Toronto Summer Music: Schmaltz & PepperEric Abramovitz, clarinet; Drew Jurecka, violin/bandoneon; Rebekah Wolkstein, violin/voice; Jeremy Ledbetter, piano; Michael Herring, bass. Walter Hall, July 16, 2025.
My first week of attending the 2025 Toronto Summer Music Festival (July 10 – August 2) ended on a high. I am referring to a fabulous Klezmer performance I saw last evening at Walter Hall, given by the chamber ensemble Schmaltz & Pepper.
Klezmer
I have TSM to thank for introducing me to Klezmer. My first taste of this genre was six years ago in the 2019 Festival. Performing then was the Montreal-based chamber ensemble by the name of Kleztory. I was awestruck by its effervescent spirit and total joy in their music making. I heard Kleztory again in the 2022 TSM, and I was hooked!
For those unfamiliar with the historical origin of the Klezmer genre — it’s the Yiddish folk music of the Ashkenazi Jews of central and eastern Europe. It also draws inspiration from Roma folk dances, the folk music of Germanic and Slavic peoples, plus elements of North American jazz and pop. The rhythm of this genre is toe-tappingly infectious.
The ensemble last evening was Schmaltz & Pepper, a relatively new troupe that formed just a couple of years ago. All are classically trained musicians, led by Eric Abramovitz, who happens to be the Principal Clarinet of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Both Rebekah Wolkstein and Drew Jurecka are excellent violinists. Jurecka also plays the bandoneon. Jeremy Ledbetter is the terrific pianist, and Michael Herring provides the rock-solid bass.
I heard them for the first time at the 2023 TSM, as well as a show at Moses Znaimer’s Zoomer Hall, and a noon-hour gig at the Four Seasons Centre this past spring. The show last evening was a very generous, 90-minutes program. The sold-out audience in the 495-seat Walter Hall was treated to a fun, high energy performance, interspersed with plenty of Jewish humour — that Abramovitz sure has gift of the gab.
The Music
Judging by the reaction, the audience was blown away, simply put. Plenty of highlights — I loved the hilarious “Mozart the Mensch,” a piece created by Abramovitz. You won’t hear Mozart the same way after this! Beethoven got equal treatment, with excerpts from Ode to Joy, here “Klezmerized” as “Ode to Oy”! Need I say more…
Another fun piece was “I’m Sorry Mama,” with vocals by Wolkstein, who also wrote the text. It’s a fun if slightly politically incorrect jab at a Jewish mother wanting her daughter to marry rich. Well, the daughter sings: “I’m Sorry Mama” — because she ends up marrying a poor musician!
I think quite a few of the audience members — including yours truly — walked into the warm night air afterwards with a smile on our face.
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