DEC Retreat, NYSCA
Ana Fiore, Director, Grants & Services, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)So many people came up to me to share how much they enjoyed your performance and how special it was to hear this music live and learn a bit about the group's long history.
DEC Retreat, NYSCA
Leanne Tintori Wells, Program Director, Dance/ Presenting/ State & Local Partnerships, New York State Council on the Arts [NYSCA]It was truly pleasure for all of us the have Metropolitan Klezmer perform at our DEC Retreat - thank you for making it happen!
A Family Hanukkah Concert
Ronit Widmann-Levy, Director of Arts & Culture, Oshman Family JCC Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life, Palo Alto CAI heard it was a great show. Wishing you continued success.
Arts Brookfield
Courtney Whitelocke, Event Manager, Arts Brookfield U.S. Office DivisionThank you to Metropolitan Klezmer for a fantastic performance today. As always, it was a huge hit with our tenants.
Two Bridges Music Benefit Concert
Cyrus von Hochstetter, Two Bridges Music Director, Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, Inc.Thanks to you for delivering such a lively show and really connecting with the audiences. The feedback was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
First Fridays + Concert Series, Long Beach NY
Edie Kalickstein, Long Beach Public LibraryWe had so much fun! Thank you and your band for the Joy!
Long Beach Arts CouncilOutstanding! Thank you.
Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
Anne Saunders, Artistic Director, Falcon Ridge Folk FestivalMK was very, VERY well received at Falcon Ridge this year
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Anita Jacobs, Director of Public Programs, Brooklyn Botanic GardenIt was such a pleasure to have Metropolitan Klezmer join Ghouls & Gourds... an amazing array of talent! Thank you for a beautiful show! (Gotham's greatest players of Yiddish party music)
Lincoln Center's New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Evan Leslie, Artistic Producer, Lincoln Center's New York Public Library for the Performing ArtsThank you for Metropolitan Klezmer's wonderful presentation of 'Music from Yiddish Film.' I'm still hearing from delighted patrons several weeks later how much they enjoyed this program.
School of Music Northern Arizona University
Todd E. Sullivan, Director, School of Music Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZLast night's performance was exciting, uplifting, and well received — exactly what I had hoped for... Thanks to Metropolitan Klezmer for enriching our lives and [bringing] the musicians to Flagstaff.
The Emelin Theatre
Elliot Fox, Executive Director, The Emelin Theatre, MamaroneckThank you for a terrific concert with Metropolitan Klezmer
Mizel Arts and Culture Center at the J
Steve Wilson, Executive Artistic Director, MACC at the J, Denver, ColoradoWe were again delighted with your amazing concert for JAAMM this year.
Lincoln Center
Jordana Phokompe, Associate Producer, David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln CenterLast night's performance was a blast! You all are AMAZING! Please keep us updated on your performances!
On behalf of the entire staff of the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center thank you for such a wonderful performance. We were thrilled to present Metropolitan Klezmer and were blown away by your artistry. The night was full of beautiful music and amazing energy. Please extend our gratitude to your entire ensemble who simply were fabulous.
Hillary McAndrew, Senior Manager, Meet the Artist & Community Programming, Lincoln Center for the Performing ArtsThank you! Thank you!
Your entire band is such an amazing group! You were all so very entertaining mixing music & humor — you must re-write ALL of Guys & Dolls!
Brookfield Arts + Events
Karen Kitchen, Producing Director, Brookfield Place: Winter Garden Holiday FestWe had a great time and the ensemble was wonderful! Thank you so much!
Elysa Marden, Producing Director, Brookfield Arts + EventsJust wanted to say thanks again for all of the Metropolitan Klezmer performances in December — they definitely are a highlight of our holiday season. I hope you have a terrific 2015!
UBS Atrium Music Series
Bruce Sherman, Director, UBS Atrium Music SeriesNice to meet you and your band mates today... very well-played and enjoyable show.
Pablo Zinger, Director, Reportorio EspanolCongratulations on a wonderful performance today. Really enjoyed your show. So much talent and intelligence together.
Santa Klez special at Safra Hall, Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC
Gabriel Sanders: Director of Public Programs, MJHWe continue to talk about how terrific it was having you here and what a wonderful day it was for us all.
Jewish Heritage Reception at Gracie Mansion, New York
Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York CityThank you very much for the Metropolitan Klezmer's terrific performance at our Jewish Heritage Reception at Gracie Mansion. Our city is proud to be an international capital of Jewish communal life, and thanks in part to your talented quintet, we were able to host a fun and festive evening.
Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank NJ
Izzy Sackowitz, Operations DirectorGreat show yesterday! Everyone was very happy with the performance.
Thanks again!
Numa C. Saisselin, CEO, Count Basie Theatre, Inc., Red Bank, New JerseyThank you! I am sorry I was unable to get down to the theatre myself but I am told that a fantastic time was had by all in attendance.
BlackRock Center for the Arts, Germantown MD
Charlotte Sommers, Executive Director, BlackRock Center for the Arts, Germantown MD (Montgomery County, Maryland)Thank you, thank you, thank you for such a great show!
The singer, Missy, was fantastic, and all such wonderful musicians — the audience just loved it. They're asking me to ask you back next year! [and so they did... saying in 2011... ]
I heard nothing but rave reviews for the show, thanks so much for making our audience happy! I'll begin booking next season very soon and will be in touch.
Dutchess County Jewish Federation
Fredrica S. GoodmanEveryone loved your Klezmer music. It truly made the gathering special. I have had the opportunity to hear a number of Klezmer groups 'in my day' but the Metropolitan Klezmer stands out as particularly versatile and engaging. Congratulations to all in the band and thank you again for helping to make the event for the Dutchess County Jewish Federation the success we all felt it was!
The American Civil Liberties Union (gala benefit, Ellis Island)
Heather D. Artemis, Events Manager,Affiliate Support & Advocacy, American Civil Liberties UnionWe are still getting wonderful feedback on [the ACLU's 75th anniversary gala, at Ellis Island] and especially how perfectly the band added to the event atmosphere.
Thank you again, to you and the band, for adding so much to the event.
Center For Jewish History
Judith C. Siegel, Director of Special Projects, CJHThank you for your wonderful music last night! It added so much to the evening and as a thread for the rest of the production. Your vocalist is fantastic as well as all the musicians.
Anna Cypra Oliver, Jewish Heritage Project: "Lifecycles of New York Jews: Refuge & Roots, Searching for Home in a New Land" CJHI keep hearing how much people loved your music last night. Your contribution to the evening was incalculable! It brought everything together.
Two Bridges Council
Cyrus von Hochstetter, Two Bridges Council, Abrons Arts CenterThanks for your amazing performance yesterday. I really enjoyed your music and your musicians are all thrilling to listen to.
Temple Beth O'r/Beth Torah
Cantor Steve Stern, Temple Beth O'r/Beth Torah, Clark NJThanks for a great concert Sunday evening! It was so nice to have Metropolitan Klezmer celebrate its 20th anniversary with us here in Clark. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the program!
New Year's Eve Millbrook
Joyce Heaton, New Year's Eve Millbrook, Dutchess County NYWhat a joy you AND your music have been!
Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn NY:
Mona Z. Smith, Executive Director, Performing Arts & Special EventsIt is my great pleasure to recommend Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos, and most especially leader of both bands, Eve Sicular.
During the past decade, I have presented Eve and her two ensembles at different venues and events in New York City, including the Brooklyn Museum's internationally acclaimed outreach program (First Saturdays) and this college's Free Sundays series of world music and dance.
Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos play with passion, panache, and pride. Both groups will charm the first-time listener while earning the respect of any critics, die-hard klezmer fans, and ethnomusicologists in the audience. I have watched diverse crowds of twenty-something Brooklyn hipsters get up and dance in the aisles with Orthodox Jewish couples three times their age. I have seen families with delighted kids shouting out for encores. I have watched people excitedly buying their first klezmer CD (perhaps their first world-music recording) in the lobby of my theater.
Eve Sicular is simply tops when it comes to making every performance a rewarding collaboration between presenter, artist, and audience. Talk with her about your goals for program content and audience development and you will find her a thoughtful, creative, innovative partner. Listen to her chat with the audience from the stage or in the lobby and you will find her a warm, engaging, and inspiring speaker (and a brilliant scholar). And to cap it off, Eve is also one of the most professional bandleaders you will ever encounter — she handles every business matter from booking to performance in a timely and efficient manner. Now that is a presenter's dream!
I will gladly provide any additional information, but my best advice is: Book them soon!
Sarah Van Buren, Performing Arts & Special EventsThank you for an outstanding show this past Sunday. Our crowd loved your set! It is also rare that a group of performers come along that are as organized as they are talented. I thank you for that.
92nd Street Y
Larisa Gelman, Director, Educational Outreach, School of the Arts, 92nd Street Y, New York City, NYWe cannot thank you enough for your participation in our Musical Introduction Series concerts. All of the schools were thrilled by the band's exciting playing and thoughtful interaction with the audience.
The impact of having such a dynamic and culturally rich performance from Metropolitan Klezmer for the diverse group of young people that we serve through Educational Outreach is immeasurable. As an ensemble, your flexibility and willingness to work with us to create an engaging, interactive concert program was invaluable.
The program itself was varied and interesting, introducing students to traditional and original klezmer in a truly unique way, and with a contemporary flavor. They especially enjoyed the way the band demonstrated their instruments and that many of the members of the band played more than one instrument!
We have received lots of positive feedback from many teachers and school administrators who were impressed by the band's stellar musicianship and educational style, as well as your relaxed and approachable demeanors.
We are very proud to have hosted such an outstanding ensemble and truly hope that you all had as wonderful an experience as everyone involved with the 92nd Street Y's Musical Introduction Series did.
Thank you for sharing your musical gifts, teaching artistry, humor and joy with more than 3,000 public school children throughout New York City.
With thanks and gratitude,
Hudson Square LentSpace
Shin Otake, Lower Manhattan Cultural CouncilI just wanted to say thank you and to all of your musicians for an amazing performance at LentSpace today! You were all such a pleasure to work with, and you sound amazing. Please keep me informed of upcoming shows and gigs!
Kineret, Atlantic Beach
Karen Nessim, Co-Chair/Kineret, Atlantic BeachI cannot begin to thank you and the band for your performance last night. I received so many phone calls today and every one mentioned how great you and the band were. You were just fantastic! We all had a wonderful evening and really enjoyed your performance. I especially enjoyed your explanations and how you made the evening feel so comfortable and lively. Just exceptional! Thanks again for making our evening so spectacular!
Touro Law Center
Professor Dan Subotnik, Touro Law Center, Central Islip, Long Island NYThanks to you Eve and to your wonderful group. Terrific program. Kudos from everyone around here.
Cooperstown Concert Series
Tim Wiles, Cooperstown Concert Series co-directorWe had a great experience with you and your band the other night — top to bottom. Couldn't have been better. Congrats on your drawing power. Nicely done, and very well played.
Your troupe brightened up our 'winter' (which really hasn't arrived yet)... Groups like yours are also a shining example — Everytime you think the culture is in the tank, then you see a show like we saw the other night. Beats the heck out of other entertainment options.
Riverspace Arts, Nyack NY
Melanie Rock, holiday show series producerHooray for us! It was a really great show... Thank you again, for a great show, and for EVERYONE being such a pleasure to work with. It's been a real pleasure!
Kane Street Synagogue Family KlezFest
Elise Bernhardt, Kane Street Synagogue Family KlezFest coordinatorWonderful concert — great musicians, wonderful variety of tunes
Thanks to everyone at Metropolitan Klezmer and to you for all your work on our behalf!!!
The 92nd Street Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall
Jo Frances Brown, Program Coordinator, Stein Memorial ConcertThe concert at the The 92nd Street that featured Metropolitan Klezmer and [guest artist/emeritus MK member] Howie Leess on tenor sax and clarinet was an immense success on so many levels... The Y was thrilled to have a nearly full house [approximately 700 audience members]... and might I add that the verbal feedback was incredibly good. The program was balanced and lyrical, the vocalist superb and all in all, it was a totally splendid afternoon...
World Financial Center's Festival of Sound & Light
John Louis Pedat, Halfmoon Records [Talent Programmer, Winter Garden WFC]Your band sounds amazing.
VOLUME nyc, Voices of Lower ManhattanThere's definitely no need to feel farklempt with these kind of celebrations.
Parkway Central Library, Free Library of Philadelphia
Paul Savedow, Manager, Education, Religion and Philosophy Department, Free Library of Philadelphia PAThanks again for a great concert.
Temple Tikvah, New Hyde Park, NY
June Schwarz: Temple Tikvah, New Hyde Park, NYThe congregation LOVED you and the group. We are looking towards future Klezmer like programs. How about one of your lectures/film presentations? A pleasure to work with you. See you in Florida in February.
Sidney Albert Albany Jewish Community Center
Claire Sigal, Programming/SAAJCCKlezmer program included varied selections of beautiful music, which touched and moved us... A high-quality concert... One of the highlights of our year.
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College
Alfred Fredel, ProducerMy warmest thanks for a job well done. The patrons are still talking about the concert.
American Friends of the Israel Museum
Monique Birenbaum. Development DirectorMetropolitan Klezmer really outdid themselves and made a magical evening... Your performance was soulful and beautiful
CNN WorldBeat: Crazy for Klezmer
Neil Curry, Producer (Turner Broadcasting & BBC)If you have any other CDs, I'd love to hear more! Here's the footage, your band was wonderful.