the KlezmerShack

"Dona Fest" will take place in some of the most prestigious concert halls in Moscow and will include appearances by the most esteemed performers of Jewish music in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states, as well as foreign stars of Klezmer.

Along with the concert programme, "Dona Fest" will also include an International music seminar, which will be lead by the leading specialists in the field of Jewish music and culture (Klezmer music, Yiddish songs, etc.)

The seminar programme includes:

• vocal and instrumental master classes;
• lectures on Yiddish and Ashkenazi culture;
• Jewish theatre and drama classes;
• Jewish folk dance;
• regular jam sessions;
• round table discussions, exchanging experience and knowledge;

The teachers:

• Grammy Award nominee and world famous Yiddish singer Adrianne Cooper (USA),
• Former musical director of the Royal National Theatre and The Shakespeare "Globe" theatre, one of the leading performers of traditional Klezmer music Merlin Shepherd (Great Britain),
• Founder of "The flying Bulgar Klezmer Band", composer and a famous jazz pianist Marylin Lerner (Canada),
• Leading European Jewish choir teacher and composer Polina Shepherd (Great Britain),
• European klezmer violin virtuosi Stas Rayko and Mark Kovnatsky (Germany),
• Drama art teacher and a popular Russian Jewish singer and actress Alina Ivakh (Russia).

Costs for participation:

• $200 for Russian and CIS citizens
• $550 for citizens of other countries
• $100 for Moscow residents (just seminar program)

(The cost includes full tuition: accommodation, meals and the seminar programme).

Participants pay for their own transportation. The organizing committee has a limited amount of free places (scholarships), which based on the decision of the assesment panel and available funds will be awarded to the most active figures in Jewish culture, as well as those for whom the full tuition might be a financial burden.

Free places will also be given to honoured guests and teachers. A system of partial/full payment for especially talented applicants who are not able to pay for participation in "Dona Fest" will be set aside in the "Dona Fest" scholarship fund.

Attendance of the festival's concerts must be paid for by all participants of the seminar. The festival has limited capacity. Candidates for participation must fill out an application and send it to the organizing committee (form enclosed), along with (for instrumentalists and singers) samples of their material in any audio or video format in advance.

Application forms (online at www.dona-dona.ru) are admitted till 01/03/06. The organizing committee will not consider any applications received after the indicated date. The organizing committee will announce its decision not later than 15/03/06.

For more information:

Center «Euro-Class», 115093, Moscow, Stremyanniy per., 33/35, Russia
call (007 095) 764-42-21 (Anatoly Pinsky)
E-mail Dona Dona Fest.