the blavatnik chamber music series at cjh
Four Voices, Four Worlds - In-Person Concert & Live on YouTube
Join Phoenix Chamber Ensemble pianists Vassa Shevel and Inessa Zaretsky for an unforgettable evening of Classical, Romantic, and modern music by Schubert, Beethoven, Bach, and Shostakovich, featuring guest violinist Anna Elashvili and cellist Serafim Smigelskiy.
Program:
J.S. Bach
Three Two-Part Inventions, transcribed for violin and cello
C Major • D minor • F Major
Anna Elashvili - violin, Serafim Smigelskiy - cello
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 2
Anna Elashvili - violin, Serafim Smigelskiy - cello, Vassa Shevel - piano
Intermission
Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67
Anna Elashvili - violin, Serafim Smigelskiy - cello, Inessa Zaretsky - piano
Johannes Brahms
Hungarian Dances, arranged for violin, cello and piano, 4 hands by F. Hermann
No.1 in G minor • No.2 in D minor • No.3 in F Major • No.4 in F minor • No.5 in F-sharp minor/G minor
Vassa Shevel & Inessa Zaretsky - piano
Founded in 2005 by pianists Vassa Shevel and Inessa Zaretsky, the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble has become a vital part of the New York classical community, presenting more than 70 public concerts at the Center for Jewish History. The ensemble has garnered a devoted following with its innovative programming and sensitive interpretations, earned an international reputation presenting concerts in Russia, Poland, Italy, and other European venues, and collaborated with numerous acclaimed guest artists, including clarinetist David Krakauer, the Grammy-nominated Enso Quartet, the Tesla Quartet, members of the Jasper String Quartet, the New York Little Opera Company, the Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Ballet.
Made possible by the Stravinsky Institute Foundation through the generous support of the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
Ticket Info:
In-person: $18 general, $10 seniors, $8 members click here to register
YouTube: Pay what you wish; click here to register
Presented by:
the blavatnik chamber music series at cjh
performance
A Staged Reading of 'The Dybbuk' – In-person Program
Join YIVO and the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene for a staged reading of Sh. An-ski’s legendary folk drama of spiritual possession and predestined love, The Dybbuk. Growing out of An-ski’s ethnographic expeditions to the Pale of Settlement between 1912 and 1914, The Dybbuk includes a wealth of detail pulled from Jewish folklore. During these expeditions, An-ski and a team took photographs, made recordings, and gathered hundreds of folktales, folksongs, and sacred objects to document traditional Eastern European Jewish life. The resulting play, originally written in Russian between 1913 and 1916, was translated into Yiddish by An-ski himself and is considered a canonic work of Yiddish theater, which has inspired countless film, opera, and ballet adaptations. This staged reading is directed by Mikhl Yashinsky.
This reading will be in Yiddish with English supertitles.
Ticket Info: Free; registration is required
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concert
Music in Our Time 2026 - Fleeing for Survival - In-person Program
Leaving their homelands and taking flight from the repressive, advancing Hitler regime, Jewish composers, and many whose music was labeled degenerate, had to leave Germany, Austria, France, among other countries, and found themselves fleeing for survival. This concert showcases some of the music written by Darius Milhaud, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Paul Ben-Haim, Walter Bricht, Arnold Schoenberg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Julius Bürger, Erich Zeisl, Karol Rathaus, and Kurt Weill.
Amid the shock of dislocation and struggling with new languages, they attempted to restart their formerly promising European careers on foreign soil. The United States and Palestine were the inadvertent beneficiaries of much of this sadly interrupted powerful and promising European legacy.
This concert will be performed by the young artists of the Mannes School of Music and presented by the American Society for Jewish Music, The Mannes Sounds Festival, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and the Leo Baeck Institute.
Ticket Info: $18; YIVO, ASJM & LBI members: $12; Seniors & students: $9
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concert
Hanukkah Concert 2026 - In-person Program
Celebrating the joys of the season, the American Society for Jewish Music's Annual Hanukkah concert has been a popular mainstay for many years. Co-sponsored by YIVO, the Leo Baeck Institute, and the Center for Jewish History, the performance celebrates this joyous holiday with songs and stories that charm and delight audiences.
This year’s concert will welcome back Paul Shapiro’s Ribs & Brisket Band, featuring Cilla Owens. Eleanor Reissa, the Tony Award-nominated director, Broadway, TV and film actress, playwright, choreographer, and critically acclaimed singer, will also read a Hanukkah story to start the program.
Ticket Info: $18; ASJM, YIVO, & CJH members: $12; Seniors & students: $9
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concert
Music of the Third Seder: A Yiddish Passover Concert – In-person Program and Live on Zoom
Join us for an evening exploring the musical legacy of the Third Seder, the secular Passover celebration that became a vibrant feature of Yiddish cultural life in twentieth-century America. Presented in collaboration with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, this concert brings together rarely heard works and newly revived repertoire from this rich tradition.
The program features the world-premiere of two-piano arrangements of music by Lazar Weiner and Gershon Kingsley. A highlight of the evening Der Farshterter Peysekh (The Ruined Passover), a short ballet with narration based on Sholem Aleichem’s beloved Passover story. Featuring Zalmen Mlotek and Joyce Rosenzweig, along with special guest artists, the performance will also include additional musical treasures from the Third Seder tradition.
Ticket Info: $10; YIVO members: $5
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