The Catalan Mahzor (C. 1280), is a medieval Spanish Jewish manuscript. Through a remarkable use of illuminations constructed from words of ancient Hebrew Psalms, the Mahzor weaves a powerful story of spiritual redemption. Following the Spanish expulsion, the manuscript traveled to Italy, Syria, Turkey, Germany, and the United States, concealed by local communities.
Mesmerized by the beauty and mystery of this outstanding manuscript, Ira Klein created The Catalan Mahzor Suite, a full-length immersive art performance combining music, dance, and visuals in collaboration with choreographer and dancer Rachel Linsky and string player Beth Bahia Cohen.
The Catalan Mazhor: a New Chapter premiered at the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music. Since then, it has been performed numerous times, including at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Hebrew College (Newton, MA), and ArrowFest.
Ira Klein is a Brooklyn based guitarist, composer, and educator from Jerusalem. Specializing in Middle-Eastern music, American folk, and music for dance, he seamlessly combines a lifelong passion for musical traditions with a love of experimentation.
A recipient of numerous prestigious awards from foundations such as LABA New York, J Arts Boston, and Mass Cultural Council, Ira has appeared on NPR, WBGH, CBC, Jewish Renaissance, Haaretz, and Americana UK. He has performed with world-renowned artists including McArthur Fellow Claire Chase, saxophonist Neil Leonard, and guitarist Kevin Barry (Jackson Browne), and served as a music consultant to Intentional Beauty, the Judaica gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Ira has been invited to present visiting talks and clinics at Berklee, Harvard, Yale, Bard College, Berkeley Carroll School, and the Somerville Public Library.He holds degrees from Berklee College of Music and Bard College, and is a certified K-12 educator.
Rachel Linsky is a Boston-based contemporary dance artist. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a B.A. in Arts Administration from Elon University where she graduated summa cum laude. For the past five years, Rachel has been directing and choreographing ZACHOR, an ongoing series that seeks to preserve Holocaust survivor testimony through dance. In the past three years Rachel has also been choreographing works for klezmer music that fuse elements of Yiddish folk dance with her contemporary practice.
Rachel has presented work at venues throughout Boston including the Boston Center for the Arts, the New England Conservatory, The Huntington Theater, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston University, TedX Walden Pond, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Rachel was one of the 2022-23 JArts and CJP Community Creative Fellows and is currently a member of the 2023-24 Next Steps for Boston Dance cohort. In addition to her choreographic work, Rachel dances with KAIROS Dance Theater and teaches workshops in Contemporary, Ballet, and Yiddish dance throughout the Boston area.
Beth Bahia Cohen is a violinist of Syrian Jewish and Russian Jewish heritage. Inspired at a young age by the sounds she heard at family gatherings, she went on to study with master musicians from Hungary, Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. She plays the violin, viola, Greek lyras, Turkish bowed tanbur and kabak kemane, Norwegian hardingfele, and Egyptian rababa.