Zisl Slepovitch joined IIJS on Thursday, October 15, 2026, for a discussion on the Jewish fiddle in pre-World War II southeastern Belarus from Sofia Magid’s collection.
Sofia Magid’s recordings of Jewish musicians in Volyn and southeastern Belarus made between 1928-38, constitute one of a kind document that preserves and conveys styles and repertoire of Jewish instrumentalists and folk singers, of various age groups, professional, semiprofessional, and amateur alike. Following publication of these pieces’ transcriptions done by D. Zisl Slepovitch, this presentation is the first attempt to systematize this relatively small but uniquely important collection.
D. Zisl Slepovitch, born and raised in Minsk, Belarus, a New Yorker since 2008; he is a Jewish music scholar (PhD, Belarusian State Academy of Music), a sought-after classical, klezmer, and improvised music performer (woodwinds, keyboards), conductor, music producer, band leader, educator (music, Yiddish language), composer/arranger, and a musician-actor. He is a founding member of the Litvakus klezmer band, a Musician-in-Residence at the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University, a pianist and music coordinator at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue (NYC), and a frequent contributor to the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYC). His critically acclaimed credits include Musical Treasures from Sofia Magid's Jewish Collection (music folios series), Songs from Testimonies with the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble and Sasha Lurje (3 albums), Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (off-Broadway, cast album), Defiance (movie), and more. @zislepovitch http://DmitriSlepovitch.com
The lecture is available to view in full below.
Supported by the generosity of the Kaye and Radov families.
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