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Musical Shabbat with AvevA Dese
Ethiopian-Israeli world music artist AvevA Dese makes her Canadian premiere concert appearance on THURSDAY MARCH 23 at LULA LOUNGE. Click HERE for details and tickets for that show. As part of her residency here in Toronto with Ashkenaz, AvevA Dese will be featured guest at a special shabbat dinner at Temple Har Zion (7360 Bayview Avenue in Thornhill) on the evening of Friday March 24. Following the Temple’s usual musical Shabbat service, participants will be treated to an authentic Ethiopian…
Find out more »REEL Ashkenaz films @ TJFF 2017
Ashkenaz is once again pleased to support the Toronto Jewish Film Festival by co-presenting three events as part of their 25th anniversary festival, taking place May 4-14, 2017. Event info is beloe, and be sure to visit the TJFF WEBSITE for all their program information. International premiere BODY AND SOUL: AN AMERICAN BRIDGE (2016, 59 minutes) Written by bandleader Johnny Green and with lyrics by Edward Heyman, “Body and Soul” is among the most enduring standards. Through interviews with historians…
Find out more »Jane Bordeaux
To celebrate Israel’s 69th birthday, Ashkenaz is pleased to partner with the Schwartz/Reisman centre to bring a unique musical taste of Israel to Toronto. Tel Aviv’s Jane Bordeaux Band makes “live n’ kickin’” american folk-country style music, in Hebrew. With the simplicity of country songs, vocal harmonies and story telling wrapped in humour and sincerity, one simply can’t help but fall in love with this trio. After performing everywhere a guitar, a double base and a tambourine could fit, the…
Find out more »Emilyn Stam & John David Williams
Ashkenaz is pleased to participate in the Italian-Canadian Heritage Foundation’s Canada 150 Celebration, a weekend-long event on June 10-11 entitled “Celebrating Our Canada- Diversity and Inclusion-Italian Style.” The free family-friendly event will feature a variety of celebratory activities featuring music, a trade show, food sport and active living along with each other. It will also showcase various cultural communities that have preceded and succeeded the Italian communities’ integration and contribution into the Canadian psyche and tradition, economy and lifestyle and…
Find out more »Beyond the Pale CD Release Show
With RUCKUS, the long-awaited follow up to 2009’s multi award-winning album POSTCARDS, Beyond the Pale re-asserts its reputation as one of Canada’s most innovative acoustic ensembles. Inspired by Klezmer and Balkan styles but informed by everything from jazz and chamber music to bluegrass and reggae, this stunning new album displays the virtuosic musicianship, meticulous dynamics, and exuberant energy for which the group has become known in its nearly 20-year career. RUCKUS is an instrumental tour de force, featuring an equal…
Find out more »Bret Higgins’ Atlas Revolt @RHCPA
Ashkenaz is pleased to return to Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts’ Tuesday summer jazz series with a presentation of Bret Higgins’ Atlas Revolt. The band is the brainchild of the eponymous Toronto bassist and created as a vehicle for his original instrumental compositions. Formed in 2013, the group explores genre-defying music that draws inspiration largely from film scores, jazz, rock, surf, and elements of Eastern European, African and South American music. The group’s music has been described by…
Find out more »Hoffman/Lemish Quartet @ Markham Jazz Fest
Ashkenaz returns as guest curator at the Markham Jazz Festival with a genre-defying performance featuring two of Israel’s most innovative musicians. Amos Hoffman is an Israeli Jazz guitarist and oudist known worldwide as a pioneer in fusing the rhythms and melodic themes of the Middle East with Modern Jazz. Noam Lemish (known to Ashkenaz audiences as one of the co-leaders of the Israeli-Iranian Musical Initiative) is a multi-faceted pianist and composer whose music, often characterized by intense lyricism and energy,…
Find out more »Polyphonic Ground Launch Event
The inaugural Polyphonic Ground Presents concert and 16th Annual Small World Music Festival launch! Ashkenaz Festival and Small World Music stage a night of Balkan voices, Middle-Eastern/Appalachian fusion and Algerian grooves. The women who make up Turkwaz share passion and expertise that brings to fervent life the ancient songs of Greece, Turkey, the Middle East. Sandcatchers are nothing if not eclectic, bridging NYC jazz sensibility to Middle-Eastern, Jewish and American roots, while GROOZ lays Algerian Raï on top of funky…
Find out more »Beyond the Bagel Brunch
Join us for an engaging conversation about the modern Jewish food movement, featuring leading culinary personalities Leah Koenig and Bonnie Stern. Based in Brooklyn, Leah Koenig is an expert on global Jewish cuisine whose writing has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Saveur, and Epicurious. She is the author of several cookbooks, among them Modern Jewish Cooking and, most recently, Little Book of Jewish Appetizers. Bonnie Stern is a household name in Canada, having authored 12 bestselling…
Find out more »Boxcar Boys @Tastes of the Hill
Ashkenaz is thrilled to return as a guest programmer to Richmond Hill’s premier multicultural festival, Tastes of the Hill. This free event takes place at Richmond Green in Richmond Hill on Sunday September 24. Our musical pick, the Boxcar Boys, will close down the festival with the last music set of the day at 5pm. The Boxcar Boys create their distinct and energetic sound by weaving together a captivating bevy of folk traditions, Dixieland jazz and Klezmer, all performed with…
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