YSW Team
is co-founder and chair of Other Music Academy e.V. and creator and Artistic Director of Yiddish Summer Weimar. He is a composer/arranger, pianist, accordionist, educator, cultural activist, and philosopher.
In 2016, he received the Weimar Prize in recognition of major cultural contributions to the city of Weimar. In 2017, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Free State of Thuringia, and in 2022, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
He is co-founder and director of Brave Old World, founder and director of The Other Europeans and Diaspora Redux, and also performs with Bern, Brody & Rodach and with Guy Klucevsek.
His education included classical piano with Paul Badura-Skoda and Leonard Shure, jazz with Karl Berger, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton and others, contemporary music with John Cage, Frederic Rzewski, Joel Hoffman and others, and philosophy and cognitive science with Dan Dennett. He received his master's degree in philosophy and his doctorate in music composition.
In 2009, he was given the Ruth Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a musician and educator and his achievements with Brave Old World.
Photo: Shendl Copitman
is a musician (guitar, mandolin), musicologist, dance leader, cultural manager, artistic consultant, and workshop instructor, primarily in the field of Yiddish music culture. He studied jazz guitar at the Cologne University of Music (Diploma) and musicology at the University of Halle (Master). He has authored several scholarly essays on Yiddish music and dance. In 2019/2020, he was a fellow at the Oxford Institute for Hebrew and Jewish Studies as part of a research group focusing on “Jewish Musical Cultures in Europe, 1500-1750.”
Andreas has been affiliated with Yiddish Summer Weimar and the Other Music Academy since the very beginning and is happy and proud to be able to contribute to the development of Other Music Academy e.V. as a member of the board. He is the Curator of YSW and the Project Manager and initiator of many OMA projects, including the Kadya Youth Choir, Triangle Orchestra, Glikl Ortorye, Caravan Orchestra & Choir, and YAM Ensemble.
Photo: Shendl Copitman
Katrin Füllsack
is a mother, friend and companion. Someone who keeps things rolling. A project manager. A dedicated decaf drinker. Katrin is all these things and more. She is also responsible for the renovation of the Other Music Academy building and other OMA projects. She works behind the scenes for Yiddish Summer and stands in for the chairman of the board when he happens to be away. ;-)
Photo: Pierre Kamin
Sabrina Rostek
is a creative office all-rounder who works for the management team of the Other Music Academy e.V. She is a typical humanities scholar with creative ambitions who is keen on cultural events. For the association, she mainly takes care of the financial side of Yiddish Summer Weimar, but she can also solve HTML or computer problems and make good coffee!
Photo: Antonia Ramljak
Sabine Roselt
(she/her)
is like a multifunctional tool and has already worked in many areas of the festival. With her experience from various events and festivals and many years of Yiddish Summer Weimar, she has become indispensable to the festival.
This year, she is the head of production, handling everything that concerns concerts and logistics. When she's not digging around in spreadsheets, she's playing the cello, practicing creative hobbies, or baking a delicious cake.
Photo: Antonia Ramljak
Anna Grochocka
works for the OMA as the Yiddish Summer Weimar project manager and the coordinator for volunteers from the European Solidarity Corps. She studied linguistics and Jewish studies in Poland and Germany.
During YSW, Anna ensures the well-being of the artists, teachers, and volunteers, as well as coordinating the festival team. Her heart beats for YSW, but above all for the people who make it happen every year.
Photo: personal
Alessa Augustin
was an FSJ volunteer at the Other Music Academy e.V. in 2019/2020. Since then, she has supported Yiddish Summer Weimar several times. After her year as a volunteer, she began studying economics in Jena.
At YSW, she’ll be supporting the back office, and she’s looking forward to being part of it again.
Photo: personal
also known as Toni at the festival, studies, works and lives in different cities in Thuringia and has been part of Yiddish Summer Weimar since 2018.
Drawing on her experience at various festivals and events, she supports YSW as the volunteer coordinator. In her free time, she rides the train along the RE1/RE3 line, works as a ski instructor, listens to and makes music herself, and is always on the go.
Feel free to talk to her when you see her; she always has a joke or a funny story ready.
Photo: Sabine Roselt
Lorena Komnick
was an FSJ volunteer at the Other Music Academy e.V in 2021/2022. Since then, she has supported Yiddish Summer Weimar several times. After her year as a volunteer, she began studying social work in Würzburg.
Lorena knows the Infopoint like the back of her hand, and she’s looking forward to another summer in Weimar.
Photo: personal
Uroš Milicevic
is supporting the OMA team as a European Solidarity Corps volunteer. He is originally from Serbia, where he studied Linguistics at Belgrade University. At the OMA, his responsibilities include events, concerts, social media, and many other activities.
Uroš will be supporting Yiddish Summer Weimar for the first time in 2025.
Photo: personal
Claas Sandbothe
is an enthusiastic drummer, spoonman & DJ. In 2012, he came to Yiddish Summer Weimar for the first time as a participant.
Besides the music, Claas was infected by the passion of the musicians and the team and by the special energy of the OMA as a lively cultural center, where exchange, education, and jam sessions joyfully go hand in hand.
Since 2018, he’s been part of the production team, managing events and tech equipment.
Nowadays, he also brings klezmer music to the stage and to audiences as a drummer and lecturer, including with the Klezmer Orchestra Erfurt (KlezWeCan e.V.).
Apart from that, Claas likes to ride a cargo bike and waves a towel every now and then.
Photo: Shendl Copitman
Daria Fomina
is a musician from Kharkiv (flute, piccolo, sopilka).
She grew up surrounded by Yiddish music, influenced by her father, the renowned klezmer clarinetist Gennadiy Fomin. Daria actively promotes Ukrainian culture worldwide through Yiddish music. She taught music in Kharkiv, shaping the journeys of over 30 students and participating in projects in diverse genres. She is currently based in Hamburg.
Daria has been part of Yiddish Summer Weimar since 2018.
Photo: Olena Karakaptan
Jonathan Mürmann
works both in the creative arts and in political education. With a degree in music and media design, he works as an illustrator and sound designer and in social media management. His political work focuses on feminist issues and realities affecting the LGBTIQA* community.
They are a co-founder of the magazine Queerdinx and have been a member of its editorial board since 2020.
Jonathan joined Yiddish Summer Weimar in May 2023 and has been responsible for the festival's social media management since then.
Photo: Shendl Copitman
Anna Grünhardt
(they/none)
is a part of the management of Caravan Orchestra & Choir. They have a background in music education as well as musicology, making Caravan the perfect project for them to pour their energy into each summer.
They’re passionate about community building, organizing alternative concert formats, and the Arctic.
Photo:
Nataliia Zinovieva
is the project manager of the YAM Ensemble, which will have its second edition in conjunction with Yiddish Summer Weimar 2025.
Nataliia has been actively volunteering in various organizations since the age of 17. She has more than 10 years of volunteer work experience in diverse international organizations, including at the Jewish Culture Museum in Krakow, Poland. She is also a co-founder of an informal group of young people working to address issues of inclusion through participatory arts, performance, and theater.
Nataliia is based in Erfurt, where she is also active as a mentor and writer.
Photo:
Mark Kovnatskiy
is not only one of the world's leading Yiddish violinists, a composer, a Yiddish dance teacher, and a frequent faculty member at Yiddish Summer Weimar, but also a passionate video maker.
He has been part of the YSW team since 2020, creating video documentation of all Yiddish Summer Weimar events.
Photo: Shendl Copitman
is originally from Chisinau, Moldova, and fell in love with photography after a year working with the famous photographer Kitra Cahana. She studied at the Paideia Institute in Sweden, the Open University of Israel, and the Professional School of Photography in Moldova.
She uses photography as a tool in social and artistic projects, creating projects and presenting exhibitions around the world.
Shendy now lives in Hamburg and works as a reportage photographer and photojournalist.
Photo: Nicolae Miniuc
Wiebke "Minna" Heilmann
has been to Yiddish Summer Weimar countless times, both as a participant and as a volunteer. She just can't stay away – which is why she joined the YSW website team this year.
When she's not working, Minna sings, plays, improvises and composes, learns languages (she’s currently learning Yiddish – about time too!), studies the mind and how it works, enjoys a good book, or leaves all tech and people behind to lose herself under some trees in the wilderness.
Sayumi Yoshida
studied Visual Communication and worked in a Tokyo design agency before coming to Berlin, where she studied at the Hochschule der Künste (now the Universität der Künste). After obtaining her degree in 1993, she worked as an artist on sound and site installations and as a freelance graphic designer.
Since 2010, Sayumi has been responsible for the visual image of Yiddish Summer Weimar, the Other Music Academy and the Other Music Academy e.V., including their online presence, posters, t-shirts, and more. She has long been interested in Yiddish dance, which she has taught in Japan at Osaka University and at the Japanese‐Jewish Friendship and Study Society in Kobe.
Since 2006, Sayumi has been a member of the Berlin-based dance ensemble TarantaScalza, which performs the traditional Southern Italian dance style tarantella, and has performed with the ensemble at many festivals.
Photo: Shendl Copitman
We use only the neccessary cookies. Please see also our data privacy statement.