Concerts

ILSE WEBER
The Musical Nurse of Theresienstadt

Written by
Deborah Staiman
with
Brian Katz, guitar

Through lecture, poetry, letters and songs, Cantor Deborah Staiman presents a moving tribute to the life of Ilse Weber, the gifted, compassionate Czech author and songwriter for children. After the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia, Ilse was sent to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, where she volunteered in the children's ward of the camp’s hospital. There she wrote and performed poems and songs describing camp life, in her mother tongue, German. By insisting on her own origin and language, Weber's poetry, which bore witness to the events in the Nazi concentration camp, were acts of resistance, directly confronting the efforts to erase Jewish culture.



MOLLY PICON
The Life and Music of the Queen of Second Avenue

Written by
Deborah Staiman
with
Reuven Grajner, piano
&
Lenny Solomon,violin

One of the most celebrated and beloved actresses for over seventy years, Molly Picon (1898–1992), star of Yiddish theater and film, delighted audiences with her engaging performances. While her career began in vaudeville and flourished in the Second Avenue theaters of New York's Lower East Side, Picon later performed on the Broadway stage and in Yiddish and Hollywood films for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences around the world. At once an all-American girl and a Yiddishe meydel, she not only earned world-wide appeal but had an enormous impact on Jewish culture.

Written by Deborah, this program is an enchanting and uplifting opportunity to learn about the life and career of "The Darling of Second Avenue", as Staiman shares the story of Picon's life, interspersed with her songs, sung in both Yiddish and English. You will hear classic favorites such as "Oy Mame, bin Ikh Farlibt" and "Yidl Mit'n Fidl" plus lesser known gems, which Staiman has researched from the Yiddish archives.



ISRAEL OR IRVING?
The Life and Music of Irving Berlin

Written by
Deborah Staiman
with
Reuven Grajner, piano
&
Bass

Irving Berlin, born Israel Isidor Beilin was a nice Jewish boy from Russia, who became one of the greatest songwriters in American history. Berlin left a stunning legacy which was deeply influenced by his Jewish roots and history. He exemplified the immigrant Jewish sensibility transformed into mainstream America. Join Cantor Deborah Staiman as she pays tribute to Berlin’s remarkable life and enchants you with Berlin’s early Jewish novelty songs, as well his later stunners that have become part of the American Song Book.



THE 'BIG FOUR' OF SECOND AVENUE
Yiddish Theatre Songs by Ellstein, Secunda, Rumshinsky and Olshanetsky

by
Deborah Staiman
with
piano & violin

The major composers associated with the heyday of the American Yiddish Theater in the 1920's were the prolific songwriters: Joseph Rumshinsky, Alexander Olshanetsky, Sholom Secunda and Abraham Ellstein. They were considered the 'Big Four' of New York City's Second Avenue. Between them they created some of the greatest Yiddish theatrical 'hit' songs including Abi Gezunt, Oy Mame bin ikh Farlibt, Sheyn vi di L'vone, Belz and Bay mir Bistu Sheyn. You will want to clap, sing and dance as Deborah guides you through their careers and treats you to these popular Yiddish theatre hits, sung in Yiddish and English, as well as their less familiar fabulous songs of yesteryear!



AVEK FUN DEM TZAR - GUT MORGEN AMERIKE!
Goodbye to the Tzar - Hello America!
Yiddish Songs of the Immigration Experience during the early 20th Century

by
Deborah Staiman
with
Reuven Grajner, Piano
&
Lenny Solomon, violin

America, "The Golden Land" was a fantastic world of hopes, hardship, pain, joy, love and celebrations for our Yiddish ancestors. Immerse yourself in this nostalgic world as Deborah Staiman recaptures the journey of our families, when they emigrated from Eastern Europe, particularly Russia, to America during the early twentieth century. Yiddish folk and musical theatre gems evoking a vanished era – some more familiar than others, are sure to make you laugh, clap and cry – a moving occasion for both a tearful and joyous experience.



MUSICAL MEMORIES OF THE VILNA GHETTO
Songs of Love, Life, Bravery, Survival and Resistance

Written by
Deborah Staiman
with
Asher Farber, piano
&
Jessica Deutsch, Violin

A moving, bitter-sweet reflection on the rich cultural hub of the Vilna Ghetto, which gave birth to a unique wealth of songs about daily life, love, survival, bravery and resistance. Deborah Staiman will illuminate and chronicle life in this Polish ghetto through songs, including classics such as "Vilne, Shtiler Shtiler & Friling" and pay tribute to Shmerke Kaczerginski (1908-1954), Vilna poet, cultural activist, folklorist, partisan and eminent collector of Shoah songs, whose life was devoted to preserving the memories of his people.



YIDDISH FOLK SONG
As a Reflection of Yiddish Life in Eastern Europe

by
Deborah Staiman
with
guitar

Fortunate we are that through Yiddish Folk Songs we not only have a rich heritage, but a faithful mirror of a cross-section of life as it was for the Yiddish speaking Jews during the early twentieth century in Eastern Europe. It was an amazing civilization that had been developing for some eight hundred years in exile; a period which gave rise to a deep-rooted musical folk tradition through which we can appreciate the secular and religious values and vitality of Yiddish European Jewry. These songs are a lyrical reflection of the inner soul, thoughts, feelings and daily experiences of the East European Jew.

During this program of Yiddish folk songs you will be immersed in another world - a world of the love, joy, pain, hopes, desires, beliefs, hardship, and persecution of our Yiddish family as Deborah guides you through the texts, melodies and context of these folk songs in Jewish history. She will delight you when she sings many of these musical gems of a vanished era - some more familiar than others, almost all sure to make you either laugh or cry. Listening to and singing these folk treasures are an occasion for both a joyous and moving spiritual experience.

Yiddish Folk Song is also offered as a more extensive study through a series of Lectures in Song. Please contact Deborah to receive a proposal.



FROM SECOND AVENUE TO BROADWAY
The Story of Jews and Musical Theatre

by
Deborah Staiman

with
Mark Camilleri, piano

Musical theatre has always attracted the Jew's soul. This relationship between Jews and musical theatre began with Yiddish Operetta in Eastern Europe during the mid nineteenth century. It continued in dos goldene land on Second Avenue during the early twenties and thirties and moved to Broadway, where Jewish song writers were key players in the development of the American Musical.

Deborah will share the story of the Jewish composers and lyricists, who were involved in Yiddish musical theatre and instrumental in its development and how their involvement has continued to the present day as they produce heart-felt songs, in the tradition begun by their Eastern European ancestors.

She will sing many glorious musical theatre songs from yesteryear and today, including Yiddish theatre classics from Second Avenue, like Oy Mame and Abi Gezunt and Broadway gems by Jewish composers including Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Kurt Weill, Jerry Bock, Stephen Sondheim, and Maury Yeston to name a few!!



FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE
Responses to the Holocaust through Yiddish Songs
of Liberation, Aftermath, Rebirth

by
Deborah Staiman
with
Asher Farber, piano

This moving musical presentation created by Deborah for Holocaust Education Week 2015, will present responses to the Holocaust through post-war Yiddish poetry set to music. The songs powerfully convey the emotional journey of the survivors which included shock, anger, rage, depression, cynicism, and ultimately the desire to rebuild their lives. Together with English translations which will be provided, narration will give relevant backgrounds of both the poets (H. Leivik, Itsik Manger, Kadya Molodowsky, Shmerke Kaczerginski, Chaim Grade) and composers (Folk, Israel Alter, Beresovsky, Lazar Weiner and Maurice Rauch) as the music moves from utter despair to hope.



CHANUKAH ON SECOND AVENUE

by
Deborah Staiman
with
Asher Farber or Robert Horvath, piano

During this upbeat freylekh program you will want to clap, sing and dance to Chanukah songs in Hebrew, Yiddish and English as well as the fabulous hits of the Second Avenue Yiddish theatre.





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