On May 26, Montreal-based musician Socalled will present the Calgary debut of a program of Yiddish songs with string quartet that has been presented internationally in cities such as Venice, London, New York, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Paris, and more. The all-Jewish string quartet will demonstrate the historic instruments from the Violins of Hope collection. The evening will include a mix of lively and heart-wrenching Yiddish arrangements of art songs, folk songs, and klezmer music, featuring Socalled on vocals, piano and accordion.
The Violins of Hope exhibition runs at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, from May 3 to June 16, 2024, showcasing a collection of historic string instruments from before and during the Holocaust. The restored instruments once belonged to victims and survivors of the Holocaust and now share the story that wherever there is music, there is hope. Ticket holders for the concert will get a chance to explore the exhibition one hour before the show.
About Socalled:
Josh “Socalled” Dolgin is a pianist, accordionist, producer, based in Montreal, Quebec. He has lectured and has led master classes in music festivals around the world, from Moscow to Paris, from London to LA, and from Krakow to San Francisco, and has performed on every continent.
With six solo albums to his name, he has performed all over the world for more than 10 years, and his list of collaborators knows no generational, social, cultural nor religious boundaries. Aside from countless festivals and venues around the world, Socalled has performed at Carnegie Hall (twice!), the Olympia in Paris, the Apollo theatre in Harlem and the Arsht centre in Miami. He has played with, featured, recorded and arranged for Gonzales, Itzhak Perlman, Lhasa, Fred Wesley, Andy Statman, Adam Cohen, Boban Markovic, the Mighty Sparrow, Roxanne Shante, Irving Fields, Killah Priest, Matisyahu, Theodore Bikel, Enrico Macias, Katie Moore and Derrick Carter. Dolgin was the subject of The Socalled Movie, a 2010 feature documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
Socalled will be joined by:
Erica Miller: first violin (Ottawa)
Abigale Reisman: second violin (Boston)
Pemi Paul: viola (Montreal)
Beth Silver: cello (Toronto)