Sun 6/26 @ 7PM
The Workman’s Circle Yiddish Concert has been a Cleveland tradition for nearly four decade, taking place in recent years at Cain Park’s Evans Amphitheater, with a goal of promoting Yiddish culture through entertainment.
For its 38th year, the concert will feature a performer who was born the same year it began: New York singer/composer/entertainer Lipa Schmeltzer, who has been called “the Lady Gaga of Hasidic music.” That’s a tough reputation to live up to, but apparently he’s equal to it.
He started his career doing the wedding/bar mitzvah circuit in upstate New York and Brooklyn and soon attracted attention for being more engaging than the average event performer, adding humor and costumes to his performances.
Since breaking out of that circuit, he has released more than a dozen albums featuring music that combines rock, jazz, hip hop, klezmer, skits, jokes, prayers and more, in English, Yiddish and Hebrew. When he performs, he’s joined by a band and a group of actors. Of course, he has evoked criticism and controversy among the strict traditionalists in the Hasidic community, but his popularity demonstrates that not everyone thinks as they do.
The concert is free.