Living Treasures from Old Manuscripts
Tunes from the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project

July 24 - 31, 2025; unstructured (free) day: July 28
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. | advanced
3 - 6 p.m. | intermediate

with Susi Evans & Szilvia Csaranko

In this workshop, we’ll be working with a treasure trove of manuscripts collected during the An-Ski expeditions to Jewish villages in Ukraine over 100 years ago. This is a remarkable collection of more than 1300 handwritten melodies, which were only recently discovered in the Vernadsky Library in Kiev and made publicly available by the Klezmer Institute.

In the manuscripts, only the basic melody is transcribed, without any indication of phrasing, ornamentation, variation, harmony, tempo, or (usually) what dance rhythm a particular tune is. This is where some prior knowledge of klezmer style will be helpful. What gives a melody a klezmer feel as opposed to another style? How do we decide what chords to try or what rhythm to play? Working from a blank canvas gives us an opportunity to be creative with harmonies, arrangements and interpretation. At the end of the workshop, we’ll give a short, public performance of a selection of our favorite tunes in the arrangements we’ve created together.

We’ll share photos of the manuscript scores, but during the workshop, we’ll work mainly by ear as a way to internalize the melodies and bring them to life away from the page.

The intermediate workshop will work on less complex and technically advanced tunes compared with the advanced workshop. 
Please refer to the self-tests for instrumental workshops if you are unsure about your level.

Take the test!

 

Please note!
This is a 3-hour workshop. It can only be booked in combination with another 3-hour workshop during the same time period, not separately. Please select a second 3-hour workshop during the same time period.
The fee for two 3-hour workshops is the same as for a standard 6-hour workshop.

Workshop fee for two 3-hour workshops:
530 € Standard / 355 € Reduced / 740 € Sponsor / 180 € under 18