk music written and arranged for string quartet.

Pieter Sint Nicolaas (BE/NL/G; trumpet, flugelhorn) has been active in the European klezmer scene for over a decade and frequently performs with various ensembles in Germany, France and Belgium, including his klezmer trio Klezmotivn and the Brussels-based klezmer band Zinnekelekh. He has taught klezmer music and Yiddish dance at festivals including Shtetl St Gilles, KlezNorth, Fun Dor tsu Dor, and Generation J and is on the faculty of the Erfurt Klezmer Orchestra. Pieter has shared stages with klezmorim including Alan Bern, Christian Dawid, Michael Alpert, Sasha Lurje, and Craig Judelman and with lautari musicians Adam Stinga and Marin Bunea. He trained as a classical trumpet player at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent and is active as a freelance orchestra and chamber musician, specializing in contemporary music and improvisation.

Rosamond van Wingerden (US/NL/G; voice) is a singer, Yiddish dancer, cultural organizer, and writer. She moved to Germany in 2022 as a Fulbright Grant recipient researching traditional and contemporary Yiddish song, mentored by Alan Bern, and studied with Cantor Sveta Kundish. She has taught at festivals and programs including Fun Dor tsu Dor, Shtetl Berlin, Generation J, and the Fête des Musiques Juives, was a co-founder of the Brussels Yiddish Zingkrayz, and has performed with musicians and ensembles including Alan Bern, Iarla Ó Lionáird, and Eighth Blackbird. Rosamond is currently working on her debut album, a project with electric guitarist Jordan White that combines new and traditional Yiddish songs with experimental jazz and electroacoustic music.

Malik Schilling (G; percussion) is a versatile percussionist whose musical influences include klezmer, Eastern European folk music, traditional Arabic music, and modern jazz fusion. His playing focuses on polyrhythms, metric modulations, and improvisation. Malik participated in Silkroad’s Global Musicians Workshop and performs internationally on a variety of percussion instruments, including in the 2022 world premiere of Alan Bern’s Yiddish oratorio Glikl: A Musical Herstory. He studied at Berklee College of Music and Codarts.