Live from the Gallery: The Klezmatics Play Letters to Afar at the Museum of the City of New York, Monday, January 12, 7 – 9 p.m.

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Live from the Gallery: 

The Klezmatics Play Letters to Afar

at the Museum of the City of New York

 

Monday, January 12, 7 – 9 p.m.

 

Grammy Award-Winning Band The Klezmatics to Perform Original Score 
at Art Installation Featuring Home Movies from Pre-Holocaust Poland

 

WHAT: Grammy Award-Winning band The Klezmatics will perform an acoustic version of the score they composed for Letters to Afar: by Peter Forgacs, music by The Klezmatics,
a tremendously moving video art installation that uses home movies (from the archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research) made by Jewish New Yorkers to immerse visitors in the daily happenings of pre-Holocaust Poland, now on view at the Museum of the City of New York.
In the spirit of old-style klezmer street bands, the five-member, New York-based

Klezmatics will slowly make their way through the installation, playing traditional klezmer music, fused with elements of jazz, rock, gospel and other modern musical genres.

 

Guests are invited to wander the gallery, absorbing the Klezmatics’ unique sounds and Forgacs’ haunting re-staging of poignant family reunions and everyday life in Poland’s cities, small towns and villages in the years before the Second World War, capturing a culture on the brink.

 

This event is co-presented with YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in conjunction with Letters to Afar: By Péter Forgács, music by the Klezmatics,on view at the City Museum through Sunday, March 22, 2015.

 

WHO: The Klezmatics, Grammy Award-Winning, New York-based klezmer band who composed the original score for Letters to Afar 

 

WHEN: Monday, January 12, 7 -9 p.m.

 

WHERE: Museum of the City of New York

1220 Fifth Avenue (at 103rd Street)

 

About Letters to Afar: By Péter Forgács, music by the Klezmatics
Capturing life-views of 1930s Poland through the lens of Jewish New Yorkers. Co-presented by the City Museum and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Letters to Afar is an immersive video art installation featuring home movies made by New York City’s Jewish immigrants who traveled back to visit Poland during the 1920s and 30s. Internationally acclaimed Hungarian artist Péter Forgács created the audiovisual art installation under a commission by the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. With a haunting soundtrack by the New York-based and Grammy Award-winning band,The Klezmatics, these films bring a lost world to life in startling and moving detail. This exhibition was made possible with the generous support of The Kronhill Pletka Foundation, Righteous Persons Foundation, Seedlings Foundation and Sigmund Rolat.

 

About the Museum of the City of New York

Founded in 1923 as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum of the City of New York celebrates and interprets the city, educating the public about its distinctive character, especially its heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation. The Museum connects the past, present, and future of New York City, and serves the people of the city as well as visitors from around the world through exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections. Visit www.mcny.org to learn more.

 

About YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research was founded in Vilna, Poland, in 1925, and relocated to New York City in 1940 with the mission to preserve, study and perpetuate knowledge of the thousand-year history and culture of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Today, YIVO’s archival and library collections are the single largest resource for such study in the world. YIVO offers cultural events and programs throughout the year, educational programs, scholarly publications, and fellowships. www.yivoinstitute.org

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