Boston is a classic and energetic city full of artistic breath that appeals to professionals and businesses all around the world. One of Boston’s classics is back for the fourth year in a row, The Boston Jewish Music Festival held from February 23rd to March 28th. This event was first created by Joey Baron, executive director, and cofounder, Jim Ball, back in 2009 over a cup of coffee. The Boston Jewish Music Festival is expanding this year, bringing in new kinds of music, different bands, and even a dance party.
Both Joey and Jim performed some research initially to see what community lacked a festival of this sorts and found that Boston has the largest Jewish community in the country, and fit the criteria. Joey and Jim helped Boston to partner with local clubs and temples, the Israeli consulate, and organizations like Celebrity Series in order to help change this.
In the past, The Boston Jewish Music Festival hasn’t been quite as diverse as the creators would like it to be. This year they are vamping up the diversity and are expanding far from just the traditional cantors and klezmer bands that are to be expected. The new lineup will feature acoustic folk, Yiddish protest punk, classical chamber and chorale music, and an “electro Judeo dance party”.
Known as the “violin god”, Itzhak Perlman, will be performing at Symphony Hall. The festivals executive director stated, “we’re really looking at who’s doing the most interesting music that’s Jewish in the grandest scheme of things”. The founders wanted to mainly focus this year on featuring homegrown talent, and have been conscious about balancing artists who preserve tradition with those who want to do something new with music.
If you’re interested in looking more into The Boston Jewish Music Festival you can check out their website here: http://bostonjewishmusicfestival.org/
Reference article: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/article/2013/02/26/boston-jewish-music-festival/