For our inaugural edition, we're pleased to feature this profile of bandurist/singer Julian Kytasty. Julian is co-Artistic Director of CTMD's new Ukrainian Wave Community Cultural Intiiative. Julian and members of the NY Bandura Ensemble will be performing in an upcoming program entitled Saints & Sinners: Songs of Worship, Penitence and Celebration featuring devotional songs from the oral tradition of the kobzari (itinerant bards), as well as from Ukrainian baroque composers at the beautiful new Ukrainian Museum, 222 E 6th St. (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues) on Thursday May 17th at 7:00 PM. General Admission $15; $13 Museum and CTMD members; $10 seniors and students. Click below for a profile about Julian:

Saturday, May 12: Fourth concert in the Sizhu Silk and Bamboo Chinese Music Series in collaboration with The Rubin Museum of Art featuring Min Xiao Fen and the Blue Pipa Trio 6:00PM

Thursday, May 17: Saints & Sinners: Songs of Worship, Penitence and Celebration, a concert featuring devotional songs from the oral tradition of the kobzari (itinerant bards), and from Ukraine's baroque composers with members of the New York Bandura Ensemble at The Ukrainian Museum, 222 East 6th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues) General admission $15; $13 Museum and CTMD members; $10 seniors and students. 7:00PM

Sunday, May 20: Tantshoyz (Dance House) in collaboration with the Manhattan JCC - Yiddish dance and the Workmen's Circle led by Deborah Strauss with live klezmer music at the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street. 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Wednesday, June 6: Tantshoyz (Dance House) in collaboration with the Manhattan JCC and the Workmen's Circle - Yiddish dance led by Michael Alpert with live klezmer music at the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street. 7:00PM - 10:00PM

Friday, June 22: Pachamama Peruvian Arts Student Presentation and Graduation with master traditional artists, "Peru Cultura Viva", a theatrical performance exploring the Incan conquest and the mestizo culture, at PS 212, 34-25 82nd Street, Jackson Heights, Queens. 7:30PM

Sunday, August 12: Heritage Sunday at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors - Songs of Love and Struggle featuring Viento de Agua, Abdoulaye Diabate and Super Manden, and Merita Halili & the Raif Hyseni Orchestra. 4:00PM - 7:00PM

Sunday, September 16: New York World Festival - Sounds of the Mediterranean featuring Moroccan Gnawa singer Hassan Hakmoun; Andalusian Orchestre de Tanger; legendary Greek Island singer Amalia Papastefano; Greek clarinetist Lefteris Bournias; Pontic Greek lyra player Chris Tiktapanides; and masked Dimonis de Mallorca from the Balearic Islands in Spain presented in collaboration with World Music Institute and Central Park SummerStage at SummerStage. 1:30PM - 7:00 PM

Sadly, over the last year we lost some important artists and dear friends. The great Moldavian/Ukrainian Jewish clarinetist German Goldenshteyn passed away last summer. German had been a featured artist of the CTMD Soviet Jewish Community Cultural Initiative entitled "Nashi Traditsii (Our Traditions)." Klezmer music recently lost another leading force with the passage of clarinetist Sid Beckerman in April of this year. Sid was an iconic performer, composer, teacher and long-time KlezKamp faculty member. And last November, our dear friend Ilias Kementzides passed away. Ilias was a master singer and player of the Pontic lyra , the small baseball-bat shaped fiddle played by the Greek communities of the Black Sea coast of Anatolia. Ilias was recognized with a National Heritage Award in 1989. A tribute to Ilias from CTMD founders Martin Koenig and Ethel Raim is here:

We are pleased to announce that Eileen Condon, Ph.D. has joined the staff of CTMD as a Project Director, responsible for coordinating CTMD's Chinese and Ukrainian Community Cultural Initiatives, as well as the New York World Festival. Eileen was previously the Folk Program Director for the Dutchess County (NY) Arts Council. For more about Eileen, click the below link:

• Marcos Napa and the CTMD Pachamama Peruvian Arts program were honored by Community Works for their work in the Latino Community in Queens. Marcos is a percussionist, dancer and former member of the Grammy-nominated Afro-Peruvian ensemble Perú Negro. He served as Artistic Director of Pachamama Peruvian Arts through June of 2006, and continues with the program as a popular instructor and performer.
• Speaking of Grammy awards... Mazl Tov to The Klezmatics for taking home this year's Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album for their recording "Wonder Wheel," which features the lyrics of Woody Guthrie set to new music composed by the band.
• Folklorist Nancy Sweezy was awarded a 2006 National Heritage Award by the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to her important work preserving traditional pottery and craft of the American South, Sweezy worked with Ralph Rinzler during the early years of the Newport Folk Festival, worked with Asian refugee groups in the Boston area and published a survey of Armenian folk crafts.

CTMD Touring Artist Andy Statman will be playing at the very intimate and very wonderful venue Barbes in Brooklyn on Thursday, May 10 at 10PM. A master of bluegrass mandolin as well as klezmer clarinet, in 1978 Andy and Zev Feldman helped the Center present the octogenarian clarinetist Dave Tarras in a series of concerts that was influential in helping to kick off the international klezmer revival. For directions, see the Barbes website (link below). Come a bit early to get a seat-- Andy usually packs them in.