My name is Yael Strom and I am a violinist, composer, filmmaker, writer, photographer, playwright. I am a pioneer among revivalists in conducting extensive field research in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans among the Jewish and Rom communities. Initially, his work focused primarily on the use and performance of klezmer music among these two groups. Gradually, his focus increased to examining all aspects of their culture, from post-World War II to the present. From more than 2 decades and 75 such research expeditions, Strom has become the world's leading ethnographer-artist of klezmer music and history.
My klezmer research was instrumental in helping form the repertoires of his klezmer band, Hot Pstromi in New York and San Diego . Since Strom's first band began in 1981, he has been composing his own New Jewish music, which combines klezmer with Hasidic nigunim , Rom, jazz, classical, Balkan and Sephardic motifs.
These compositions range from quartets to a symphony, which premiered with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He composed original music for the Denver Center production of Tony Kushner's The Dybbuk . He also composed all the New Jewish music for the National Public Radio series Fiddlers, Philosophers & Fools: Jewish Short Stories from the Old World to the New , hosted by Leonard Nimoy, as well as numerous film (A Life Apart) and dance (Malashock Dance Troupe) scores. Strom is also one of the only top composers of Jewish music to carry on the tradition of writing original songs, with Yiddish lyrics, about humanitarian and social issues as well as melodies for synagogue liturgy.
"An award-winning musician, author, filmmaker and scholar, this maverick does so many things with such great skill and vision that he's in a league of his own." - George Varga - Music Critic of the San Diego Union-Tribune
His thirteen CDs run the gamut of traditional klezmer to "new" Jewish music. His CD, Garden of Yidn , debuted in the Top 20 of Canada's major music critic's poll. His CD, Klezmer: Cafe Jew Zoo was released by Naxos World Records in June of 2003 to international acclaim. Strom has performed with many world renown musicians including Andy Statman, Mark Dresser, Marty Ehrlich, Mark O'Connor, Alicia Svigals, Joel Rubin, Hanku s Netsky, Samir Chatterjee, Salman Ahmad, et al.
Yale Strom was the first klezmer violinist to be invited to instruct master classes at both the American String Teachers Association and the Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp. Strom's research has also resulted in photo documentary books, documentary films, as well as CD recordings. He is the author of The Book of Klezmer: The History, The Music, The Folklore ( 2002)" is a 400 page history with original photos and sheet music gathered by Strom during his sixty-plus ethnographic trips to Central and Eastern Europe. A Wandering Feast: A Journey Through the Jewish Culture of Eastern Europe written in collaboration with his wife, Elizabeth Schwartz, is part cookbook, part travelogue (2005). He is also the author of The Absolutely Complete Klezmer Songbook (2006). His first children's book The Wedding That Saved A Town (2008) is based upon his research in Poland and hearing this story about klezmer musicians playing at a wedding of two orphans held in a cemetery when there was a cholera epidemic. His latest book is the first biography on the seminal klezmer clarinetist Dave Tarras. The book is called Dave Tarras: The King of Klezmer.
New York 's Jewish Week writes: “He's a gifted photographer and author, a talented documentary filmmaker and has his own klezmer band... Strom's multifaceted career is a wonder, and his work schedule is downright fiendish.” He has directed six award-winning documentary films ( At the Crossroads, The Last Klezmer, and Carpati: 50 miles, 50 Years. L'Chaim Comrade Stalin! and Kl ezmer on Fish Street ) and has composed music for countless others. He was the first documentary filmmaker in history to be given his own run at Lincoln Center 's prestigious Walter Reade Theatre, where The Last Klezmer broke previous box office records; this record was only exceeded by Carpati's run there. The Last Klezmer was short-listed for an Academy Award, Klezmer on Fish Street won the 2003 Palm Beach International Film festival's Special Jury Selection award. He directed the documentary A Man from Munkacs: Gypsy Klezmer for Hungary 's Duna Television, and is in production on the documentary film Eugene Victor Debs: American Socialist.
His solo photo exhibit The Rom of Ridgewood , about Gypsy communities in Queens , New York ,was mounted at the Queens Museum of Art; he has had numerous solo and group photo exhibits (depicting Jewish and Rom life) throughout the U.S. and Europe . His photos are part of many collections including Beth Hatefusoth, The Skirball Museum, The Jewish Museum of NYC, The Frankfurt Jewish Museum and the The Museum of Photographic Arts .
Strom 's original stage play . . . from man. . . to beast... to crawling thing , was given a fully-staged workshop in June of 2001 by the Streisand Festival ( La Jolla , California ). His new play Verdigis was workshopped by the San Diego Rep, North Coast Rep as well as in New York City , Connecticut and Los Angeles. Strom's latest play is a radio drama he co-wrote with Elizabeth Schwartz and Ellen Kushner called The Witches of Lublin which stars Tovah Feldshue. Yale was featured in the May 31, 2004 issue of Time Magazine for this play, and the scholarship behind it.
Strom has lectured extensively throughout the Untied States and Europe and taught at NYU for the 4 years, where he created the course “Artist-Ethnographer Expeditions”. He is on the advisory board of the Center for Jewish Creativity, based in Los Angeles . At present he is Artist-in-Residence in the Jewish Studies Program at San Diego State University .
Strom is the guest curator for the Eldridge Street Project's A Great Day on Eldridge Street-- a musical and photographic celebration of the newly restored Eldridge Street Synagogue that took take place in October 12-14, 2007 with a parade, a historic archival photo shoot, numerous panels and performances and a New York statewide tour. The historic photo is now available as a poster from the Eldridge Street Synagogue in NYC.