With over 15 years of experience playing klezmer music, Abigale Reisman has established herself as an expressive and thoughtful fidl player with a lot to say. She is particularly interested in mimicking the human voice through the violin and connecting her playing to the rhythms and accents of the Yiddish language. Abigale is a performer, composer, and arranger with the International Jewish Music Festival award winning band, Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band. She regularly performs in a duo with renowned klezmer scholar and performer Hankus Netsky. Abigale is also a co-founder of Thread Ensemble, an experimental trio that creates music out of interactions with their audiences and a member of Tredici Bacci, which was featured in Rolling Stone’s “10 Artists You Need to Know: November 2016”. Abigale earned her Bachelor's degree at The Manhattan School of Music in Classical Violin Performance and went on to receive her Master's degree at The New England Conservatory in Contemporary Improvisation.

Adrianne is the foremost purveyor of the klezmer flute tradition, performing on historic and modern instruments. She held decades-long Principal Flute positions in her home state of Connecticut. Adrianne first directed the KlezKids band at her synagogue, then a World Chamber Music Camp for two summers and – for 20 years! – a college klezmer band at Mount Holyoke. Adrianne has produced 3 CDs with her ensemble “FleytMuzik” and has also won awards as a klezmer composer. Her masterclass topics are woven into all genres of traditional repertoire and include improvisation for cadenzas, klezmer to simple jazz, detailed embouchure work, and baroque and klezmer ornamentation. Adrianne plays loads of other instruments: piano, harpsichord, viola, accordion, melodica. No clarinet, no brass. Loves jamming and vintage hats!

Born in Helsinki and brought up between there and St Petersburg, Alevtina was adopted by Helsinki Klezmer Kapelye at the age of thirteen. Since then she has been involved in the international klezmer scene, travelling to different festivals around the globe, playing concerts and organizing workshops. She plays the trumpet and is currently studying Global Music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where she is busy getting acquainted with the different makam systems and exploring approaches to music making outside the Western tradition. She is also actively involved in the fields of interfaith dialogue and storytelling, which comes through in her musicianship and artistic expression.

Daniel is a clarinetist, educator, sound designer, electronic music composer and performer with a Masters in Music (Ethnomusicology and Performance) from SOAS, University of London, and a PhD from the Open University, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He specialises in performing in world music styles from across Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, and has studied with, and played alongside, legendary Klezmer musicians such as Alan Bern, Frank London, Merlin Shepherd, and Joel Rubin. Daniel is currently performing with the award-winning ensemble Don Kipper, playing festivals and concerts across the UK and Europe. He loves connecting music and theatre through his work in UK, the US, and Europe with Bubble Schmeisis and Oily Cart’s Jamboree. His most recent project, supported by Arts Council England, explores the intersection of electronic music and Chinese and Jewish folk music traditions alongside NYC-based sound artist, composer, and vocalist Lemon Guo.

Francesca is a cellist and producer specialising in Klezmer and improvisation. She works with live electronics, composes music for video games and documentaries, collaborates with groundbreaking artists such as Frank London, Imogen Heap and Talvin Singh MBE, and is one half of the critically acclaimed duo Fran & Flora. A passionate educator, she has taught workshops in Klezmer and creative music at SOAS, Newcastle University, Goldsmiths College, KlezFest and has performed extensively nationally and internationally. She is co-director of the Cliftonville Cultural Space; a new multi-arts space in Margate (previously Margate Synagogue) and hosts a monthly radio show on Margate Radio.

Gica started playing the violin at the age of eight, at school in Edinburgh. She later immersed herself in the Scottish ceilidh dance revival, playing with various bands, and going on to form the all women Belle Star Band in 1995. From the late 1990’s her passion grew for klezmer fiddle and connection to Yiddish culture and she founded the Celter Schmelter klezmer ensemble, performing at Festivals, weddings and Bar Mitzvahs across the country. Lately she’s been exploring both Jewish and Scottish shared repertoire. Both a fiddle teacher and development worker for The Scots Music Group, she went on to lead Edinburgh’s Fun Fiddle project for children and adults, which has nurtured hundreds of fiddlers of all ages, and built a strong community of players. She has taught klezmer at the Centre for Open Learning, The Scots Fiddle Festival, KlezNorth, and local events. Gica also runs Makin a Brew project, a music and story programme for pre-school children and their families, which works in Early years Centres in Edinburgh and East Lothian. As Youth Music Initiative Education Officer, Gica organises cool music making projects for young people across East Lothian.

Ilana Cravitz set up the NKYO in 2021 to help young people and their teachers enjoy klezmer's wonderfully rich and diverse repertoire. She has been playing and teaching klezmer music and dance around the world for many years, and also plays baroque violin and viola da gamba.

Ilana's book 'Klezmer Fiddle, a How-to Guide' is published by Oxford University Press. She made four CDs with the London Klezmer Quartet and toured with them in the UK, Europe, Latin America, Scandinavia and Australasia. Ilana also enjoys klezmer jamming and playing Celtic and Scandinavian folk music, and recently joined a Country Music band.

John Macnaughton is a professional saxophonist and clarinettist based in London. He studied on the prestigious BA Jazz course at Leeds College of Music, and recently graduated from the MA Music Performance course at SOAS. Over recent years John has focused his energies on klezmer and Balkan music. Having studied with leading musicians including Merlin Shepherd, Susi Evans, Ilene Stahl and Nikola Iliev, he co-founded award-winning klezmer ensemble 'Oysland' (World Music Network, Battle of the Bands, 2017), and plays traditional Bulgarian/Macedonian music with 'Raka'.

John has played with many leading ensembles and musicians including Guinean Griot Mosi Conde, Nigerian Afrojazz band 'Ayetoro', and Croatian Big Band 'Mimika'. He has also worked in theatre (the London Bubble, Nick Cassenbaum, Viva Productions), and done various sessions for TV and film (Bleach Productions, BMG).

Joshua Horowitz is the director of the klezmer ensemble Budowitz and co-founder of the trio, Veretski Pass. He has taught, performed and recorded with Itzhak Perlman, Theodore Bikel, Stan Getz, The Vienna Chamber Orchestra and The San Francisco Symphony and is currently the curator and orchestrator for the San Francisco Symphony’s Jewish Music Currents Series and co-curator of the The Sonoma State University Jewish Music Concert Series. He received the Prize of Honor by the Austrian government in 2000 for his orchestral work, Tenebrae, based on the poem of Paul Celan and continues to compose and perform in a variety of genres and disciplines.

Josh Middleton is an accordionist and composer based in London. As a professional accordionist Josh specialises in Klezmer and East European Folk styles. He has been performing music professionally since the age of 14, graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies with a first class degree in Ethnomusicology, and has since been working as a freelance musician while studying both Klezmer and Bulgarian music, the latter at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Plovdiv. Josh has worked with many Klezmer and Balkan music ensembles such as She’koyokh and The London Klezmer Quartet, has shared a stage with Klezmorim such as Frank London and Merlin Shepherd, taught at Klezfest London alongside Klezmer scholars such as Alan Bern and Joel Rubin, and recorded for artists as diverse as DJ Vadim and Kadialy Kouyate. Josh also works as a composer on the Puppet Theatre Barge, performing and writing music for puppet shows.

Sarha started musical life at age 9, acting the Pied Piper with her recorder, graduating to the oboe, and finally to the saxophone. She specialises in performing with street bands playing music from around the world, liking nothing better than to wander the streets leading people around playing music. Mainly known for playing in the Bollywood Brass Band and Klezmer ensembles, she has also played with Ghanaian Highlife band Orchestre Jazira, the London School of Samba and was baritone sax player in socialist big band The Happy End. Sarha recently picked up a PhD in World Music studies, in particular the study of The Flattened Supertonic (as in Odessa Bulgar and S'iz Nito Keyn Nekhtn!).

Simon is a multi-instrumentalist known mostly as a drummer in the jazz, klezmer and experimental music scenes. He has played all over the world in festivals, clubs and concert halls. He has worked with klezmorim including: Merlin Shepherd, Alan Bern, Frank London, London Klezmer Quartet, Fran + Flora, Anna Lowenstein and Klezmer Klub. He is currently producing his first solo album, and also make shows for Faff FM.