Klezmer Conservatory Band

The centuries-old tradition of klezmer music, originally played by itinerant Jewish musicians in eastern Europe, is extended by saxophonist, pianist and composer Hankus Netsky and his group, the Klezmer Conservatory Band. With songs sung in Yiddish, the band incorporates a wide range of influences into their Jewish dance music.



The Klezmer Conservatory Band was formed by Netsky, chairman of the jazz studies department at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 1980. The grandson and nephew of klezmer musicians of the 1920s, Netsky was inspired by informal jam sessions of Irish music to attempt something similar with klezmer music. Although the Klezmer Conservatory Band was originally intended for a one-time concert, the response to their performance was so favorable that the group became a permanent ensemble. Many of the band members were recruited from the New England Conservatory of Music's Third Stream department. While New York-born lead vocalist Judy Bressler was a third-generation performer of Jewish music, most of the musicians came from a background of jazz or folk music.

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