Roman Grinberg
Roman Grinberg , Russian Рома́н Ихи́льевич Гри́нберг (born 1962 in Bălți , Moldavian SSR ) is an Austrian artist and musician .
Life
Roman Grinberg was born in 1962 as the second of four children to a Jewish family of musicians. Father Ychiel was an active klezmer musician, mother Rima-Rivke taught music. Roman Grinberg received his first piano lessons at the age of five at the music school in Bălți .
In 1972 the family emigrated to Israel , where the children continued to teach music from their parents. After almost three years in Israel, the family moved to Vienna , where Roman Grinberg studied clarinet with Roger Salander at the Vienna Conservatory . This was followed by vocal studies with Mayerhofer and Maurer, as well as jazz organ with Rudi Wilfer and saxophone with Thomas Kugi.
With his father and brother Anatolij he began to make music at Jewish weddings and bar mitzvas at the age of 15 . After the death of his father, he and his brother founded the band Frejlech in 1983 , with whom he still plays actively in the Viennese Jewish community.
Roman Grinberg has been intensively involved with Jewish music since his earliest youth. These include his own compositions, traditional klezmer music and " Yiddish - Jazz ", a musical genre that he founded the first in Vienna and in which he already enjoyed great success on numerous international concert and festival stages. He is particularly fond of the old Yiddish songs, which he arranges and presents in his own versions with a lot of humor and empathy. Despite his unmistakably deep roots in the music of his people, Grinberg is not just a conservator of this music, but is always on the lookout for new challenges and collaborations with artists from different genres.
It is not least thanks to his active stage presence that Jewish music “Made in Austria” can be heard worldwide. At the invitation of the Austrian embassies and cultural forums alone, he made guest appearances with his formations and various programs in Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Poland, the Republic of Moldova, Israel, the USA and Venezuela. So far, he has toured 48 countries with his concerts.
Apart from his own busy concert career, his current activities include the following areas:
- Head of the Vienna Jewish Choir www.wjchor.at
- Director of the Yiddish Culture Festival Vienna www.yiddish.at
- Director of the European Jewish Choirs Festival www.euajc.com
- Artistic direction of the Vienna Klezmer Orchestra www.klezmerorchester.at
Roman Grinberg devotes his entire professional life's work to reducing resentment and the fight against anti-Semitism, exclusion and xenophobia. With his music, as part of his specially founded cultural initiative KuBiK - Association for Art, Education and Communication - among other things in schools, churches, but also village communities, he encourages people to approach one another through bridges he builds and to understand one another better . The young generation is particularly important to him, and so he focuses on the task of bringing young people from different origins and cultures together in order to sing and make music together.
On July 21, 2018 and April 18, 2020, he was the focus of an episode of the ORF series Religions of the World .
Roman Grinberg has been Austria's representative in the European Jewish Parliament based in Brussels since 2012 and is involved in the culture committee there.
Act
Roman Grinberg works as a composer , arranger , singer and pianist . He is also known in the international Jewish art scene as a performer and musical director for theater productions. Over the years he wrote a large number of compositions, produced and staged music theater and worked with greats from the international Jewish art and culture scene, including Joshua Sobol on the new production of his production "Ghetto" at the Klagenfurt City Theater.
| 1977-1983 | Participation in the father's Klezmer band as a pianist |
| running since 1983 | Various Klezmer groups - artistic director, since then international concert activity in this genre |
| running since 1986 | Various solo programs - Jewish music & humor |
| running since 1989 | Yiddish jazz presented for the first time in Austria, since then international concert activity in this genre |
| 1991-2013 | Jewish street festival of the Kultusgemeinde - artistic direction of the largest Jewish event in Austria |
| running since 1995 | Actor at various theaters, on TV and in the cinema |
| 1998-2004 | Cultural Commission of the IKG Vienna - artistic advisor |
| ongoing since 2002 | Direction of the Vienna Jewish Choir , since then international concert activities with the choir |
| running since 2004 | Vocal coaching at Yiddish festivals, Yiddish workshops and theater productions |
| 2009-2011 | Jewish theater "Mischpoche" - artistic direction |
| ongoing since 2010 | KlezMetropol - Jewish music with a big band sound - artistic direction |
| 2009-2014 | Yiddish Cultural Autumn Vienna - artistic advisor |
| running since 2012 | Austria's representative in the European Jewish Parliament , member of the culture commission |
| running since 2013 | European Jewish Choirs Festival - artistic director |
| ongoing since 2014 | European Association of Jewish Choirs - Vice President and Artistic Director |
| ongoing since 2015 | Vienna Klezmer Orchestra - artistic and personal direction |
| ongoing since 2017 | Yiddish Culture Festival Vienna - artistic director |
| ongoing since 2019 | Head of Yiddish singing courses at the VHS Vienna in the Jewish Institute for Adult Education |
Awards
In the course of his professional life, the artist has already received more than 20 international diplomas, prizes and awards, including the coveted Golden Menorah 2011 in Birobidzan for his extraordinary contribution to international understanding between Jews and non-Jews.
In 2019, he received the highest award that Austrian Jewry has to bestow for his work: the Great Gold Medal of Honor of the Federal Association of Jewish Communities as "Fighter for justice, reconciliation between nations and human dignity". The President of the IKG awarded him the honorary title of "Ambassador of Judaism".
Festivals
Concerts at international festivals in various formations.
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Theater and film
Roman Grinberg worked as an actor, musical director, Yiddish coach and producer in the following productions:
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Discography
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Individual evidence
Web links
| personal data | |
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| SURNAME | Grinberg, Roman |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Гри́нберг, Рома́н Ихи́льевич |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian artist and musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1962 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bălți , Moldovan SSR |