We proudly present the winner and runners-up in the Yiddish Summer Weimar Birthday Song Concert with their songs (Song Contest Results) as well as the great Yiddish singer and teacher Arkady Gendler performing his original song "Zumer Weimar" (Video).
Preparations are underway for Winter Edition 2011 (January 22 – February 6) and Yiddish Summer 2011, exact dates and topics to be announced soon.
Starting mid-September, the OMA is being renovated, starting on the ground floor with walls, new floors, windows and the cafeteria. Following Winter Edition 2011 work will begin on the roof and the remaining windows.

Hard to believe, but Yiddish Summer Weimar 2010 now belongs to history. Teachers and students are back home again, inspired and exhausted. Many new students, teachers and friends joined the YSW extended community and will accompany us in the future. The Gala Evening celebrating our first 10 years was a great success: Lord Mayor Stefan Wolf played clarinet, Prof. Dr. Christoph Stölzl, the new president of the Musikhochschule Franz Liszt, accompanied dance music on bass. A film about The Other Europeans by 1meter60 Film was deeply moving, as was Georg Brinkman's birthday song for Yiddish Summer, "Here in Weimar." We all danced, laughed, cried a little. Finally it feels that we've both reached the end of an wonderful, thrilling era, and stand at the very beginning of something new and unknown. Where will the next 10 years lead us?

Yidishkayt – the world that embraces klezmer music, Yiddish song, dance, gesture, humor, language, history and culture. Join an international community of artists, scholars and participants in Weimar this summer and explore the depths and nuances of Yiddish expressivity with your heart, mind and body (with your ears, too).

Created and directed by Dr. Alan Bern, the Yiddish Summer Weimar experience has the power to change people's lives with its unique intensity, high artistic and intellectual standards and passionately engaged teachers and students who challenge boundaries through a deeply personal encounter with Yiddish tradition and with each other.

Team-teaching, individual and ensemble coaching, master classes, concerts, outdoor jam sessions in Weimar's cafés, dance balls, Zmiros singing tables and many other special events are on the program this summer, as always. But there are many innovations, too. In honor of our 10th anniversary and the special topic "Yidishkayt," the Yiddish Summer Weimar 2010 workshops are deeper, more comprehensive and more tailored to the different backgrounds of participants than ever before.

We invite you to explore our program on this site and hope to meet or meet again this summer in a workshop, concert, jam session, or another event of Yiddish Summer Weimar 2010.

Dr. Alan Bern
Director, Yiddish Summer Weimar