Joel Rubin

Joel Rubin (born October 14, 1955 in Los Angeles ) is an American clarinetist and klezmer musician .

Life

Joel Rubin is considered to be one of the leading interpreters of Eastern European Jewish instrumental music ( klezmer ). His admirers and patrons include important klezmer musicians such as clarinetists Dave Tarras and Max Epstein, as well as clarinet virtuoso Richard Stoltzman, avant-garde composer John Zorn and Nobel laureate and poet Roald Hoffmann . Rubin studied with Stoltzman and Kalmen Opperman, attended the California Institute of the Arts and graduated from the State University of New York at Purchase with a "BFA". He received his PhD from City University London for his work in ethnomusicology on improvisation and ornamentation in the klezmer clarinet. He has taught at Humboldt University Berlin , Cornell University , Syracuse University , Ithaca College and is currently Assistant Professor and Director of Music Performance in the McIntire Department of Music at the University of Virginia .

Besides appearances with traditional musicians like the Epstein Brothers ("A Tickle in the Heart"), Moshe "Moussa" Berlin, Leon Schwartz, Sid Beckerman, Pete Sokolow, Danny Rubinstein, Ben Bazyler and Leopold Kozlowski, he also worked with the Seymour Rexsite and Miriam Kressyn, two actors and singers from the Yiddish theater and film. Rubin has directed the international Joel Rubin Ensemble (also known as Joel Rubin Jewish Music Ensemble, USA / Hungary / Italy) since 1994 and founded several successful klezmer ensembles, including the group Brave Old World. Members of the Joel Rubin Ensemble include Kálmán Balogh (cimbalom), David Chernyavsky (violin) and Claudio Jacomucci (accordion). His CD recordings “Midnight Prayer” (2007), “Beregovski's Khasene” (Beregovski's Wedding, 1997), “Bessarabian Symphony” (1994), “Zeydes un Eyniklekh” (grandfathers and grandchildren, 1995) and “Hungry Hearts” (1998 ) are considered to be masterpieces of classical Eastern European and American-Jewish music. His music can be heard in the award-winning documentary about the Epstein Brothers Orchestra, “A Tickle in the Heart” (BRD / Switzerland / USA 1996), a film based on his research and the treatment / book that he collaborated with the author, editor and ethnomusicologist Rita Ottens and the filmmaker Stefan Schwietert wrote. Rubin's concert career extends to Europe, North America and Asia; Master classes and workshops led him a. a. to the New England Conservatory of Music , Yale University , and, at the invitation of the Knowledge Ministries of Israel and Berlin, to Jerusalem and Berlin. In 2004 he taught with Opperman and Stoltzman at the Clarinet Summit.

Rubin wrote, together with Rita Ottens, the books Klezmer Music (Bärenreiter / dtv, 1999) and Jewish Music Traditions (Gustav Bosse-Verlag, 2001). From 1993 to 2008, together with Ottens, he also published the Jewish Music Series with CDs for the Wergo label of the Schott publishing house in Mainz. Her Klezmer trilogy at Trikont Verlag ( Yikhes , 1991; Doyres , 1995 and Shteygers , 1995) is considered a standard work. His sheet music Mazltov! Jewish-American Wedding Music for Clarinet (Schott Musik International) was published in 1998.

List of publications

Books

Jewish music traditions , with Rita Ottens. Gustav Bosse Verlag, 2001.
Klezmer music , with Rita Ottens. Bärenreiter and dtv, 1999.
Mazltov! Jewish-American Wedding Music for Clarinet . Schott Music International, 1998.

Editions

Reports from the international academic conference "Hearing Israel: Music, Culture and History at 60". Jerusalem: Min-Ad. Israel Studies in Musicology Vol. 7 Number II (2008-09), available online with James Loeffler .

Book chapter

Rubin, Joel E. “Like a string of pearls”: Brass instruments in Jewish instrumental klezmer music. In: Studies in Jazz 58: Early Twentieth-Century Brass Idioms: Art, Jazz, and Other Popular Traditions , ed. Howard T. Weiner. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press 2009: 77-102.
Rubin, Joel E. "They danced it, we played it": Adaptation and revitalization in post-1920s New York klezmer music. In: Studies in Jewish Civilization 19: "I Will Sing and Make Music": Jewish Music and Musicians Throughout the Ages . Eds. Leonard J. Greenspoon, Ronald A. Simkins, and Jean Cahan. Omaha: Creighton University Press, 2008: 181-213.
Rubin, Joel E. Heyser Bulgar (The Spirited Bulgar): Compositional process in Jewish-American dance music of the 1910s and 1920s. In: Jewish Music and its Musicians in the 20th Century , Eds. Wolfgang Birtel, Joseph Dorfman and Christoph-Hellmut Mahling. Writings on musicology (Musicological Institute of the University of Mainz). Mainz: ARE Musikverlag (2006).
Rubin, Joel E. Ambivalent Identities: The American Klezmer Movement in Response to Crisis and Trauma. In: Reports from the ICTM National Committee Germany XIII: Traditional Music and Mode (n) - Free Reports , Ed. Marianne Bröcker. Bamberg: University Library, 2004: 89-115.
Rubin, Joel E. “In the center of an ancient ritual”: The clarinet in Klezmer music. In: Fascination Clarinet . Munich / Berlin: Prestel Verlag / Musikinstrumenten-Museum, 2004: 219-230.
Ruby, Joel. "Can't You Play Anything Jewish?" Klezmer Music and Jewish Socialization in Post-War America. In: Jewish literature and culture in Great Britain and the USA after 1945 , Ed. Beate Neumeier. Jewish culture, studies on religion, intellectual history and culture 3, Ed. Karl. E. Grozinger. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1998: 189-219.
Rubin, Joel and Rita Ottens. Klezmer Research in Eastern Europe: Then and Now. In: Jews and Anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe , Eds. Mariana Hausleitner and Monika Katz. No. 5 in the series of multidisciplinary publications of the Eastern European Institute of the Free University of Berlin. Harrassowitz Verlag, 1995: 177-193.

items

Rubin, Joel E. “What A Jew Means in This Time”: Naftule Brandwein, Dave Tarras and the Shifting Aesthetics in the Contemporary Klezmer Landscape, in: Proceedings of the 2007 Conney Conference on Jewish Arts. Practicing Jews: Art, Identity, and Culture . Published online by University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries' Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing in collaboration with Wendt Library (2009). Available online
Rubin, Joel E. “Music is the Pen of the Soul”: Recent Works on Hasidic and Jewish Instrumental Klezmer Music. AJS Review 29: 1, Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies, 2005: 145-158.
Rubin, Joel E. Jewish Diaspora. In: Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World , Volume VII, eds. John Shepherd et al., London: Continuum, 2005: 74-92.
Ottens, Rita in collaboration with Joel E. Rubin. “Sounds of the Vanishing World: Yiddish Music in Contemporary Germany”, in web-based proceedings, “Sounds of Two Worlds: Music as a Mirror of Migration to and from Germany” conference, Max Kade Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2004 and available online
Ruby, Joel. Klezmer: The Lost Archive of Moyshe Beregovski. In: World Music. In: The Rough Guide: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific , Volume Two of the New Edition, London: Rough Guides, 2000: 587.
Ruby, Joel. Rumenishe shtiklekh (Romanian pieces). Klezmer music among the Hasidim in contemporary Israel. Judaism (Issue 185, Volume 47, Winter 1998): 12-23.
Ruby, Joel. "Alts nemt zikh fun der doyne" (Everything comes from the doina). The Romanian-Jewish Doina. A Closer Stylistic Examination. In: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Jewish Music , City University, London, April 1994. (London: City University, 1997): 133-164.

Reviews and other writings

Book review on Max P. Baumann, Tim Becker and Raphael Woebs, Music and Culture in Contemporary Jewish Life, Berlin: Frank & Timme, 2006. PaRDeS. Journal of the Association for Jewish Studies V. 14 (2008).
Book review on American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots, Ed. Mark Slobin. Journal of the American Musicological Society 60 (1) (Spring 2007): 238-253.
CD review for Klezmer: Café Jew Zoo (Yale Strom) and Klezmer Suite: Music of Sid Robinovitch. Journal of the Society for American Music 1 (4) (Nov 2007): 546-553.
Book review on Jane Mink Rossen and Uri Sharvit, A Fusion of Traditions: Liturgical Music in the Copenhagen Synagogue, Odense M: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2006. Yearbook for Traditional Music 39 (2007): 178-181.
CD reviews for The Western Sephardi Liturgical Tradition As Sung by Abraham Lopes Cardozo, The Hasidic Niggun As Sung by the Hasidim and Oh, Lovely Parrot! Jewish Women's Songs from Kerala. Yearbook for Traditional Music vol. 38 (2006): 142-43.
Book review on Georg Winkler, Klezmer. Features, structures and tendencies of a music-cultural phenomenon . Song and Popular Culture. Yearbook of the German Folk Song Archive 49 (2004): 285–321 (in English, with Rita Ottens).
The Blessing over Coca-Cola: Between Secularity and Transcendence. Sh'ma (September 2005 / Tishrei 5766): 10-11.
David Kaufman video review, The New Klezmorim: Voices Inside the Revival of Yiddish Music. Ethnomusicology 47 (2) (Spring / Summer 2003): 284-286.
Book review on Yaacov Mazor, The Klezmer Tradition in the Land of Israel, Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, The Jewish Music Research Center, 2000. Yearbook for Traditional Music 34 (2002): 207–208.
Book review on Walter Salmen , "... because the fiddle makes the party". Jewish musicians and dancers from the 13th to the 20th century. Innsbruck, Edition Helbling 1991 . Musica Judaica, Journal of the American Society for Jewish Music , New York, vol. 13 (5755 / 1993-94): 98-108.
Book review on Walter Salmen, "... because the fiddle makes the festival." Jewish musicians and dancers from the 13th to the 20th century. Jewish Folklore and Ethnology Review , vol. 13, no. 2 (1991): 23-24.

Recordings

Single recordings

Joel Rubin / Uri Caine Duo. Azoy Tsu Tsveyt , Tzadik, 2011.
Joel Rubin Ensemble featuring Rabbi Eli Silberstein. Nign of Reb Mendel: Hasidic Songs in Yiddish , Traditional Crossroads, 2010.
Joel Rubin Ensemble. Midnight Prayer , Traditional Crossroads, 2007.
Brave Old World. Klezmer Music , Flying Fish Records, 1991.
Joel Rubin Klezmer Band. Brave Old World , Global Village, 1988.

Jewish Music Series

Aneinu (Answer Us): Hasidic-Orthodox Music from the Festival of the Torah in Jerusalem (Moussa Berlin Ensemble), Schott Wergo, 2008.
Shalom Comrade !: Yiddish Music in the Soviet Union 1928-1961 , Schott Wergo, 2005.
Di eybike mame (The Eternal Mother): Women in Yiddish Theater and Popular Song 1906-1929 , Schott Wergo, 2003.
Cantor Isaac Algazi: Sweet Singer of Israel. Ottoman Jewish Music from the Early 20th Century , Schott Wergo, in collaboration with Prof. Edwin Seroussi and the Renanot Institute for Jewish Music, Schott Wergo, 2002.
Oytsres (Treasures): Klezmer Music 1908-1996 , Schott Wergo, 1999.
Joel Rubin. Hungry Hearts: Classic Yiddish Clarinet Solos of the 1920s , Schott Wergo, 1998.
Joel Rubin Jewish Music Ensemble. Beregovski's Khasene (Beregovski's Wedding): Forgotten Instrumental Treasures from the Ukraine , Schott Wergo, 1997.
The Epstein Brothers Orchestra. Kings of Freylekh Land: A Century of Yiddish-American Music , Schott Wergo, 1995.
Joel Rubin with the Epstein Brothers Orchestra. Zeydes un Eyniklekh (Grandfathers and Grandsons): American-Jewish Wedding Music from the Repertoire of Dave Tarras , Schott Wergo, 1995.
Rubin and Horowitz. Bessarabian Symphony: Early Jewish Instrumental Music , Schott Wergo, 1994.
Jüdische Lebenswelten / Patterns of Jewish Life: Highlights from the Concert Serles “Traditional and Popular Jewish Music” Berlin 1992 , Schott Wergo, 1993.

Trikont Klezmer trilogy

Yikhes (Lineage): Early Klezmer Recordings 1911-1939 , Trikont, 1996 [ Yikhes: Early Klezmer Recordings from 1908-1939 , Trikont, 1991]
Doyres (Generations): Traditional Klezmer Recordings 1979-1994 , Trikont, 1995.
Shteygers (Ways). New Klezmer Music 1991-1994 , Trikont, 1995.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Ruby, Joel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Rubin, Joel E.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American clarinetist and klezmer musician
DATE OF BIRTH	October 14, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH	los Angeles