Klezmer band part of Rock to Bach Music Festival Jan. 26

One of the groups that will perform at the third Oak Ridge Rock to Bach Music Festival on Saturday, Jan. 26, at Pollard Auditorium is the Dor L’Dor Klezmer Band.

“Your father would love us,” said band member Ken Brown. “But we’re not your father’s klezmer band.”

The band features a singer and eight other performers on three trombones, clarinet, mandolin, piano, bass, and drums. The group plays jazz, waltzes, and slow dancing tunes, as well as klezmer music (including a klezmerized version of “Stars and Stripes Forever”).

Klezmer music was originated centuries ago by Eastern European Jews. The music, often played at weddings, consists of expressive melodies, reminiscent of the human voice, complete with laughing and weeping.

In the United States, the genre evolved considerably as Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, who arrived between 1880 and 1924, met and assimilated American jazz into their traditional music.

Dor L’Dor is a multi-generational klezmer band based in Knoxville, “that international city famous for its yiddishkeit,” said Brown. “While we’re deeply rooted in the klezmer tradition, we have branched into other traditions as well.”

“Rock to Bach” is an all-day music festival presented by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association as a benefit for ORCMA music organizations, such as the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

More than a dozen groups will perform rock, pop, blues, bluegrass, folk, jazz, gospel, Big Band, swing, klezmer, and classical music.

Other performing groups are Greg Tardy and the Mark Boling Trio (blues, jazz); Early Bird Special Band (rock ‘n roll, gospel, folk); Ridge City Ramblers (bluegrass, folk, gospel); Little Big Band (swing); Oak Ridge Suzuki Strings (pop, bluegrass, classical); University of Tennessee Trombone Choir (classical, pop); and the Tanasi Winds, a woodwind quintet that performs popular and classical music.

Other performing groups will feature Dan Allcott, ORSO conductor, and students of Karen Kartal, ORSO concertmaster, and her husband Ihsan Kartal, principal cellist with ORSO.

The performances will be in two venues: the auditorium and in the lobby. Each presentation will be approximately 25 minutes long. This event will be staffed entirely by volunteer workers, and all performers are volunteering their talents.

The festival will include a silent auction. Coffee, tea, water, and soda pop, along with homemade baked goods and snack foods in packages, will be sold by ORCMA volunteers. Lunch and dinner will be catered.

The cost of the festival is $12 per person and $30 for a family of 3 or more people. Children 12 years old and under will be admitted for free.

Attendees receiving a hand stamp may leave and return as they please during the daylong festival. For more information, call the ORCMA office at (865) 483-5569 and visit the ORCMA website at www.orcma.org.