Yiddish song cycle - Shtern falln

The origins of the song cycle "Shtern falln" go back to the children's song workshop at Yiddish Summer Weimar 2015. Workshop leader Diana Matut suggested to Dr. Alan Bern that he set several Yiddish children's poems by Kadya Molodovsky to music. Bern's songs became the core repertoire for an international girls' choir project in 2016 and 2017 between Germany and Israel, the Kadya Choir.

The success of this project led to a feature film (The Young Kadyas) and many other interpretations of the song cycle. The Kadya Trio's interpretation, conducted by the composer himself, is particularly remarkable for its depth, intimacy, virtuosity and sensitivity to the nuances of the Yiddish language.

The Kadya Trio performs: Sveta Kundish vocals, Dr. Alan Bern composition, conducting, piano, accordion and Mark Kovnatskiy violin

Bern, Kundish and Kovnatskiy are internationally acclaimed as artists who combine originality with a profound knowledge of traditional Yiddish music. Kundish is fluent in Russian, Hebrew, German and Yiddish. Her rich cultural and musical background informs her interpretation of the song cycle at every moment.

Kovnatskiy, who is at the forefront of a new generation of virtuoso Yiddish violinists, also brings a classical violin background to his original style. Bern, a pioneer in the revival of Yiddish music since the early 1980s and trained as a classical pianist and composer, brings a poetically wistful and joyful sensibility to his settings of Molodovksy's poetry.