Philadelphia klezmer legends, mother-daughter team Elaine Hoffman-Watts and Susan Sandler, will join Generation Klez in a special concert on February 12, at 8 p.m. in the Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale, 80 Wall Street.
The concert is free and open to the public.
Watts is a third-generation klezmer musician. Her grandfather, Joseph Hoffman, was a coronet player who came to Philadelphia at the turn of the century and taught his children the music he had learned in Eastern Europe. Watts’ father, Jacob Hoffman, was a drummer and xylophonist who played klezmer with the legendary Kandel Orchestra and percussion with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Watts was the first female percussionist to be accepted to the Curtis Institute. She has performed many styles of music for the past 40 years. In recent years, she and her daughter, on trumpet, have performed with KlezMs., an all-female klezmer ensemble. Sandler can be heard on several albums by Frank London of the Klezmatics and with the group Mikvah. She is featured on the album “Fidl” by Alicia Svigals of the Klezmatics.
Watts and Sandler will join forces with the local klezmer ensemble, Generation Klez. The concert will feature music from the Hoffman family collection, which has been passed along through the generations, as well as popular hits from the golden age of klezmer.
For more information about the Slifka Center concert call 203-432-1134.
