YAM Ensemble 2025 - Info and Application

YAM Ensemble brings together young people from Turkey, Greece, and Germany for a three-week music project in Istanbul, Agios Lavrentios, and Weimar. If you are a young musician (of any nationality) living in one of these countries and want to participate in a 25- to 30-piece ensemble that will study and perform a mixture of klezmer/Yiddish, Greek, Turkish and Sephardic music, then YAM is for you! Both singers and instrumentalists are welcome.

The first edition of YAM Ensemble took place in the summer of 2024, when we travelled to Agios Lavrentios, Thessaloniki, Weimar, Erfurt, and Eisenach (see some photos here). In the summer of 2025, thanks to Erasmus+ funding from the European Union, we will be able to learn and perform together in Turkey, Greece and Germany!


What to expect as a participant?
Once you have been chosen as a participant, you can expect to work with world-renowned musicians, teachers, and culture bearers in incredible locations and within an intercultural setting. A dedicated team at each of the locations we visit will support you and help make YAM Ensemble a fun and life-changing experience for everybody.

We will hold preparatory meetings on Zoom to answer any questions you may have and get to know you better. We will take care of your travel and accommodation, and will also provide most of the meals during the project.

The artistic directors and conductors of YAM Ensemble are the amazing Cantor Sarah Myerson (New York) and Ilya Shneyveys (Riga/New York).





Age range
18-30 (your date of birth should be after June 21st, 1994 and before June 21st, 2007.)

Schedule 
(Attention! This is the schedule as of March 3rd, 2025. Please note that dates may change by 1 or 2 days, depending on concerts and other activities.) 

June 23, 2025: Arrival in Istanbul

In Istanbul, we’ll rehearse in the music department of ITÜ, the Istanbul Technical University and learn about the music, cultures, and languages of the city. Our local partner is Kreşendo.

Around June 30th/July 1st, 2025: Travel from Istanbul to Agios Lavrentios (Greece)

The ensemble will rehearse for a week in the village of Agios Lavrentios, Greece. With a dedicated rehearsal space on the village’s central square, it’s the perfect place for rehearsals and communal learning. See the village’s Facebook page for more information on the summer musical events taking place there.
Our local partner in Greece is ANAPTYXIAKOS SYLLOGOS AGIOU LAVRENTIOU PILIOU (Local Cultural Association), based in Agios Lavrentios, Mt. Pelion. See their website here.

Around July 9/10th, 2025: Travel from Agios Lavrentios to Weimar (Germany)

In Weimar, YAM Ensemble will encounter Yiddish Summer Weimar, the world’s largest Yiddish music festival. The ensemble will open the 5-week festival with a concert on Herderplatz on July 12th, 2025, among other events. Learn more about the festival at www.yiddishsummer.eu

Around July 16th/17th, 2025: End of the project

The exact schedule will be published here as soon as possible.

YAM ים... 
... is the Yiddish word for “sea,” inspired by the shared musical repertoire of the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions; and the fluid, ever-evolving nature of folk music and culture.

In recent years, Yiddish Summer Weimar (with the support of the Department of Transcultural Music Studies at the Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar) has established a database of this interrelated regional repertoire. While the close relationship between Turkish, Sephardic, and Greek music was to be expected, we were pleasantly surprised by the extensive repertoire these traditions share with klezmer/Yiddish (Ashkenazic Jewish) music. In the course of our research, we have come to understand that the thriving Yiddish culture that existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust was musically connected not only to Central Europe (Ashkenaz means "Germany" in medieval Hebrew, after all), but also to Ottoman, Turkish, Greek, and Sephardic/Ladino musical cultures in ways we had not previously imagined.

In YAM, we put this research into practice by performing suites that bring together shared repertoire from all of these cultures, moving seamlessly between intricate arrangements and playful improvisation. This project offers both a learning and playing opportunity— a chance to meet new friends, explore new places, and be inspired by new musical influences.

Join YAM and dive into these fascinating musical and cultural worlds!

Application
Please apply by April 10th, 2025 by clicking here.
Attention! Turkish applicants without green passports who need a visa: please get in touch right away with Kreşendo (), to start your application process for a Greek Schengen visa.

Eğer Türk vatandaşıysanız ve vizeye ihtiyacınız varsa lütfen adresine bir e-posta gönderin.

Questions?
Do you have any questions? Please get in touch with project manager Nataliia:

YAM Ensemble is supported by:

Partners:

Department of Music Science and Art
University of Macedonia