Klez Fest Midwest Events
Klez Fest Midwest
October 23-26, 2025 and March 19, 2026
All events are free and open to the public
Featuring klezmer clarinet virtuoso David Krakauer
Venues:
North Street Cabaret, 610 North Street, Madison
Lee/Kaufman Rehearsal Hall and Collins Recital Hall
Located in the Hamel Music Center
740 University Avenue, Madison
Thursday, October 23
7 pm: Local bands Tsuzamen and Yid Vicious
North Street Cabaret
610 North Street, Madison, WI
Saturday, October 25
4 pm: Lecture/demo by David Krakauer
David Krakauer presents a musical and personal journey through klezmer.
Lee/Kaufman Rehearsal Hall
Hamel Music Center
7:30 pm: SoundWaves, sponsored by the Wisconsin Science Festival
Scales: Atomic and Klezmer
Gaze into the world of the unimaginably small with an evening exploring the atomic scale. What is quantum computing and how does it work? How do atoms in metals organize themselves into hierarchies? As part of Klez Fest Midwest, this special SoundWaves event will feature more live music than ever, with the duo of Krakauer & Tagg, featuring brilliant klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer and pianist Kathleen Tagg, performing and explaining what gives klezmer music its characteristic style and sound (it’s all in the scales!).
Swamit Tannu, computer sciences
Danny Fredrickson, chemistry
Daniel Grabois, music
With special musical guests David Krakauer (clarinet) and Kathleen Tagg (piano)
Collins Recital Hall
Hamel Music Center
Sunday, October 26
11 am: Children’s concert with ELM Duo
Our father-daughter duet has been performing together for over a decade. We are: the award-winning vocalist and fiddle champion Eleanor Mayerfeld (the EL in Elm Duo) and the guitarist and prize-winning composer Mike Bell (the M in Elm Duo). We like to call our style folk cabaret, an eclectic blend of acoustic music from bluegrass to jazz to klezmer and more.
Lee/Kaufman Rehearsal Hall
Hamel Music Center
2 pm: Showcase Concert, David Krakauer’s Lower East Side Legacy
Collins Recital Hall
Hamel Music Center
March 19, 2026
7:30 pm: Laura Elkeslassy and her band
Ya Ghorbati: Divas in Exile
Singer Laura Elkeslassy and her band present the songs and stories of Judeo-Arab divas from midcentury North Africa
Collins Recital Hall
Hamel Music Center
