TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, AT 8 PM

The Klezmer Conservatory Band, America's preeminent klezmer ensemble, brings Chanukah cheer to Walt Disney Concert Hall on Tuesday, December 16, at 8 p.m. The performance, entitled "Oy, Chanukah," is a fresh way to celebrate the holiday season and comes to Walt Disney Concert Hall only days before the first night of Chanukah.

Under the leadership of founder and director Hankus Netsky, the Klezmer Conservatory's repertoire includes songs from klezmer's centuries-old roots in the shtetls of Eastern Europe, as well as from its 20th century transplantation to the U.S., where it absorbed influences from jazz. The Klezmer Conservatory Band also updates and expands the tradition with original arrangements that reflect contemporary jazz and hip-hop. The band's enthusiasm, its infectious high spirits, and the irresistible drive of the music's dance rhythms prevent the music from becoming a mere exercise in historic preservation. Each tune the band performs is transformed from a centuries-old music into a vital, living art form that speaks to the past, the present and the future.

Formed in 1980 by New England Conservatory of Music professor Hankus Netsky, the KLEZMER CONSERVATORY BAND has recorded and toured worldwide. They were featured in the 1988 documentary film A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden, in the film Enemies, A Love Story, and have appeared on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. In addition, they appeared with renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman in the PBS special In the Fiddler's House, and performed Hankus Netsky's original score for the children's video The Fool and the Flying Ship, with narration by Robin Williams, which aired nationwide on Showtime Cable Network. The band performed at the inaugural International Yiddish Festival in Krakow, Poland in 1990, and since then have toured in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and throughout the United States. In December 2002, the band performed orchestral arrangements of klezmer and Yiddish vocal music with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:



TUESDAY, DECMEBER 16, at 8 PM

Walt Disney Concert Hall

111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

KLEZMER CONSERVATORY BAND

Tickets ($20 - $65) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For more information, please call 323.850.2000.

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11/19/2003