Veretski Pass Klezmer Trio

Calliope East Bay Music & Arts presents a Hanukkah-palooza kickoff with Veretski Pass: Cookie Segelstein, violin; Joshua Horowitz, 19th century chromatic  button accordion; and Stuart Brotman, stand up bass. In-person, live-streamed, or on-demand.

This year, the VP team’s performance of 22 years of “klezmer’s greatest hits” will have you rollicking in the aisles of the St. Alban’s Sanctuary!

Veretski Pass is a trio of Jewish music veterans who have been at the forefront of the klezmer revival for over 25 years. Their output spans the ultra-traditional to the avant garde. Taking their name from the mountain pass through which Magyar tribes crossed into the Carpathian basin to settle what later became the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Veretski Pass offers a unique and exciting combination of virtuosic musicianship and raw energy that has excited concertgoers across the world. The trio plays Old Country Music with origins in the Ottoman Empire, once fabled as the borderlands of the East and the West. In a true collage of Carpathian, Jewish, Rumanian and Ottoman styles, typical suites contain dances from Moldavia and Bessarabia; Jewish melodies from Poland and Rumania; Hutzul wedding music from Carpathian-Ruthenia; and haunting Rebetic aires from Smyrna, seamlessly integrated with original compositions. Their CDs have repeatedly been on the 10-best recording lists of journalists since 2002.

Last year’s Veretski Pass performance at Calliope sold out, so get your tickets ($15 – $30) early.