Yiddish Summer Weimar 2026: Breaking News!

Thanks to a generous grant from the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the special topic of YSW 2026 will be

Yiddish Wo:men - Another Story of Modernity

Three new projects will premier in the summer of 2026, conceived and curated by guest curator Dr. Diana Matut:

Togbukh. Rose Shoshana Kahan - A Yiddish Story of Shanghai
A one-woman musical theater piece.
Libretto by Dr. Diana Matut
Music by Alan Bern

Her:Kol – Yiddish Women’s Song Cultures
New musical settings of Yiddish women’s poetry by contemporary women composer/performers of Yiddish music

Yiddish Wo:men and the Story of the Book:
A Different Path to Modernity
An online exhibition exploring the history of Jewish wo:men’s engagement with literature and the medium of the book from the medieval period to the 21st century.
Curated by Alma Roggenbuck & Dr. Diana Matut
Design by Eyal Davidovitch
Yiddish calligraphy by Ella Ponizovsky Bergelson

All three projects will debut during the Festival Week, August 1-8, 2026, which will also feature concerts each evening as well as a daytime program of hands-on mini-workshops for everybody, special intensive workshops, a late-night cabaret, interviews with artists performing in the evening, and more.

Leading up to the Festival Week we will offer two 8-day blocks of workshops on a wide variety of fascinating topics, led by the finest artists and scholars in the world of Yiddish culture today, and designed for novices through professionals. Following the Festival Week, the always thrilling Dance & Dance Music Workshops will cap YSW 2026.

We’ll be updating this website and our Social Media channels with more information about the workshops, artists, projects, Festival Week, registration and more as it becomes available. For now, here’s an overview of the YSW26 schedule to help you plan next summer:

July 11 - 18	| Workshops Block One
July 21 - 28	| Workshops Block Two
August 1 - 8	| Festival Week (with Workshops Block Three)
August 11 - 15	| Dance & Dance Music Workshops

We also want to call your attention to:

Yiddish Hoyz, a very special opportunity for Yiddish speakers to visit Yiddish Summer Weimar while living together in a Yiddish language community, from July 31 - August 10, 2026

and

the YSW intensive Yiddish language program, the only summer festival program in contemporary and Hasidic Yiddish, taught by native speakers, in cooperation with YUNG YiDiSH WIEN, from July 13th to July 26th, 2026. With Eidel Malowicki, Kriszta Eszter Szendrői, Mendy Cahan & Eli Benedict.

ALSO…

...it’s going to be a very exciting year for young people in Europe!
Both of our international young musicians projects - YAM Ensemble and Caravan Orchestra & Choir - are back and we are sorting out dates as we speak. And in case you just can’t wait for summer to immerse yourself in a creative Yiddish cultural community, come join Generation J for two consecutive weeks in Paris at the Maison de la Culture Yiddish and in Weimar in the OMA from April 6th - April 19th, 2026.
You have to be 18 - 30 years old and live in either Poland, Germany or France to participate - your nationality does not matter.
See www.generationj.eu for details.

We’re feeling super energized by all of these upcoming opportunities to learn, make music and create community, and we hope you are, too! Looking forward to seeing you in 2026, in Yiddish Summer Weimar or before at Generation J!

 

Your Yiddish Summer Weimar & Other Music Academy Team

YSW 2025 Wrap-up

YSW 25th Anniversary Gala Outdoor Concert

Excerpts from  the Yiddish Summer Weimar 25th Anniversary Gala Concert on the Market Place directly in front of the Weimar City Hall, featuring Tsirk Dobranotsh with Eliana Jacobs & Sam Gurwitt, Alan Bern & Mark Kovnatskiy, Kapela Kotra, Daniel Kahn, Francesca Ter-Berg, Cesar Lerner & Marcelo Moguilevsky, Forshpil, the YSW2025 Ad Hoc Faculty Dance Band, Sayumi Yoshida, and many others. Video by Shendl Copitman.

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Graphic by Sayumi Yoshida /// Photos by Shendl Copitman (Sveta Kundish & Sasha Lurje)

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