Manchester Jewish Museum ANNOUNCES
BOLD NEW EVENT PROGRAMME IN ITS NEWLY RESTORED FORMER SYNAGOGUE
Manchester Jewish Museum announces a
bold new event season in their newly restored former synagogue. This beautiful
space, steeped in Manchester’s rich Jewish history, will be host to Synagogue
Nights: a programme of eclectic events this Autumn ranging from Klezmer
gigs and animated graphic novels to theatre performances featuring large scale
knitting and an adult twist on Yiddish pantomime.
The 1874 Grade II* listed Spanish and
Portuguese synagogue provides a truly unique and atmospheric space for the newly
reopened Manchester Jewish Museum’s inaugural event season. Located just fifteen
minutes walk from Victoria Station, the synagogue sits at
the heart of the new museum, serving both as a living
artefact of a Jewish place of worship and as a stunning cultural space in which
the museum will programme live events throughout the year. It was fully
restored to its original decorative scheme as part of a £6 million
redevelopment supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund,
including the installation of new sound and AV systems to make it a versatile
and unique events space.
Synagogue Nights presents a
series of live events that celebrate diverse Jewish experiences and explore
untold and unexpected stories. These artists will be creating work for new
spaces such as our synagogue and making new connections with audiences and
communities. The ambition is for Synagogue Nights to become a playground for
artists to try out radical new ideas. There will be opportunities to connect
with the artists after each event through workshops, informal discussions and
post-show Q&As.
The museum’s brand-new
vegetarian café will be open throughout the evening serving a range of drinks
and snacks to create a welcoming atmosphere where audiences can relax and
discuss the performance with friends and strangers alike.
The Museum will also be
partnering with Tsitsit:
The Jewish Fringe Festival for the first three events of the
season in a city wide celebration of Jewish Culture.
The Synagogue Nights line-up
includes:
- She Seeks
Out Wool (Thursday
14 October) – Sophie Ablett and Klein Blue weave together spoken word and
large-scale knitting to tell the personal journey of a family, the
relatives left behind and how the past can be woven into the present. Part
of Tsitsit: The Jewish Fringe Festival.
- Ana Silvera
– Ladino Laments and Love Songs
(Thursday 28 October) - The London-born singer-songwriter and composer
will explore her Sephardi heritage through traditional ladino songs and
original tunes as she follows her family’s journey from Portugal to Aleppo
before finally arriving in Manchester to help found this very synagogue.
Part of Tsitsit: The Jewish Fringe
Festival.
- The Wolf of
Baghdad: memoir of a lost homeland (Thursday 4 November) – Carol Isaacs (AKA The
Surreal McCoy) presents her animated graphic memoir of a Jewish family’s
memories of their lost homeland and the little-known story of Iraqi Jews,
accompanied by a soundtrack by ground breaking band 3yin.
- A Jewish
Love Story
(Thursday 11 November) – Suzette Coon presents a work-in-progress of her
emotive new play telling the story of a Jewish woman’s flight from the
Polish pogroms and the impact felt by the generations that follow her.
- Noga Ritter
Trio (Thursday
25 November) – Israel born singer-songwriter Noga Ritter and her trio
bring their genre-blending music to Manchester for the first time, fusing
Hebrew Jazz with global grooves for an electric and soulful musical
experience.
- Yankl &
Der Beanstalk
(Thursday 2 December) – Eclectic artist collective Sam Ranger, Tamara
Micner and Emily Rose, accompanied by a troupe of colourful performers,
give an adult twist to the Yiddish Pantomime tradition with their riotous,
raucous and irreverent take on a pantomime classic – expect to laugh. A
lot.
There will also be a Sunday
evening performance as part of Tsitsit Fringe Festival where the museum will
welcome Klezmer-ish to
perform for the first time since the pandemic hit as they showcase their new
album The Lockdown Songbook on Sunday 24 October.
Speaking of the launch of the new
programme, Manchester Jewish Museum Chief Executive Max Dunbar says “Our
newly restored synagogue is the perfect setting to host such an exciting season
of events which celebrate and explore Jewish experiences in all their rich
diversity. It showcases our commitment to sharing Jewish stories with the world
and bringing people together.
Our historic synagogue has had new
sound and AV systems sensitively integrated into its features, making it fit
for purpose to be used as a venue where people can enjoy and experience live
events together. We’re very excited to welcome new and familiar audiences and
artists into our museum this autumn.”
The Synagogue Nights season follows
the collaboration with Manchester International Festival and Turner
Prize-winning artist Laure Prouvost to create the film installation ‘The long waited,
weighted gathering’ which opened the new museum in July and runs until Sunday 3
October in The Ladies Gallery of the historic synagogue.
Manchester
Jewish Museum is open seven days a week from 10am-5pm and will be open from 6pm
on event evenings. To see the full Synagogue Nights programme visit: www.manchesterjewishmuseum.com/synagogue-nights
#MJMSynagogueNights
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