Gary Levin's Page

JEWMONGOUS, a comedy song concert, is the colicky, uncircumcised brain child of SEAN ALTMAN: the golden-voiced song-writing wiz and former leader/founder of Rockapella (of "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?"). Sean was featured in Time Out New York's cover story "The New Super Jews" and in the New York Times feature about "the Jewish Hipster Movement.""Full of catchy melodies, clever arrangements and lyrics that yield satiric gems... Bawdy with a wicked modern streak..." - WASHINGTON…See More

The Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Alan Heatherington welcome composer, performer and playwright, Hershey Felder, to the stage for its season-opening concert.  Mr. Felder will give the Chicago premiere of his acclaimed Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: ALIYAH, celebrating the creation of the state of Israel.  The movements of this concerto are entitled:  1939, 1945, and 1948.  “Out of the ashes of the holocaust, the state of Israel was born.” Also on the program will be the US…See More

Join us for this conversation on Jewish culture as we explore the maturation of Jewish themes and stories on the Broadway musical stage.Fiddler wasn’t the first or last Jewish musical- Jewish theatre on Broadway has a long history. The portrayal of Jewish imagery and stories on the Broadway boards has grown increasingly nuanced, specific and poignant.Having moved out of the shadows and beyond the shtetl, Jewish musicals have now also covered the Rothschilds, the hanging of Leo Frank, survival…See More

Bohemian Cabaret ensemble Vagabond Opera is described by the Washington Post as "A band of ceaseless charisma, boundless energy, impeccable musicianship and more than a little touch of both the naughty and exotic."  Read Chicago Sun-Times' / Pioneer Press preview article and interview. The group delivers passionate offerings of Bohemian cabaret for young and old. Paris hot jazz, gut bucket swing, tangos, Ukrainian folk-punk ballads, klezmer…See More

Armed with his Akai MPC, heritage and love for genre-bending music, Socalled, aka Josh Dolgin, is a Yiddish rapping, accordion wielding hip-hop maestro. Heralded by Klezmer and hip hop musicians alike, he builds Jewish music from the bottom-up. Previous albums Hiphopkhasene (Piranha), Socalled Seder (2005, JDUB), Ghettoblaster (2007, JDUB ) and now Sleepover (2011, Dare to Care) reached into the past to mine an amalgamation of traditional and contemporary…See More

The Unternationale is Detroit-born Berlin songwriter Daniel Kahn, Moscow song bard Psoy Korolenko and guest Emmy-award winner Michael Alpert. As Eastern European borders, ideologies and cultures collided and fluctuated, the workers of the world united, were drafted as cannon fodder by nationalists they despised and turned on by neighbors in the World War conflagrations.Those who survived tried to forget, but The Unternationale remembered.  Their songs, "Arum Dem Fayer" (Around the Fire), recall…See More

Gerard Edery is a master singer, guitarist of ethnic folk styles and traditions from around the world, singing in fifteen languages. Gerard uncovers and preserve songs from Europe, the Middle East, South America and ancient Persia, interpreting them for today's audiences to show how cultures overlap, parallel each other and borrow from one another.The Spirit of Sepharad traces Iberian Jews' migration  from medieval Spain across North…See More

KFAR Jewish Arts Center & Chicago World Music Festival present:Nuriya - Born in Mexico City to Jews who fled their countries, Iraq and Syria due to religious persecution, Nuriya’s most formative years were abundant with music from the Middle East, Mexico, Caribbean, Spain and Europe.Her elders made their mark with their perpetual playing of old Arabic records and singing of Pismonim (prayers sung to melodies of secular music)…See More