David Krakauer

Internationally acclaimed clarinetist DAVID KRAKAUER redefines the notion of a concert artist. Known for his mastery of myriad styles, he occupies the unique position of being one of the world’s leading exponents of Eastern European Jewish klezmer music, and at the same time is a major voice in classical music. As one of the foremost musicians of the vital new wave of klezmer, David Krakauer tours the globe with his celebrated Klezmer Madness! ensemble. While firmly rooted in traditional klezmer folk tunes, the band “hurls the tradition of klezmer music into the rock era” (Jon Pareles, The New York Times).

In addition to his annual European tours to major international festivals and jazz clubs, recent seasons brought Krakauer and his band to the Library of Congress, Stanford Lively Arts, San Francisco Performances, the Krannert Center, Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, the Venice Biennale, Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, BBC Proms, Saalfelden Jazz Festival, Transmusicales de Rennes, La Cigale, New Morning in Paris, and many others. Recently he has also done extensive international touring with the multi-genre super group Abraham Inc that he co-leads with funk legend Fred Wesley and hip-hop renegade Socalled.

In addition, Krakauer is in demand worldwide as a guest soloist with the finest ensembles including the Emerson, Orion and Kronos String Quartets, as well as orchestras including the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Detroit Symphony, the Weimar Staatskapelle, the Phoenix Symphony, the Dresdener Philharmonie, and the Seattle Symphony.

Krakauer’s discography contains some of the most important klezmer recordings of the past decade including six CDs under his own name: two on John Zorn's Tzadik Label and four on Label Bleu; plus collaborations with the Klezmatics, Itzak Perlman, the Kronos Quartet/Osvaldo Golijov and Socalled. Abraham Inc’s "Tweet-Tweet" on his own label, Table Pounding Records (and Label Bleu in Europe) was released in early 2010.

Composers who have written major pieces for him include David del Tredici, Paul Moravec, Ofer Ben-Amots, Jean Philippe Calvin, George Tsontakis, Anthony Coleman and Wlad Marhulets.

David Krakauer is on the clarinet and chamber music faculties of Mannes College of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, NYU and the Bard College Conservatory of Music. His unique sound can be heard as soloist in Danny Elfman's score for the film "Taking Woodstock" and throughout "The Tango Lesson".

Iva Bittová

Iva Bittová’s countryman Milan Kundera wrote how Europe’s “small nations” form another Europe. The violinist-vocalist may be ‘small nation’ Czech but her musical worldview and visionary creativity acknowledge no borders. Her powers of spontaneous creativity are more bountiful than it is fair to confer on one person. Witness and marvel.

Iva Bittová was born in 1958 in Bruntál in northern Moravia in what was then Czechoslovakia – and nowadays the Czech Republic. Both of her parents were musicians. Her mother Ludmila was a pre-school teacher who spent most of her life with her family; her father Koloman Bitto – Bittová is the surname’s female form – was a musician strongly influenced by the land of his birth – southern Slovakia. His main instruments were string bass, cimbalom, guitar, and trumpet. This exceptional ability to play almost any instrument he laid his hands on, whether performing in classical or folk music styles, proved a major influence on his three daughters as they grew up. Both of Iva’s sisters – her older sister Ida and her younger sister Regina – are professional drama and music performers.

Iva attended drama pre-school, specializing in violin and ballet. In due course she gained admittance to the Music Conservatory in Brno, often called the Czech Republic’s second city. She graduated in drama and music. During her studies, Iva took part-time engagements as an actress and musician in Brno’s Divadlo Husa na provázku (Goose On A String Theater). She cites these engagements as some of the most formative and influential of her life.

Around this time she also featured as an actress in radio, TV and movie productions. Later on, while working full time in theater, she re-kindled her interest in playing violin, an instrument she had set aside in her younger years. After her father’s early death, she decided to follow in his professional footsteps as an instrumentalist and by composing her own music.

In 1982, Iva started studying with Professor Rudolf Šťastný, the primarius (first violin) of the Moravian String Quartet. In the intervening years the violin has become her life’s passion and the most inspiring musical instrument in her professional life. Iva firmly believes that, as playing the violin places extreme demands on musicians, the composer’s work depends utterly on commitment and diligence.

After living in the countryside near Brno for 17 years, Iva decided to relocate her personal and professional life to the United States. In the Summer of 2007, she settled amid the splendors of nature in upstate New York. Iva shares her Hudson Valley home with her younger son Antonín (born 1991) – also a dedicated musician and another chip off the Bitto block.

Merima Ključo

Merima Ključo, accordionist, performs internationally as a recitalist and has been guest soloist with orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Holland Symphonia and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. As soloist, she has participated in a number of renowned festivals including the St. Magnus Festival (Scotland), the City of London Festival, the Gaudeamus Festival (Amsterdam) and the Gubaidulina Festival – honoring Sofia Gubaidulina on the occasion of her 75th birthday.

She is a member of the Telesto Trio (with violinist Tiziana Pintus and cellist John Addison) and Serendipity 4 (with singers Theodore Bikel and Shura Lipovsky and pianist Tamara Brooks) and is a frequent guest of MusikFabrik, the Asko/Schönberg Ensemble and the Nederland Blazers Ensemble. Her performances have been broadcast by the BBC, and networks in the Netherlands, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Hungary and Israel.

Opera and Theatre performances in which Ključo has taken part include Opera Circus, Bremer Theater, Nederlandse Kinder Theater. She has also worked with Daniel Landau and Joaquim Sabate, whose projects are prize-winning theater productions. In 2006, she was asked by the Bayerischer Rundfunk to compose music for the radio drama, Wie der Soldat das Grammofon repariert, based on the book by Saša Stanišic and directed by Leonhard Koppelmann. Random House published this production as an audio book.

Merima Ključo also composes and arranges a number of works for accordion, collaborates with many composers and has recorded music for the film, Jack by Sergej Krešo, and performed in the documentary concert films: Journey 4 Artists by Michele Noble and Stories of Sevdah by Rober Golden, among others. Ključo's involvement with world music is an enriching experience for her and brings yet another dimension to her work. She has participated in projects with different musicians and organizations, including “Musicians Without Borders”, an international organization where she is an active member of the Committee of Recommendation. Recently, Schott Music published Ključo's book, Eastern European Folk Tunes for Accordion and the accompanying CD performed and produced by her. This collection contains a selection of music adapted for the accordion, featuring pieces from Klezmer, Sevdah and Balkan traditions. The love of this music, and the music of Bosnia in particular, is something she seeks to share with audiences everywhere.

Merima Ključo has given workshops and master classes in conservatories and universities including the Guildhall School of Music (England), the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and Syracuse and Georgetown universities (USA). She studied accordion at the Srednja Muzicka Škola in Sarajevo, studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory with Miny Dekkers graduating cum laude and was a Masters scholarship student at the University of the Arts Bremen where she studied with Margit Kern, graduating cum laude.