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Livestream will be available at 6 PM ET. Click here for a detailed line-up of this evening’s event, including lyrics, translations, and artists’ biographies.

SEE YOU THEN! 

Wednesday, May 15
In Person and Livestream from Kennedy Center in Washington DC
5:30 pm ET Doors | 6:00 pm ET Program
Free | In Person* and Livestream
Registration Required

Click Here to Register for In Person Tickets

Click Here to Register for the Livestream

Join us in the heart of our Nation’s Capital to honor Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) with an electrifying concert featuring the rich tapestry of traditional Jewish music from Eastern Europe, Turkey, Cuba, South America, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. Enjoy masterful performances from the exciting lineup of folkloric artists, each weaving their unique sounds and stories into the vibrant fabric of the American Jewish community.

Kicking off the concert and serving as the evening’s house band is Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars, an internationally renowned group that has captivated audiences worldwide with their high-energy performances of traditional Eastern European Jewish music. Also joining the celebration is the Miami-based singer of Sephardic folkloric music, Susana Behar, whose performances blend the traditional sounds of her Turkish Sephardic family roots with her upbringing in Cuba and Venezuela. Rounding out the celebration are Yoni Battat and Yosef Goldman, two musical leaders dedicated to sustaining the sounds of their families’ footsteps through Iraq, Syria and Yemen- the places they had long settled before moving to Israel and the United States. Stay for the collaborative finale, where all musicians join forces for an unforgettable JAHM celebration. Join us in person or online for a diverse and rhythmic musical journey.

People of all backgrounds are invited to join this sonic celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month in our Nation’s Capital or from wherever they can connect to the internet via livestream. Click here for more information on Jewish American Heritage Month.

An Official Program of Jewish American Heritage Month. Produced by the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, the Kennedy Center, and the Recording Academy.

More about the Artists

Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars:

Frank London is the founder and leader of Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars, a group of musicians that celebrates Jewish culture and life through a multicultural lens. London is the cofounder of the Klezmatics, and has honed this particular style of music through his own research as a  musician at Hasidic weddings, as well as collaborations with the Marcovic Brothers in Budapest and The Hasaballa Brass Band in Cairo.

London, a Grammy Award winner, has also been featured on HBO’s Sex and the City and the North Sea Jazz Festival. He has also co-founded the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and has collaborated with the likes of Itzhak Perlman, Simon Shaheen, Iggy Pop, Yaakov Lemmer, They Might Be Giants, Michael Winograd and John Zorn. 

Susana Behar:

Susana Behar is a Miami based Sephardic and Latin American folk singer with a distinct Jewish, Sephardic and Cuban heritage. Susana has performed in numerous projects, festivals and concerts throughout North and South America, Israel and Japan, collaborating with musicians from diverse backgrounds and musical traditions. 

She is the recipient of the 2015 Individual Artist Fellowship Award from the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, in the Folk and Traditional Arts. In 2020 Susana served as Artist-in-Residence at the HistoryMiami Museum and currently, and since February 2023, she has been Artist-in-Residence at the Deering Estate in Miami, Florida. Susana has recorded three albums: La Galana i el Mar (2009), At The Crossroads, Live (2016) and TAPIZ (2019). www.susanabehar.com 

Yosef Goldman and Yoni Battat:

Yosef Goldman is a composer of contemporary Jewish sacred music and a rabbi and leading facilitator and educator of Jewish communal music and prayer. He weaves ancient devotional music from his Mizrahi and Ashkenazi heritage alongside contemporary American and Israeli Jewish sacred music to foster healing, connection, and social change. His original compositions are sung in synagogues, schools, and camps across North America and Israel. Yosef has collaborated on over a dozen albums with a diverse array of voices in the world of Jewish music in the US and Israel, including recording two albums of his original spiritual music, Open My Heart (2019), and Abitah (2023), which has been described as “a hidden doorway with the power to open the heart gently and deeply, with its elevated spirit; it touches the very root of the soul.” Along with klezmer trombonist Dan Blackberg, Yosef was selected for the Kimmel Center’s  Jazz Residency in 2018-19. Yosef’s  newest project is Kedmah: The Rising Song Piyyut Project. Their first album Simu Lev came out in April, 2024 on Rising Song Records.  He serves as senior advisor for Hadar’s Rising Song Institute and co-leads Shaare Torah congregation in Montgomery County, Maryland, with his wife, Rabbi Annie Lewis. 

Yoni Avi Battat (he/him) brings Arab music into the soundscape of American Jewish life through composition, education, prayer, and performance on viola, violin, oud, and vocals. Described as “an education for the ear and the soul,” his debut album Fragments seeks to find new pathways to connect with ancestry and find healing around our fragmented identities. Yoni’s newest project is Kedmah: The Rising Song Piyyut Project. Their first album Simu Lev came out in April, 2024 on Rising Song Records. From 2021-2022 Yoni toured nationally as an actor and violinist with the Tony Award-winning musical, “The Band’s Visit.” Yoni lives in Boston, MA, working locally and nationally to uplift Mizrahi identity in American Jewish communities. www.yonibattat.com