2007 Instructor Bios

Stuart Brotman (http://www.veretskipass.com/pages/Stu/StuBio.html) bass, cimbalom, percussion, has been an accomplished performer, arranger and recording artist in the ethnic music field for over 35 years. He has played and recorded with the great and the near-great, as well as the would-be great and the mediocre, not to mention the really bad and the downright humiliating. He has defined klezmer bass (“It’s a large instrument that plays really low and has an accent.”) He holds a B.A. in music from the University of California at Los Angeles, and has taught at KlezKamp, Buffalo on the Roof, the Balkan Music and Dance Workshops, KlezKanada, Yiddish Summer Weimar, Klezfest London, and Sweets Mill. Long admired as a versatile soloist and sensitive accompanist in traditional and pop music circles, he has toured and recorded with Canned Heat, Kaleidoscope, Geoff and Maria Muldaur and played cimbalom with Ry Cooder at Carnegie Hall. Stu appeared in the Los Angeles production of Ghetto, the San Francisco production of Shlemiel the First, and performs frequently in ethnic music specialty roles for TV and film. A founding member of Los Angeles' Ellis Island Band, he has been a moving force in the Klezmer revival since its beginning. He produced The Klezmorim's Grammy nominated album, "Metropolis." He toured with the Yiddisher Caravan, a federally funded Yiddish folklife show, and has performed with The Klezmorim, Kapelye, Andy Statman, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Davka, The San Francisco Klezmer Experience, Khevrisa, Itzhak Perlman, Brave Old World, and Veretski Pass.

Henri Ducharme represents a new generation of accordionists exploring the instrument’s possibilities in modern and classical music. Recent performances include Adventures Underground, with the S. F. Symphony, Four Saints in Three Acts with the Mark Morris Dance Company. He also directs Accordion Works, an eighteen member Bay Area Accordion ensemble, teaches privately from his studio in West Oakland, and offers classes such as the Punk Rock Accordion Workshop.

Kaila Flexer (www.kailaflexer.com) is a violinist of music from all around the Mediterranean Sea. Having made the transition herself from classically trained to now performing music of the world, she has a soft spot for helping other musicians do the same, teaching improvisation, composition, and folk process to all, especially beginners. She is composer, producer and Artistic Director of Worldview Cultural Performances, an Oakland-based non-profit arts organization. She is best-known locally for having founded and produced Klezmer Mania!, a much-loved annual Bay Area Jewish music event for over 10 years (1989-2002). As a composer, her work reflects her deep respect for folk music, while showcasing her ability to forge new and expansive musical landscapes. She has performed both nationally internationally with her own ensembles as well as with groups including The Hollis Taylor-Kaila Flexer Duo , The Flexer-Marshall Duo, Club Foot Orchestra, The Composer's Cafeteria, The Bay Area Jazz Composer's Orchestra and KITKA (Bulgarian Women's Vocal Ensemble). She has recorded two CD's of original music for Compass Records (Nashville) to critical acclaim. Flexer, along with collaborating organization The Crowden School, were recipients of a 2005-2006 Creative Work Fund grant.

Dorrit Geshuri has studied and played klezmer for over 10 years and is the founder the Bay Area klezmer band “The Village Yiddiots”. Her mentors include Josh Horowitz, Cookie Segelstein (Budowitz, Veretski Pass) and Jeanette Lewicki (Klez X). In an age when so much music is created as a commodity, she has turned to a folk music tradition that was meant to accompany life’s activities. Many klezmer tunes were played for specific events such as weddings, or played in the streets by wandering musicians – their melodies wafting into people’s homes. Dorrit dreams of a world where live music once again infuses our daily routines.

Lou Jacklich began playing the accordion when he was 6 years old, and started playing professionally for Vaudeville at age 12. He joined the Navy during the Korean War and started a band and entertained his comrades. The next eight years were spent as a member of the Navy's Active Reserve. He was the owner of a music studio in Castro Valley for approximately ten years, and was a Capitol Record recording artist.

Sarah Noll has performed with an eclectic mix of groups ranging from a cappella "Mouth Music" to Zimbabwean music and dance ensembles, to the silent art of pantomime. She was trained classically as a musician, received a master's degree in piano, and then began to work with dancers. While living in NYC she studied voice, dance, mime, and was a founding member of the theater group, “Orange Thoughts.” She currently teaches music and movement to children and has a passion for the accordion realized recently in her collaboration with Henri Ducharme and participation with “Accordion Works” and “Discordion.”

Keith Terry (http://www.crosspulse.com/html/aboutkt.html) is a body percussionist extraordinaire. I have been to some of his workshops and have learned more about rhythm through his body percussion than I have playing accordion. His work encompasses a number of allied performance disciplines music, dance, theater, performance art which he brings together to create an artistic vision that defies easy categorization. He is probably best known for his solo works, which toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia — from the Serious Fun Festival at Lincoln Center, the Bumbershoot Festival at the Seattle Opera House, the Colorado Dance Festival, New York's Dance Theater Workshop and Wolftrap to the American Center in Paris, the Bali Arts Festival, the Regency in Hong Kong, the Vienna Dance Festival, the Budapest Spring Festival and the Paradiso van Slag World Drum Festival in Amsterdam. He has also collaborated extensively with other artists, including the Pickle Family Circus, Robin Williams, Tex Williams, Bobby McFerrin, Charles "Honi" Coles, Tandy Beal, Blondell Cummings, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Geoff Hoyle, the Bobs, Skip Blumberg, the Turtle Island String Quartet, Alex De Grassi, Linda Tillery, Kenny Endo, the original Jazz Tap Ensemble, San Jose Taiko and the Oakland Youth Chorus.