The Age Of Klezmer

Clarinetist Joshua Hoffman, left, and his son, Solomon, at right with accordion, are part of the Port Washington Intergenerational Klezmer Band.

Clarinetist Joshua Hoffman, left, and his son, Solomon, at right with accordion, are part of the Port Washington Intergenerational Klezmer Band.

by Linda Saslow
Special To The Jewish Week

As a boy of 6, when Solomon Hoffman banged on the drums during a rehearsal of a newly formed klezmer band in a local synagogue, he never dreamed that 10 years later he would not only be an integral member of that band but at 16, its musical director.

But for Hoffman, who just completed his junior year at Schreiber High School in the North Shore town of Port Washington, it’s been all about his love for music — all types.

Within the music department of his high school, Hoffman is well known. He plays clarinet in the band, piano in the jazz band, is part of the orchestra for school musicals, and sings in the choir. As a classical composer, his pieces

have been performed by the New York Philharmonic and at the Kennedy Center, and he has won numerous awards and honors — including from the prestigious Juilliard music school. But his special passion is for klezmer.

“I think of it as the music my great-grandparents listened to in their villages,” he said.

In 1997 Temple Beth Israel in Port Washington received a UJA-Federation of New York grant to bring Jewish music into the synagogue. One of the first things the synagogue did with the funds was to start a klezmer band, soon after holding a concert featuring The Klezmatics, a group that helped lead the klezmer revival in the 1980s and ‘90s.

As Joshua Hoffman, Solomon’s father, recalled, “My kids really enjoyed the concert, and the next fall when a neighbor mentioned the [temple] band and encouraged us to join, Solomon and I went to their next rehearsal.”

The elder Hoffman had studied clarinet as a youngster and had played occasionally over the years, but decided to take lessons to be better able to participate in the band. His son followed a few months later with lessons, and has since also learned the piano and taught himself to play the accordion, which is his instrument of choice in the intergenerational klezmer band.

Ken Maltz, a veteran klezmer clarinetist who has worked with the Port Washington group, explained the importance of klezmer, both as a personal and communal expression.

“As a Jew, klezmer music comes straight from my heart,” Maltz said. “It is the language of my soul. It speaks not only of my own experiences but of those of my people. It’s very personal and very communal at the same time.

“Having had numerous opportunities over the past 30 years to instruct many students in this art, I feel that I have helped to preserve an important part of our culture that was so close to being forgotten.”
The Port Washington Klezmer band, which began with 10 members, has varied over the years from seven to 12 participants, ranging in age from 12 to 50-plus. Two-hour weekly rehearsals are held every Thursday evening, where age evaporates and is overpowered by a shared love for Klezmer music.
Ethan Usoskin, 12, and the youngest member of the band, was recruited by the senior Hoffman after seeing his performance on the clarinet in a high school talent show.

“I like klezmer because it’s a different style of music than I’ll ever play in school,” Usoskin said.
For the junior Hoffman, when money ran out to pay a professional musical director, he assumed the role. “I wanted to do anything I could to keep the music going,” he admitted.

Maltz has been impressed by Hoffman’s leadership.

“Learning to lead an ensemble is a difficult task,” he said. “In addition to acquiring a very specialized set of skills, one in this position has to gain the respect of the members of the group — not always an easy task, especially when the band contains so many peers. The band members look to Solomon as an authority and their leader.”

The klezmer band has played at local senior citizen centers, at the Chanukah party of the Port Washington Yacht Club and at synagogues in Manhattan. One of Hoffman’s personal favorite events is Mitzvah Day at the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore, where he is a member. Every year, in partnership with Project Ezra, senior citizens from the Lower East Side of Manhattan are invited for lunch and entertainment. The entertainment, naturally, is the klezmer band.

“The music is so lively, that it gets them up dancing,” Hoffman explained.

Which is what klezmer has always been about.

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