The Boston Festival of New Jewish Music is a free monthly concert series presenting original music drawing from the Jewish cultural experience. Hosted by BackRoom at The Boston Synagogue, co-presented by JArts, and live-streaming everywhere, the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music highlights the best in Jewish-influenced music by composers and performers who live right here in our own backyard.
2023-2024 (5784) Season
Khanike Klezmer Spectacular
Featuring Michael Winograd and the Honorable Mentshn with Sasha Lurje. Opening performance by Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band. Afterparty by Zach Mayer's Electronic Jerusalem
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 7pm
The Somerville Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA
It's a Khanike (Chanuka, Hanukkah, Janucá...) Klezmer Spectacular!
Featuring some of the greatest klezmer bands, most fabulous Yiddish singers, and best dressed clarinetists in the world:
Michael Winograd and The Honorable Mentshn with Sasha Lurje!
Opening performance by Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band!
Afterparty with Zach Mayer's Electronic Jerusalem!
Friends, this is not one to be missed.
Join the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music and all of your friends to dance the night away and celebrate Chanukah (Hanukkah, Janucá, Khanike...) the best way we know how: with music, dance, and joy.
A Meeting of the Arts with Ira Klein, Beth Bahia Cohen, and Rachel Linsky
Thursday, November 30 at 6:00pm
The Vilna Shul, 18 Phillips Street, Boston, MA
This performance, titled A Meeting of the Arts, is an immersive art experience featuring original music and dance by composer and guitarist Ira Klein, multi-instrumentalist Beth Bahia Cohen, and dancer Rachel Linsky. This work is inspired by guitarist Ira Klein’s research into the mysterious Catalan Mahzor, a 14th-century Jewish illuminated manuscript from Spain.
Book release, season opener, and dance party!
Wednesday, November 15th, 2023, 7:00pm
The Boston Synagogue, 55 Martha Rd, Boston, MA
A book release, a klezmer dance, and a birthday party all at once? It must be the season opener at the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music!
Join us on Wednesday, November 15th at the Boston Synagogue for a celebration of new Jewish culture as we perform music from BFNJM Artistic Director Nat Seelen's upcoming book,
New Klezmer Dances: Volume 1.
We'll be joined by 2022-23 JArts/CJP Community Creative Fellow Rachel Linsky leading dancing and an absolutely crackerjack band of Nat Seelen on clarinet, Edmar Colón on saxophone, Cory Pesaturo on accordion, Kirsten Lamb on bass, and Grant Smith on drums.
You've heard them with Itzhak Perlman, Esperanza Spalding, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Now, hear them together at the Boston Synagogue.
Oh yeah, and it's Nat's birthday party! There will be cake, snacks, and drinks.
This donation link supports PayPal and all major credit cards. Thank you for supporting the #BFNJM and all of our amazing artists!
Get Involved
Volunteer
Behind every incredible event is a crew of wonderful volunteers helping everything run smoothly. Volunteers support the #BFNJM through checking audience members in at the front, setting and striking the room, monitoring the live stream, and more. If you're interested in joining the team, fill out the form below and we will be in touch soon.
Perform
Our success depends on our community of amazing musicians. If you would like to be considered to perform for an upcoming season, fill out the form below and we will respond as soon as we are able.
Donate
Our concerts are free to attend but not to produce. In fact, they're rather expensive, because we're committed to compensating our artists and technical staff appropriately for their work. If you believe that bringing great music to the people of Boston is a worthwhile endeavor, consider making a tax-deductible donation to the #BFNJM today.
Join our mailing list
Because you might not want more emails, but you want ours!
About the #BFNJM
The Boston Festival of New Jewish Music was created by local musicians who believe that:
People find meaning and joy in art and community, and communities come together around shared experiences, especially regular meetings over time.
We all benefit from hearing great concerts and musicians benefit from the opportunity to develop and present new works to people excited to hear them.
A strong cultural ecosystem is part of what makes the Boston area so vital and strong.
Great Jewish music is great music. You don’t need to be from the South Bronx to love hip hop or from Panama to love reggaeton; why should you need to know the difference between the Torah and the Talmud to fall in love with Abigale Reisman’s violin or Zach Mayer’s saxophone? Our music is from a certain cultural place, but it’s for everyone.
Art should be accessible to everyone in our broader community. Especially after the past 18 months has made hearing live music so difficult, we are doubling down on accessibility. Concerts are free and live-streamed for folks who can’t attend in person. For those who can, the venue is totally handicapped accessible and an easy walk from the Red Line, Orange Line, Green Line, and BlueBike stations.
If you believe any of these things, or just want to hear some amazing concerts, join us for this season of the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music.
Partners
Special thanks go out to our partner organizations for believing in and supporting live music at such a difficult time for musicians.
The Boston Synagogue
A wonderful spirit is alive at The Boston Synagogue. We are a warm, small, neighborhood shul, and the only synagogue located in the heart of downtown with Shabbat and Holiday Services 52 weeks per year.
Our Mission is to serve the needs of the diverse community of Jews in downtown Boston, whether through joyful participatory worship, Friday Night Dinners, Saturday morning Kiddush, or Holiday celebrations, as well as with a slew of Cultural Events and other fun and engaging opportunities to connect with our open, vibrant community. The Shul also offers dynamic learning experiences for everyone, from our growing Hebrew School to Adult Education programs.
JArts Boston
JArts™ brings people together to explore and celebrate the diverse world of Jewish art, culture, and creative expression.
We believe in the unique power of arts and culture to build connections. Art, food, literature, music, and more allow us to better understand the life experiences of others as well as our own, and help to build a vibrant and more tolerant future for both our Jewish and Greater Boston communities.
JArts™ creates programs that bring people together — in the Greater Boston area and around the world — to celebrate and elevate the diverse world of Jewish art, culture, and creative expression. Let culture connect us.
CJP - Combined Jewish Philanthropies
At CJP, we are working every day to make our world a better place. We’re raising and investing money, building relationships and growing partnerships to address our community’s greatest challenges, and offering diverse opportunities to build a meaningful Jewish life.
Thank you to our sponsors and supporters!
NEFA
Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
Boston Cultural Council
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture.
Newton Cultural Council
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Newton Cultural Council, a local council that is supported by the Mass Cultural Council and the City of Newton
Mass Cultural Council
CJP
JArts
You?
Donate to the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music at https://paypal.me/bfnjm.
Join the party, just this once or every month!