After over 10 years of correspondence–on e-mail, snail mail, & Facebook–I finally met musicologist Yale Strom in person at the Museum at Eldridge Street on Sunday 10/27!
Yale is a musicologist, fiddler, filmmaker, & all around mensch, & he was in town to perform in the “Lost & Found Music Series” with his wife Elizabeth Schwartz (percussionist & singer) along with friends old & new.
I first contacted Yale way back in 2003 when I did my original research on Stempenyu. It was Yale who explained to me that this wonderful Sholem Aleichem character was actually based on a real fiddler!
Click HERE to read about Yale’s film Klezmer on Fish Street (shown as part of the Chicago YIVO Summer Festival of Jewish Culture).
Click HERE for Yale’s website with links & lists of upcoming performances 🙂
About the Museum at Eldridge Street (formerly the Eldridge Street Synagogue):
“In 1996, the United States Department of the Interior designated the Eldridge Street Synagogue a National Historic Landmark, the highest form of landmark designation. The Museum also gained recognition of the synagogue from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the City of New York for its architectural beauty, its significance as part of the American immigrant experience, and its revitalization as a vital heritage center for people of all backgrounds.”
Click HERE for the full story the Eldridge Street Synagogue restoration & find calendar of future programs in this historic Lower East Side location (once a totally Jewish neighorhood & now mostly Chinese).
Photo Credits: Jan Lisa Huttner (10/27/13)
(Photo of Jan by Richard Bayard Miller)
