Hey Folks!

I'm excited to announce that we will be returning April 29th with another installment of "Wednesdays at 8 With Lisa"! This time, we will be featuring special guests Cantor Sarah Myerson and accordionist Ilya Shneyveys as a dynamic duo. The pair form Shekedina, an exploration of divine names in many languages though musical meditation and sacred chanting. I hope you'll be able to join us for a concert filled with healing and beauty.

To join the Zoom meeting, subscribe to Lisa's mailing list on our website

I’m really looking forward to "being together" with you!

Shekedina: Shemot Kedoshim - Divine Names

Judaism has many names for the Divine; in Hebrew, in Aramaic, in Yiddish, in Ladino. Divine names spanning many genders. Names that speak to all of our desires and imaginings of the Divine: compassion and creation, strength and healing, intimate and unknowable.

Shekedina is an original musical exploration of these divine names. Join us in sacred chanting and meditation with Sarah Myerson, composer and cantor with a daily Yoga practice and Ilya Shneyveys, multi-instrumentalist and music producer.

Sarah Myerson is a cantor actively working to bridge the worlds of Jewish religion and Yiddish culture. Her love of klezmer music and background in folk dance drew her to study Yiddish dance at festivals and workshops. Since 2008 she has led Yiddish social dancing and taught workshops and private lessons in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, and Australia. She has also coordinated the Yiddish Dance Workshop for Yiddish Summer Weimar (2018, 2019). To deepen her connection with Ashkenazi culture, Sarah has studied Yiddish language at YIVO (NY), the Arbeter Ring (NY), Beit Ben Yehuda (Jerusalem) and Tel Aviv University. Sarah received her bachelor’s degree in composition from the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, Australia. She continues to write and perform new Yiddish and sacred Jewish music, often accompanying herself on harmonium, banjolele, or percussion. Sarah received her cantorial investiture and Master of Sacred Music degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (NY), and her cantorial commission from the Cantors Assembly. She currently serves the community of Kane Street Synagogue in Brooklyn (NY).
cantorsarahmyerson.wixsite.com/cantor

Ilya Shneyveys is an international performer, accordionist and multi-instrumentalist, teacher, composer, arranger and producer of contemporary Jewish music, from klezmer and Yiddish folk song to fusion and experimental projects.

A founding member of Berlin’s famous Neukölln Klezmer Sessions and Shtetl Neukölln festival, as well as a long-time faculty member at Yiddish Summer Weimar, Ilya has performed and taught at major Jewish festivals around the world, including Yiddish Fest Moscow, Yiddish New York, Klezfest St.Petersburg, Klezfest London, KlezKanada, Montreal Jewish Festival, Toronto Ashkenaz Festival, Krakow Jewish Festival and more.

He is the artistic director and a founding member of the Yiddish psychedelic rock band Forshpil (LV-RU-DE) and a founding member of the Yiddish-Bavarian fusion project Alpen Klezmer (DE), winner of 2014 RUTH World Music Award at TFF Rudolstadt. He is an artictic director of the German-Israeli student exchange project The Caravan Orchestra, for which he was awarded the 2017 Shimon-Peres-Prize. As a touring member of the klezmer-balkan band Dobranotch (RU) he has received the Eiserne Eversteiner Preis in 2017. He has performed and collaborated with such projects like Opa! (RU), The Klezmatics (US), Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird (DE) and many others.

Ilya composes contemporary traditional klezmer pieces and creates original arrangements of traditional Jewish music. He is renowned as an improviser, accompanist and band leader.

Originally from Riga, Latvia, Ilya has been traveling the world for the last 15 years promoting Yiddish music and culture. He is currently based in Brooklyn, NY.
ilya.shneyveys.com