2025-26 Season Preview
Hello friends,
I just turned 40! I am excited to share with you a big premiere in the spring and many activities in the Yiddish music world.
On April 18, 2026, soprano Rose Hegele with pianist Elias Dagher will premiere my song cycle Di Freyd fun Yidishn Vort on the New Gallery Concert Series. Started in 2024 and having worked on it with my last two Byrdcliffe Artist Residencies, this work is the culmination of incorporating secular Yiddish poetry into my compositional style and I am very excited to share with you the end result.
In the Yiddish world, I just finished my first semester as a Freed Fellow at KlezKanada where I led the festival chorus and opening festival chorale; also, I was able to perform as a solo singer and with Frank London’s City of God. I am teaching a course at Lehrhaus Somerville on October 29th entitled “Yiddish Music From the Shul to the streets, to the stage (and back again)” as well as a series on Jewish mode in the spring. Each class will touch on specific elements of Yiddish music and I hope you can join me for these musical-cultural discussions (musicians and non-musicians welcome!).
As conductor/music director, A Besere Velt will be performing with internationally renowned Golden Thread Septet May 10, 2026 and in a joint concert with Koleinu and Boston’s Jewish Community Chorus on November 16th at Congregation Kehilath Israel. I will also be returning as faculty at Yiddish New York, conducting the chorus and accompanying the Private Vocal Coaching for Advanced Singers with Judy Bressler (Schedule here).
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to receive updates about upcoming news, including the commercial release of my Partita for Solo Viola (on Jesse Morrison’s Transitions album), a tour and recording session of my Clarinet Quintet “Oh World, Goodnight” with Del Sol Quartet and Nicholas Davies, and my continued work in Partimento and teaching at MIT.
Check out my full calendar here: https://www.derekdavid.com/calendar
Best,
Derek David
www.derekdavid.com