The 17th "Singer's Warsaw" Jewish Culture Festival is set to get under way in the Polish capital this weekend.
The annual event, which takes its name from Nobel Prize-winning Polish-Jewish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer, sees a more than weeklong feast of music concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, culinary workshops and more.
This year, due to coronavirus restrictions, many events will be scaled down, but some other will be made available to audiences worldwide through online broadcasts.
Among the highlights of the festival this year is an opening cantorial concert at Warsaw’s Nożyk Synagogue, featuring performers including Yoni Rose from Germany.
Meanwhile, New York cantor Yaakov Lemmer and Tel Aviv-based singer Israel Nachman will perform remotely during the concert, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency has reported.
Cantor Yaakov Lemmer. Photo: PAP/Darek Delmanowicz
Other international musicians expected to entertain audiences during the festival include Polish-Ukrainian violinist Vadim Brodski, Italian guitarist Francesco Bruno and the Preßburger Klezmer Band from Slovakia.
Violinist Vadim Brodski. Photo: PAP/Rafał Guz
Meanwhile, Polish singer Kayah is billed among the top names for the festival’s concluding concert at the end of the month.
Polish singer-songwriter Kayah. Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa
Festival attractions also include debates, activities for children, meetings with writers, artists and historians, and plays performed by actors from Warsaw’s Jewish Theatre.
Gołda Tencer, the founder and artistic director of the festival, has said the event is “a bridge connecting tradition and modernity.”
The festival is held in various venues around the Polish capital every year, but primarily in a part of the city that was once the hub of Warsaw's Jewish community.
This year's event opens on Saturday and runs until August 30 to offer a wealth of opportunities to explore and celebrate Jewish culture and tradition.
Public broadcaster Polish Radio is a media partner of the event.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR