a klez story
In late spring 1999, Jonathan and David Zaidins, fraternal twins
born in March 1990, were at a Bat Mitzvah. Afterwards they
complained to their parents that they didn’t like the music that the
DJ had played. Jonathan, who was just starting the violin, and
David, who had taken up the alto saxophone at the start of the
school year, asked if they could play their instruments at their own b'nei mitzvah in 2003. Their father
suggested that they learn klezmer. Musically, the kids weren't yet ready for this undertaking and six months went by before the idea jelled. Their
mother, Mindy, looked into hiring a private music teacher. The kids spoke to
their friends to see if they had any interest in forming a band. Jonathan
(who in addition to violin, now also plays tuba and piano, David
(who now also plays baritone sax), Amanda Bilski (clarinet), Adam Matsil (trumpet), Daniel Barson
(clarinet), Asher
Rosenfeld (trombone), and Jordan Fine (clarinet) made up the original seven-member group.
The search was on to find a klezmer musician who
could teach a small group of kids. In the winter of the 2000-2001
school year, Lisa Mayer was
hired. Lisa, a world renowned klezmer violinist and the co-founder of Oy
Vey Klezmer, in Scarsdale, New York, agreed to teach the
kids. Before they had their first performance, the band members thought that playing for
nursing homes would be a great mitzvah project for their bar/bat mitzvahs.
The program now needed a name and was dubbed, "KlezKidz." So began the shift from merely playing at their b'nei mitzvah to
helping preserve a musical art form and doing community
service.
The
program has been under the musical direction of Kenny Green since
September 2001. By the end of the second year of the program, the
Bedford-based group boasted four adult members and 16 kids and was
growing. This resulted in its members becoming increasingly
diversified in musical ability, so it was decided to split the
original band into three: one for pre-teens and beginners, one for
middle school (collectively called KlezKidz), and an adult/teen
band, referred to as KlezKommunity.
In 2005 the program
was incorporated as the Westchester Klezmer Program, Inc. and
received its 501(c)(3) status as a not-for-profit organization.
The program was expanded to Tarrytown.
Now going into its eighth season, WKP expects over
50 members in four bands, two in Bedford and two in Tarrytown.
WKP's bands perform at nursing homes,
programs for the developmentally disabled, and at local
synagogues.
From the start of the
2002-2003 season through the end of the 2003-2004 season, the
program was supported, in part, by a grant from UJA-Federation of
New York. Today, the program is self-sustaining, thanks to the seed
money provided by UJA and from the ongoing generosity of people like
you.
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