The Klezmer Village Band

Strains of the shtetl echo through this trad trio’s old and new melodies. They bring a 21st-century zest to klezmer, the distinctive music rooted in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe.

The group’s musicians have brought klezmer music to audiences around the world: a collaboration between Ilana Cravitz (violin), John Macnaughton (clarinet) and Theo Malka-Wishart (double bass), members of the group have formed and performed with some of the best-known ensembles on the klezmer scene, including the London Klezmer Quartet, Klezmer Foygl, She’Koyokh and Oysland.

Together they create an irresistible experience for audiences of all ages, weaving haunting and toe-tapping melodies together with evocative stories of musicians’ lives & times.

A special Jewish Heritage Month event brings professional klezmer musicians to Plymouth, one of England’s oldest provincial Jewish communities (dating back to the 1740s), which has historically had very little Jewish cultural programming. Presented in partnership with Plymouth Jewish Community CIC, who are bringing Jewish cultural life back to the city, this is a rare opportunity to encounter a living musical tradition shaped by centuries of encounter and exchange.