In 2018 we celebrate 30 years of Klezmer Festival! It all started in 1988, when Renate Dix, former head of the Cultural Office in Fürth, proved to be farsighted enough to take a look at Fürth´s Jewish past and to initiate a weekend dedicated to the Yiddish Song. And now we celebrate the 16th International Klezmer Festival Fürth! A lot has happened in the last 30 years. The Festival has not only grown to be one of the most important Klezmer festivals worldwide, Klezmer music itself has changed in the years that have passed. One could even say that the first Klezmer revival in the USA in the 1980s is now followed by a second one. With open borders and the increasing mobility of the musicians, intercultural exchange became a global phenomenon. Highly diverse music styles and backgrounds got mixed up and new sounds were born.
The Klezmer Festival Fürth is the perfect place to show that Jewish culture and music is very much alive and here to stay – in Germany and beyond. The subheading „& Jewish Music Today“ accounts for just that. In 2018, we are going even further. The closing evening will not be the usual big party time – this will take place on March 17th – but a classical concert by Orchester Jakobsplatz München. In a new composition, the orchestra musically depicts a Jewish wedding in all its facets from bachelor party to the dance of the bride. So follow us along the path of „Jewish Music Today“ – and follow the International Klezmer Festival into the future!
Claudia Floritz
Festival Management
