Sun 6/22 @ 3PM

For more than 100 years, Cleveland’s Workman’s Circle is a secular organization that has been promoting Jewish culture and identity through a variety of programs, including its annual free “Yiddish Concert in the Park” at Cain Park, “an afternoon of Yiddish music and song,” now in its 43rd year.

This year’s headliner in Schmaltz, a Klezmer funk band (!) from Ann Arbor, Michigan who music also incorporates jazz, Latin and polka.  The group, with roots at the University of Michigan, features a drummer, bassist, pianist/arranger/composer, and three horn players, and plays regularly across southeast Michigan from synagogues to bars.

Opening acts include the husband-and-wife duo of Yale Strom and Elizabeth Schwartz, a violinist and vocalist duo who perform klezmer music internationally as well as Cleveland jazz pianist George Foley. The concert is dedicated to the memory of sax player Norman Tischler (2019) and vocalist Lori Cahan-Simon (2023), two musicians well known and much beloved in the wider music community.

The concert is designed to be family-friendly and appeal to all generations. For more information go to workmenscircle.org/.