By: Carol West-FAU Public Affairs
Best-selling author Thane Rosenbaum, PBS radio personality Martin Bookspan, musician and scholar Leonard Lehrman, soprano Helene Williams and the award-winning Klezmer Company Orchestra are among the artists booked for “Kultur Festival 2013.”
The fifth annual celebration of Jewish culture will be from March 2 to 9 at Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road.
Sponsored by the FAU Libraries and the Jewish Cultural Society at FAU, the annual festival showcases the libraries’ special collections through film, humor, lectures, storytelling, book arts and music.
The main event concert, “2nd Avenue Jazz’n Jive,” will be presented by the internationally-acclaimed 25-piece KCO, guest vocalists Lloyd Reshard and Leo Williams, and the 40-voice Ebony Chorale of the Palm Beaches on Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m. in the Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium. The concert, under the direction of Aaron Kula, will debut innovative arrangements that originated in New York’s Second Avenue theater district and were influenced by legendary musicians of the Harlem jazz era from the 1920s to the 1950s.
The Wimberly Library’s schedule of Kultur Festival events is:
- Saturday, March 2, at 7 p.m., the festival will screen “Mahler on the Couch,” a German-released movie based on a 1910 encounter between composer Gustav Mahler and Sigmund Freud after he discovers his wife’s affair with a young architect. Desperate for help, Mahler tracks down Sigmund Freud, who is vacationing in Holland. The film score features Mahler’s sublime and powerful music.
- Monday, March 4, at 7 p.m., “My Religion is Funnier than Your Religion! Interfaith Humor,” will be presented by a panel of scholars and clergy who explore common and comical topics about their religions.
- Tuesday, March 5, at 2 p.m., Martin Bookspan, who was the announcer for the PBS series “Live from Lincoln Center” from 1976 until his retirement in 2006, will present “My Friends Bernstein and Copland,” a discussion about composers Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland.
- Wednesday, March 6, at 2 p.m., Leonard Lehrman and Helene Williams will present “The Broadway You Know and Don’t Know,” a concert of old favorite songs and under-sung gems composed by Lerner & Loewe, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Cole Porter.
- Thursday, March 7, at 2 p.m., “Judaic Manuscript Illuminations & Hebrew Calligraphy” will be presented by Rabbi Eliezer Reiner, a master in manuscript illuminations, who will discuss the art of working with handmade quills, parchment paper and kosher ink.
- Friday, March 8, at 2 p.m., “Klezmerola: Yiddish Music on Pianola,” will be presented by Bob Berkman, who will play a collection of rare piano rolls, Yiddish theater hits and music by George Gershwin on his 1912 piano.
- Saturday, March 9, at 7 p.m., “Golems of Gotham” will be presented by author Thane Rosenbaum, KCO violinist Randi Fishenfeld and accordionist Aaron Kula. Rosenbaum will read excerpts from his best-selling novel of moral philosophy and unforgettable enchantment.
Parking is free in non-metered spaces at the library, nearby garage and on Volusia Street. For more information or to buy tickets, call 800-564-9539 or visit www.fauevents.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the FAU Box Office, 777 Glades Road.