Polina Shepherd

Brighton Festival concert, Brighton UK
2022-05-08 17:30 - 19:00 UTC
Brighton Festival, Sunday 8 May, Riwaq on Hove seafront

Read more on Best Foot Music Brighton Festival page
All events are FREE, and during daytime hours (12.00 – 7.00) ALL WELCOME.

The festival is a major cultural event, highly regarded both locally and internationally. This year’s themes are Rediscover, Reimagine and Rebuild – the themes that are just right for us!

VENUE: The Brighton Festival Riwaq will be a temporary Festival venue on Hove seafront. Riwaq is an Arabic word for colonnade. Architecturally a Riwaq is a semi-open space. Read about the venue here.

BRIGHTON FESTIVAL PARTNER BestFoot Music brings together a unique programme of international and local acts by musicians & communities who have moved to the UK from around the World.

OUR SET – 17.30 – 19.00 Sunday 8 May.

Sklamberg & The Shepherds
The Brighton & Hove Yiddish Choir
The Brighton & Hove and the London Russian choirs
a joint set of all the above!

We will present a few songs from our programme and CD 150 Voices, recorded with support from Best Foot Music:
Russian and Yiddish folk and art songs and newly composed originals sung by five choirs in the UK and USA and a duo of two international cultural activists: Siberian-born singer, composer and choir leader Polina Shepherd and the lead singer of the Grammy Award-winning Klezmatics Lorin Sklamberg.

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Sussex University Yiddish Singing workshops. Sing for a Better World
2022-04-25 17:30 - 19:30 UTC
Book here
In collaboration with University of Sussex Students’ Union, with support from The University of Sussex Chaplaincy.
Join a series of three Yiddish singing workshops and help build a choir performance in Refugee Week 2022
Come to the first two-hour workshop from 5.30 to 7.30pm on Monday 25th April 2022, to be held in the Meeting House chapel at the University of Sussex campus. Also probably 25 May and 22 June – Dates and times of the second and third workshops to be confirmed.
ALL WELCOME. Advance booking essential
All workshop participants will be invited to take part in the Refugee Week performance at Brighton Jubilee Library on 25th June 2022.
No previous singing experience or knowledge of Yiddish required.
According to University of London academic Lily Kahn, Yiddish was spoken by 11 to 13 million people at the start of the Second World War. It is a stateless language, a fusion of old German, Hebrew-Aramaic and Slavic languages. Secular Yiddish culture thrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yiddish songs have been a central part of the Klezmer music revival since the 1980s. Their diverse range, combining joy, humour, romance, resignation, hope and struggle, includes important resources for these troubled times that are highly relevant to the themes of Refugee Week. For example, Yiddish songs formed resistance anthems for Jews facing pogroms in Tsarist Russia, and young newly arrived US immigrants exploited in New York’s garment industry. Some of the best known Yiddish songs were composed in opposition to fascism in the Nazi ghettoes of the Second World War.
Led by Brighton-based Russian/ Jewish composer, performer and choir director Polina Shepherd. Song sheets will be provided.
Dates and times of the second and third workshops to be confirmed.
Suggested fee: £4
Solidarity fee: £7
Free participation available
Location: The Meeting House chapel is located on the University of Sussex campus. The venue is accessible. Directions can be found here.

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Russian Easter concert for Peace with the London Russian Choir- London
2022-04-24 14:00 - 15:30 UTC
Come and celebrate the Orthodox Easter with the London Russian Choir.
Book here

LONDON: Heath Street Baptist Church
Door time: 2:00pm, start time: 2:15pm

The London Russian Choir presents a Programme for Peace on the Orthodox Easter Sunday.
The choirs bring together music lovers from many backgrounds and promote culture, unity and building bridges through singing. Come and hear classical pieces, Orthodox liturgy music, Art Songs, folk songs and a special addition – Ukrainian folk songs.
WE ARE COMING TOGETHER ON THIS DAY TO SING FOR PEACE.

At the concert, we will be collecting donations to Sunflower Relief – https://www.sunflowerrelief.org/, who provide assistance to people trying to reach the border to getting medical supplies and food out to the millions of stranded citizens who remain in the war zone. Profits from choir CD sales will also go to the Sunflower Relief.

Пасхальное воскресенье с Русским Хором Лондона – концерт ЗА МИР.
В программе – огромное разнообразие стилей русской хоровой музыки: народные лирические, песни; романсы, классические произведения Чайковского, Рахманинова, Глинки и других композиторов, немного церковной музыки и несколько сольных номеров.
В этот раз мы включили в программу несколько УКРАИНСКИХ песен и ПОСВЯЩАЕМ КОНЦЕРТ ПРИЗЫВУ ЗА МИР.
Сборе средств в поддержку гуманитарной помощи в зоне войны будет проходить на концерте в фонд Sunflower Relief https://www.sunflowerrelief.org/.

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Liberation Seder online
2022-04-18 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | Online
BSST, JVL, IJV and JJP welcome you to our Liberation Seder

Our Seder will be held on the fourth night of Passover this year. For some of us this service continues a lifetime’s experience of family and community Seders; for others it will be a first chance to share in a Jewish tradition and learn how it can be an inclusive and outward-looking celebration.
Seders express the hope for a better future and freedom from oppression for all.
Our Seder will again be led by Rabbi Janet Darley.
We are delighted to announce that

Maxine Peake and
Peter Beinart

will be giving readings this year. There will be contributions from Palestinians and Israelis and we will be announcing the names of more contributors shortly.
We are delighted to announce that we will be joined by:

Haggai Matar – executive director of +972 Magazine
Danya Cohen – B’Tselem International Relations Officer
Andrew Feinstein – Former South African MP
Rawand Arqawi – director of the Fragments theatre in Jenin
Professor Stephan Feuchtwang

Musical contributions from:

The Brighton and Hove Yiddish Choir
Rachel Weston
Daniel Kahn

We have prepared a Liberation Haggadah, the readings we use for a Seder. This will include details of the food we eat at the Seder table and how to prepare these special dishes. We hope you will prepare some of them so you can be fully involved; none are difficult.
An important aim of our Seder is to raise money for the work of the British Shalom-Salaam Trust and we hope you will make a donation
Chag Pesach Sameach
חג פסח שמח
Happy Passover

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A singing week in Spain - Cortijo Romero
2022-04-16 - 2022-04-23 | Cortijo Romero, Apartado de Correos 31, Orgiva, Granada, 18400, Spain
Cortijo Romero, Spain – in person!

Booking and more information here.

*Dive into an explosive mixture of
songs from the Steppes and the Shtetl.
*Add extra flavour with spices from a Tatar Bazaar, and wash them down with an Odessa fisherman’s tune:
Russian traditional and art songs in harmonies, Yiddish folklore and popular songs, the powerful and the profound and wordless songs.
* Tune up your whole body and mind with your voice in full.
* Develop new ways for your voice to flow free, inspiring, and exciting.
The course will also include a meditative sound bath, some fun folk rituals and simple circle dances. We will look into connecting with other cultures through singing, learn new repertoire and style and enjoy the depth and beauty of singing together. Open to all.

Polina’s teaching utilises a rich combination of her two blood cultures learnt at source. She uses vocal experimentation with particular attention to the personal and emotional aspects of our musical creativity. Each group is different, so the songs we learn, the pace and the energy of the week will be very fluid and dependant on who we have. The course is very interactive and flexible. We can go into history and culture of the music and we can work with voices and bodies, the songs can be short and easy to learn or complex and challenging. Usually, there is a bit of everything!
Anyone can join and there will be benefits for professional singers, experienced choristers as well as for those who consider themselves home singers or have never sung in their lives. Willingness to explore is, however, essential.
“Excellent. Dynamic, knowledgeable, extremely musical…”
Jane Graham

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London - Klezfest Faculty concert
2022-04-06 19:00 - 21:00 UTC | SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom
April 6. London, UK
Klezfest Faculty concert
Hear some of the UK’s most significant players on the “Klezmer revival” scene. I am likely to be performing here too. Part of JMI’s Klezfest 2022 – Learn Klezmer, Play Klezmer. Venue: SOAS University of London. More information and booking here
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Yiddish Song About Us. The Worker's Circle online course
2022-04-04 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | Online
7, 14, 21, 28 March and 4 April – online.
Yiddish Song About Us. Learn, share, discuss!
The Worker’s Circle Spring Schools course
This interactive course will explore Yiddish songs that have special resonance to each of us personally. You will be invited to offer songs for the leader to teach. We will look into their musical styles, history, context and language and discuss our connections with them. Let’s bring more songs closer to our hearts and let’s take loving ownership of the Yiddish song.
More information and booking here.
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Ot Azoy Yiddish Language School, London
2022-04-03 - 2022-04-07 | SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom
Book here
Polina will be teaching Yiddish song repertoire and Yiddish choir as part of this course: The Golden Peacock (Goldene Pave) Yiddish Song School will also teach a daily session of Yiddish through song.
Discover JMI’s famous full immersion courses in Yiddish Language, Song and Culture for people of all ages, levels and backgrounds, where even complete beginners learn to speak, read, write, sing and even dream in Yiddish in a week.
As well as hands-on classroom teaching, it also features an extensive cultural programme of music, theatre, poetry and lectures from a world of Yiddish past and present.
Here are a few reasons why this promises to be a week not to be missed this spring:

This is the only opportunity in the UK to immerse yourself in the deep and inspiring world of Yiddish culture for man intensive 5 days through language, literature, song and film with interesting and like-minded people of all ages and from all backgrounds.
You will have the privilege of working with some of the UK and Europe’s top educators and performers. No matter what your level in Yiddish whether a beginner or a budding linguist, professional singer or amateur enthusiast, you will benefit from the width and breath of programmes on offer through the week, both day and night.
The language and song schools run parallel during the week. Yiddish, Yiddish Song and Klezmer courses all run concurrent to each other, making for an authentic immersion in Yiddish culture.
The programme is based at SOAS, the heart of Ethnomusicology and the study of world cultures in the UK, at Russell Square in the heart of central London. What better chance to combine meeting an eclectic bunch of Yiddish enthusiasts with exploring one of Europe’s finest capital cities.
Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the JMI team for extra information about the course, accommodation advice or financial support.

FEES:
Full rate £250
Student / Senior rate £150 / Scholarships £125
Senior rate is set at 65+
Scholarship rate / Technical Scholarships please contact the team.
Refund policy – deductions are made due to the level of administration each studentships/application at different stages of preparation.
10% deducted if cancelled before 1 March.
25% deducted if cancelled after 1 April.
If due to the pandemic and Covid-19 restrictions that we are forced to move from in-person to online, then we will give you the option to accept either the switch from in-person to online or request a refund, in line with the refund policy timeline. (above)
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Yiddish Song About Us. The Worker's Circle online course
2022-03-28 18:00 - 19:30, 2022-03-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2022-03-07 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | Online
7, 14, 21, 28 March and 4 April – online.
Yiddish Song About Us. Learn, share, discuss!
The Worker’s Circle Spring Schools course
You are the first to hear!
This interactive course will explore Yiddish songs that have special resonance to each of us personally. You will be invited to offer songs for the leader to teach. We will look into their musical styles, history, context and language and discuss our connections with them. Let’s bring more songs closer to our hearts and let’s take loving ownership of the Yiddish song.
Book here.
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Yiddish Song About Us. The Worker's Circle online course
2022-03-21 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | Online
7, 14, 21, 28 March and 4 April – online. TBA
Yiddish Song About Us. Learn, share, discuss!
The Worker’s Circle Spring Schools course
You are the first to hear!
This interactive course will explore Yiddish songs that have special resonance to each of us personally. You will be invited to offer songs for the leader to teach. We will look into their musical styles, history, context and language and discuss our connections with them. Let’s bring more songs closer to our hearts and let’s take loving ownership of the Yiddish song.
Book here.
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On the Poem's Other Side Online event - KlezKanada - TBA
2022-03-20 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Toronto)
KlezKanada will be hosting On the Poem’s Other Side – an event dedicated to Rokhl’s Korn poem Fun yener zayt lid, and to the beautiful ways in which this beloved poem has been set to music by different Yiddish culture makers.

Polina Shepherd will join us for this event, where her setting of this poem will be featured. TBA: a moderated conversation about the poem where a little bit about the creators’ artistic process in setting the words to music will be shared.

The event will be a live online event via Zoom (with advance registration) and will take place on Sunday, March 20th at 14h00.

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Faithful Voices workshops - London
2022-03-20 13:00 - 17:00 UTC
St-Martin-in-the-Fields – Polina will be teaching Nigunim workshops as part of Faithful Voices, new Interfaith Song Festival.
1pm – 5pm Workshops
(£10 registration) [final workshop content TBC]

Gospel Singing
Contemporary Song for Jewish Worship
Vedic Chanting
Kirtan

Registration for workshops is now open. Please book here
5pm – Open Evensong at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JH
Workshop participants and guests are warmly encouraged to stay for a special evensong at St-Martin-in-the-Fields
The Zemel Choir is proud to announce ‘Faithful Voices’, a new Interfaith Song Festival. There’ll be workshops on 20 March and concerts on 24 and 27 March, as well as open services and visits. For further details, please visit http://www.zemelchoir.org/faithfulvoices.
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Russian Choirs Sing for Peace - concert in Brighton
2022-03-12 14:00 - 16:00 UTC | BHASVIC, 205 Dyke Road, Hove, BN3 6EG, United Kingdom
RUSSIAN CHOIRS SING FOR PEACE
ENTRANCE FREE but registration is necessary: Register HERE

BHASVIC, 205 Dyke Road, Hove, BN3 6EG
Doors 2pm, concert 2.30om.
The choirs bring together music lovers from many backgrounds and promote culture, unity and building bridges through singing. Come and hear classical pieces, Orthodox liturgy music, Art Songs, folk songs and
a special addition – a Ukrainian folk song.

IN THIS EVENT OUR COMMUNITY CHOIRS WILL SING FOR PEACE.

Organised in collaboration with the Sussex Russian Centre Kalinka

There is parking on-site but places may be limited.
We recommend that this event is suitable for young spectators over 7 years old.

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Oli Spleen "Still Life" Album Launch. Brighton UK
2022-03-04 20:00 - 23:00 UTC | The Hope and Ruin, 11-12 Queens Road, Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, BN1 3WA, United Kingdom
Oli Spleen’s “Still Life” album launch! Featuring… SPLEEN (the band) Link to event here.
at The Hope and Ruin, 11-12 Queens Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3WA
Mishkin Fitzgerald
Nick Hudson
Merlin and Polina Shepherd
Tristram Arnold
Stuart Warwick

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Sing with Me 133 Yiddish song, online
2022-02-28 18:00 - 18:45 UTC | Online
Sing with Me
6 – 6.45 pm London / 7 – 7.45 pm Paris, Berlin… / 1 – 1.45 pm New York / 3 – 3.45 pm São Paulo
This block of sessions:
February 7, 14 for Yiddish songs, 21 for a Russian song, 28 February for a Yiddish song.

Sing with Me Yiddish Song Sessions Online open to everyone.

A new Yiddish song in every 45 minute session.
Learn about cultural context and style.
No knowledge of Yiddish is needed.
Song sheets are shown on the screen during sessions.
Session videos are posted on Youtube.
Payments are appreciated but you can also join free of charge.
A Zoom link for each session, printable song sheet with music, lyrics, translation and transliteration appear on this page minimum two hours before the session.
Here are some basics for Yiddish transliteration

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Sing with Me online 132 Russian song
2022-02-21 18:00 - 18:45 UTC | Online

Sing with Me online 131 Yiddish song
2022-02-14 18:00 - 18:45 UTC | Online

Sing with Me 130 Yiddish song. Online
2022-02-07 18:00 - 18:45 UTC | Online

Winter in Yiddishland Online - The Workers Circle
2022-02-06 | Online
WINTER IN YIDDISHLAND ONLINE, held entirely on Zoom, will offer a variety of programming on February 6, 2022.

Our program includes Yiddish classes for all levels and ages, lectures by Yiddish scholars (in English and Yiddish), Klezmer, Yiddish song and Yidishe nigunim workshops, concerts featuring Klezmer stars, Yiddish singalongs, children’s program and the opportunity to meet with ardent Yiddishists from around the world. We hope you will join us and become a part of our international Yiddishland mishpokhe!
The program starts at 10 AM EDT and ends at 6:00 PM EDT.
Registration for Winter in Yiddishland Online is $25 per individual program.
Polina Shepherd will be leading a workshop at 12:00 – 1:15 pm EDT

A Snow-Covered Singing Journey with Polina Shepherd: In Vinter Farnakhtn
Join Polina Shepherd for a singing journey through Russian fields towards a Jewish home in a shtetl. In Vinter Farnakhtn by Dovid Hofshteyn is about a path surrounded by deep snows and memories. Let’s walk this path with two very different melodies and see how the colours change from melody to melody.

Join us for the concert: 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM EDT

The Workers Circle Annual Lorraine (Libby) Buch Yiddish Concert
Lorraine (Libby) Buch z”l was a longtime member of the Workers Circle, passed away in May 2019. Libby left the Workers Circle a generous legacy donation in her will that reflects her commitment to lifelong learning and celebrates her love of Yiddish, music, and Jewish culture. The legacy Libby left for the Workers Circle will be memorialized with an annual Yiddish Music concert named for her. The inaugural Lorraine Buch concert will be held at our first Winter in Yiddishland program and features performances from Polina Shepherd (UK), Svetlana Kundish (Germany), Tania Grinberg (Brazil), Yasmin Garfunkel (Argentina), Daniel Kahn (Germany), Deborah Strauss and Jeff Warschauer, Michael Winograd, Jake Shulman-Ment, Nicole Borger (Brazil), Teressa Tova (Canada), Mikhl Yashinsky, Cindy Paley, Zhenya Lopatnik, Psoi Korolenko, Lloika Czaskis (France), Motl Didner & Leyzer Burko, Timur Fishel (Estonia) , Annie Cohen, Sheva Zucker, Miri Koral, Daniel Galai (Israel), Gustavo Emos (Brazil), and more.

We are also thrilled to offer free community events; KinderKlub Yiddish: Winter Edition, The Workers Circle Annual Lorraine (Libby) Buch Yiddish Concert, and Yiddish Sing-Along with Cindy Paley. Advance registration for free events is required.
If you have any questions, please email Kolya Borodulin at nborodulin@circle.org or Baruch Blum at bblum@circle.org.
Read more here

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Sing with Me 129
2022-01-24 18:00 - 18:45 UTC | Online
Sing with Me is back!
We will meet on four Mondays in January, 3, 10, 17, 24, for Yiddish songs.
Sing with Me Yiddish Song Sessions Online open to everyone.

A new Yiddish song in every 45 minute session.
Learn about cultural context and style.
No knowledge of Yiddish is needed.
Song sheets are shown on the screen during sessions.
Session videos are posted on Youtube.
Payments are appreciated but you can also join free of charge.
A Zoom link for each session, printable song sheet with music, lyrics, translation and transliteration appear on this page minimum two hours before the session.
Here are some basics for Yiddish transliteration

JOIN and read more HERE
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Sing with Me 128
2022-01-17 18:00 - 18:45 UTC | Online

Choral Studies session. Augsburg University, USA - online
2022-01-16 17:00 - 19:00 UTC
Choral Studies at Augsburg University
Global Harmony Class – today’s class taught by Emma Björling (Sweden) and Polina Shepherd
Students in this course join once a week with Augsburg’s other choirs and with community partners to form the Augsburg/Twin Cities Global Harmony Choir. In this project we learn community vocal-harmony traditions from a wide variety of cultures. Instruction is given directly by culture-bearers, Zooming to us from several continents. This year’s area studies will include music from: Appalachia, Black gospel communities, Madagascar, Black South Africa, Sweden, Yiddish-speaking Russia, Muslim Bosnia, and the Republic of Georgia. Members will perform in live community events and for the annual observation of Augsburg’s Advent Vespers program. No music-reading ability is required; all material will be offered orally. In some cases, scores in various notational systems will also be available.
Details here.
ALL INTERESTED MUST CONTACT DR. KRISTINA BOERGER: boerger@augsburg.edu
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The London Russian Choir resumes weekly sessions
2022-01-13 19:00 - 21:00 UTC
The London Russian Choir
weekly sessions, choir open to all.
Read about the choir and contact for joining here.
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The Brighton & Hove Russian Choir resumes weekly sessions
2022-01-11 18:00 - 20:00 UTC
The Brighton & Hove Russian Choir – read about the choir and contact for joining here.
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The Brighton & Hove Yiddish Choir resumes weekly sessions
2022-01-11 11:15 - 13:15 UTC
The Brighton & Hove Yiddish Choir resumes weekly sessions. More about the choir here
Please get in touch for joining.
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Sing with Me 127
2022-01-10 18:00 - 18:45 UTC | Online

Sing with Me 126
2022-01-03 18:00 - 18:30 UTC | Online

Yiddish New York Film Festival Talkback session
2021-12-27 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | Online
Talkback session – Monday, December 27 PM1 NYC time / 6pm UK time – with award-winning scholar/author of Russian Soviet history Elissa Bemporad and musician Polina Shepherd, moderated by Josh Waletzky.
To discuss Five Brides shown this week at the YNY Film Festival .
See more about the film here. To book to see the film, please please go to the YNY tickets link and scroll down to the Film only pass.
YNY Film Festival

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