Mike Perlmutter has been performing klezmer, Balkan, and ceremonial Jewish music on saxophone and clarinet for over twenty years with groups such as Saul Goodman’s Klezmer Band, Inspector Gadje, Zoyres Eastern European Wild Ferment, and the Chochmat Halev Sacred Music Ensemble. He's an active community music organizer, and served four years on the Board of Directors for KlezCalifornia.
Outside of music he works for the City of Oakland supporting volunteer initiatives to clean, green, and beautify Oakland. He's also known for his pickling. |
Dave Rosenfeld brings a wealth of expression to Saul Goodman's Klezmer Band. Dave plays violin, mandolin, bass, and percussion with the group, and also leads traditional dance and performs as a bod'chn (traditional Yiddish wedding jester and master of ceremonies). Dave's bod'chn performance also incorporates juggling, comedy, and improvisation. Dave teaches klezmer classes and workshops, and has played in klezmer bands such as Kugelplex and the Freylachmakers Klezmer String Band. Dave holds a B.A. in Studio Art from UC Davis and an M.A. in Music Composition from Mills College. For more on Dave, visit www.creativityisvital.com. |
Dmitri Gaskin is an accomplished accordion player, composer, and arranger specializing in klezmer and Romanian folk music. He performs with several klezmer bands throughout California, most notably with Saul Goodman's Klezmer Band. Dmitri has also performed and taught at several music festivals, including KlezKalifornia.
Dmitri won the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award for a contemporary classical composition. He also formed Harmonikos, a performing collective of young composers and musicians. Dmitri studied accordion with Josh Horowitz and Alan Bern. |
Dan Cantrell is an Emmy award winning composer known for his innovative and evocative film and theatre scoring approach, as well as his virtuosic accordion, piano and musical saw performance. He holds a BFA degree from CalArts where he majored in Composition and Piano performance. Dan is a self taught master of the accordion, excelling at Balkan, Romani, Eastern European, and klezmer styles. In recent years, Dan has performed and recorded with Tom Waits, Joanna Newsom, Beats Antique, Bono, Danny Elfman, members of the Klezmatics and Fishbone. Dan’s broad ranging musical portfolio, including compositions for video games, cartoons, film, television, web broadcast, and self-produced albums can be heard at www.bellowhead.com
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Ilana Sherer is the best klezmer violin playing pediatrician in the Bay Area, at least she thinks. She has studied classical violin since age five, and began to perform klezmer as a member and then band leader of Yarmulkazi while at Brown University. She spent many years in Philadelphia where she played with various East Coast groups and organized a monthly community klezmer jam.
She spends her days (and nights) as a pediatrician who specializes in transgender youth. Click to read more about Ilana. |
Eric Perney is a virtuosic and versatile bassist. He studied classical and jazz at the University of Michigan with Stuart Sankey and Rodney Whitaker. Eric is a founding member of the bands Transmission and Gojogo. He plays with many Bay Area bands and can be heard on Tom Waits’ “Alice,” “Orphans,” and the soundtracks to “Shrek 2” and “La Tigre e la Neve.”
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Ivan Velev's tapan playing, like his spirit, is joyous and playful. He's also a charismatic Balkan folk dance leader. Originally from Bulgaria, he brings a deep love and connection to Eastern European music and dance traditions and always makes it FUN!
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Jonathan Simon performs as an orchestral percussionist, on drum set, and as a xylophone soloist. Jonathan is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied classical percussion with Michael Rosen and electronic music with Gary Lee Nelson, as well as the New World School of the Arts and the Interlochen Center for the Arts where he studied classical percussion with Keith Aleo. Jonathan has performed and recorded with Bay Area groups including the Magik*Magik Orchestra, Zoyres, Gojogo, Contare Con Vivo, the SF Wind Symphony, and the Saul Goodman Klezmer Band. Jonathan is the co-founder/co-curator of the East Bay Music Collective, building community and performance opportunities for local musicians. Outside of music, Jonathan is a serial chief technology officer for startups... this is the Bay Area after all!www.jonathansimon.com/music
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Bruce Bierman is one of the Bay Area’s most sought after Jewish dance leaders. Where there is Bruce, there is a party! Bruce’s charismatic leading gets everyone on the dance floor with fun and interesting steps and patterns that are easy and fun to follow. Circles, spirals, bridges, contra lines, square, partner, and solo . . . Bruce keeps it fun and interesting, and rooted in varied Jewish and world dance traditions such as klezmer, Chasidic, Yemenite, Israeli, contra, and swing. Bruce is a frequent presenter for the L.A. Skirball Museum and Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco. He was a member of the acclaimed Aman Folk Dance Ensemble of Los Angeles and presents his 'Joy of Jewish Dance' weekly in the East Bay. For more events and classes write to Bruce at jewishdance@yahoo.com.
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Saul Goodman comes from a musical tradition tracing back to the old world shtetl of Szrensk. Now based by San Francisco Bay, Saul is an ever-positive influence in the community. Saul himself may not always make it to the gigs, but nevertheless, "it's all good man!"