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As of 2023, Alpert continues to teach and perform worldwide from his home in Scotland as a soloist and in various configurations, including duos with Scottish fiddler Gica Loening and American fiddler [[Craig Judelman]].<ref>{{cite web| publisher=[[Scottish Council of Jewish Communities]]| title=Jewish music, learning, and food in St Andrews| date=February 21, 2016| url=https://scojec.org/news/2016/16ii_st_andrews/klezmer.html| accessdate=2022-06-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://centrum.org/2017/07/july-8-fiddle-tunes-finale/|title=July 8 [2017]: Fiddle Tunes Finale|publisher=[[Centrum (arts organization)|Centrum]]|date=July 5, 2017|accessdate=6 June 2018}}</ref>.
As of 2023, Alpert continues to teach and perform worldwide from his home in Scotland as a soloist and in various configurations, including duos with Scottish fiddler Gica Loening and American fiddler [[Craig Judelman]].<ref>{{cite web| publisher=[[Scottish Council of Jewish Communities]]| title=Jewish music, learning, and food in St Andrews| date=February 21, 2016| url=https://scojec.org/news/2016/16ii_st_andrews/klezmer.html| accessdate=2022-06-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://centrum.org/2017/07/july-8-fiddle-tunes-finale/|title=July 8 [2017]: Fiddle Tunes Finale|publisher=[[Centrum (arts organization)|Centrum]]|date=July 5, 2017|accessdate=6 June 2018}}</ref>.



In addition to performance and teaching, Alpert has travelled throughout [[Eastern Europe]] and the Americas conducting ethnographic research and documentation of Jewish and other traditional musicians and singers. His audio and video fieldwork archive of over 1,000 hours of interviews and field recordings was acquired by the [[American Folklife Center]] of the U.S. [[Library of Congress]], and his scholarly publications include an article in ''American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots'' (University of California Press, 2002, ed. Mark Slobin) on Warsaw-born klezmer drummer Ben Bazyler (1922-1990) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=zmIfkHhtMU0C&pg=PA73&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=0_0 readable here on Google Books]), and ''Jewish Instrumental Folk Music: The Collections and Writings of Moshe Beregovski'' ([[Moisei Beregovsky]]), translated and edited by Alpert, [[Mark Slobin]] and Robert Rothstein (Syracuse University Press, 2001).([https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Jewish_Instrumental_Folk_Music.html?id=PzXaAAAAMAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y])
In addition to performance and teaching, Alpert has travelled throughout [[Eastern Europe]] and the Americas conducting ethnographic research and documentation of Jewish and other traditional musicians and singers. His audio and video fieldwork archive of over 1,000 hours of interviews and field recordings was acquired by the [[American Folklife Center]] of the U.S. [[Library of Congress]], and his scholarly publications include an article in ''American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots'' (University of California Press, 2002, ed. Mark Slobin) on Warsaw-born klezmer drummer Ben Bazyler (1922-1990) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=zmIfkHhtMU0C&pg=PA73&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=0_0 readable here on Google Books]), and ''Jewish Instrumental Folk Music: The Collections and Writings of Moshe Beregovski'' ([[Moisei Beregovsky]]), translated and edited by Alpert, [[Mark Slobin]] and Robert Rothstein (Syracuse University Press, 2001).([https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Jewish_Instrumental_Folk_Music.html?id=PzXaAAAAMAAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y])


Alpert can be credited with initiating the revival of rhythmic and harmonic ''sekund'' violin playing in klezmer music, a key technique and voice in traditional European klezmer ensembles which had fallen out of use prior to the klezmer revitalization.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dinayekapelye.com/jmfiddle.htm |title=Jewish Fiddle |last=Cohen |first=Bob |date=2009 |website=www.dinayekapelye.com |access-date=16 October 2017}}</ref>. He was among the first figures of the [[klezmer]] and Yiddish culture revitalization to re-introduce, perform and teach the traditional solo [[a capella]] style of Yiddish folksong and folksinging worldwide.
Alpert can be credited with initiating the revival of rhythmic and harmonic ''sekund'' violin playing in klezmer music, a key technique and voice in traditional European klezmer ensembles that had fallen out of use prior to the klezmer revitalization.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dinayekapelye.com/jmfiddle.htm |title=Jewish Fiddle |last=Cohen |first=Bob |date=2009 |website=www.dinayekapelye.com |access-date=16 October 2017}}</ref>. He was among the first figures of the [[klezmer]] and Yiddish culture revitalization to re-introduce, perform and teach the traditional solo [[a capella]] style of Yiddish folksong and folksinging worldwide.

As a late teenager in the early 1970's, Alpert lived in [[Yugoslavia]], researching traditional music and dance and learning the languages of the western Balkans, particularly the former [[Serbo-Croatian]], and [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]].


Alpert was musical director of the 1995 [[PBS]] Great Performances special ''[[Itzhak Perlman]]: In the Fiddler's House'' (1996 [[Emmy Award]] for Outstanding Cultural Music-Dance Program and [[Golden Rose]] (Montreux) for same) and co-producer of the two Perlman klezmer CDs on the [[Angel Records]]/[[EMI]] label.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Jon Pareles |author1-link=Jon Pareles |title=MUSIC REVIEW;A Classicist Romps In a Revival Of Klezmer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/04/arts/music-review-a-classicist-romps-in-a-revival-of-klezmer.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=21 July 2021 |date=4 July 1996}}</ref>
Alpert was musical director of the 1995 [[PBS]] Great Performances special ''[[Itzhak Perlman]]: In the Fiddler's House'' (1996 [[Emmy Award]] for Outstanding Cultural Music-Dance Program and [[Golden Rose]] (Montreux) for same) and co-producer of the two Perlman klezmer CDs on the [[Angel Records]]/[[EMI]] label.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Jon Pareles |author1-link=Jon Pareles |title=MUSIC REVIEW;A Classicist Romps In a Revival Of Klezmer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/04/arts/music-review-a-classicist-romps-in-a-revival-of-klezmer.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=21 July 2021 |date=4 July 1996}}</ref>

Revision as of 20:25, 3 July 2023

Alpert in 2016

Michael Alpert (born 1954, Los Angeles, California) is a klezmer musician and Yiddish singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, scholar and educator who has been called a key figure[1] in the klezmer revitalization, beginning in the 1970s.[2] He has performed in a number of groups since that time, including Brave Old World, Kapelye, Khevrisa, The Brothers Nazaroff, Voices of Ashkenaz and The An-Sky Ensemble,[3], and collaborated with clarinetist David Krakauer, hip-hop artist Socalled, singer/songwriter/actor Daniel Kahn, bandurist Julian Kytasty, violinist Itzhak Perlman, ethnomusicologist and musician Walter Zev Feldman and numerous others.

He is the recipient of a 2015 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States government's highest lifetime honor to its folk and traditional artists.[4]

Alpert is also a pioneering teacher and researcher of Yiddish traditional dance and has been central to restoring Yiddish dance to its time-honored place alongside klezmer music as a key component of East European Jewish expressive culture.[5]

As of 2023, Alpert continues to teach and perform worldwide from his home in Scotland as a soloist and in various configurations, including duos with Scottish fiddler Gica Loening and American fiddler Craig Judelman.[6][7].

In addition to performance and teaching, Alpert has travelled throughout Eastern Europe and the Americas conducting ethnographic research and documentation of Jewish and other traditional musicians and singers. His audio and video fieldwork archive of over 1,000 hours of interviews and field recordings was acquired by the American Folklife Center of the U.S. Library of Congress, and his scholarly publications include an article in American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots (University of California Press, 2002, ed. Mark Slobin) on Warsaw-born klezmer drummer Ben Bazyler (1922-1990) (readable here on Google Books), and Jewish Instrumental Folk Music: The Collections and Writings of Moshe Beregovski (Moisei Beregovsky), translated and edited by Alpert, Mark Slobin and Robert Rothstein (Syracuse University Press, 2001).([1])

Alpert can be credited with initiating the revival of rhythmic and harmonic sekund violin playing in klezmer music, a key technique and voice in traditional European klezmer ensembles that had fallen out of use prior to the klezmer revitalization.[8]. He was among the first figures of the klezmer and Yiddish culture revitalization to re-introduce, perform and teach the traditional solo a capella style of Yiddish folksong and folksinging worldwide.

As a late teenager in the early 1970's, Alpert lived in Yugoslavia, researching traditional music and dance and learning the languages of the western Balkans, particularly the former Serbo-Croatian, and Macedonian.

Alpert was musical director of the 1995 PBS Great Performances special Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler's House (1996 Emmy Award for Outstanding Cultural Music-Dance Program and Golden Rose (Montreux) for same) and co-producer of the two Perlman klezmer CDs on the Angel Records/EMI label.[9]

References

  1. ^ Slobin, Mark (2000). Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World. American Musicspheres. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0195131246.
  2. ^ "Brave Old World: Home of the Braves". Archived from the original on January 7, 2011. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  3. ^ "The An-Sky Ensemble". Center for Traditional Music and Dance. 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2018.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "NEA National Heritage Fellowships 2015". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Gelfand, Alexander (February 20, 2008). "Symposium Seeks To Save Yiddish Dance". forward.com. The Forward Association. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  6. ^ "Jewish music, learning, and food in St Andrews". Scottish Council of Jewish Communities. February 21, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  7. ^ "July 8 [2017]: Fiddle Tunes Finale". Centrum. July 5, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  8. ^ Cohen, Bob (2009). "Jewish Fiddle". www.dinayekapelye.com. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  9. ^ Jon Pareles (July 4, 1996). "MUSIC REVIEW;A Classicist Romps In a Revival Of Klezmer". The New York Times. Retrieved July 21, 2021.


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