Last year - January 2025
Friday Night 2025
7:30 pm – Dance Workshop to Live Music Featuring:
- Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band
- Dimitris Stefanidis (Greek Pontic Lyra)
- Lubomir Smilenov (Bulgarian Bagpipe)
Live Music Dance Party
- 8:45 pm – Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band
- 9:30 pm – Dimitris Stefanidis (Greek Pontic Lyra)
- 10:15 pm – Niva (Macedonian Izvorno)
- 11:00 pm – Lubomir Smilenov (Bulgarian Bagpipe)
- 11:45 pm – Kavala Band (Greek Brass)
Please be aware that the schedule may change, even at the last minute!
| Start | Venue | Group | Description @ 1/16/25 | Performers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 PM | Ballroom | Mlado selo | Young people's band performing varied Balkan music | Sarah Ferholt, Abbi Hess, Penny Hess, Raya Ferholt-Wirz, Sylvan Schneiderman, Percival Moran, Arah Jay Chen Erway, Plum Errett, Jack Summerour Colwell, Hila Godwin Geller, Daniel Stern, Dan Schleifer, Emily Geller |
| 6:30 PM | Imperial | Amir Vahab Trio | Persian & Turkish Folk Music | Amir Vahab, Gail Wiggin, Yvette Googas |
| 6:30 PM | Empire | Ta Aïdhonia | Exquisite Traditional Greek Songs of Anatolian (Eastern) Greek Thrace and Asia Minor for dancing or listening | Carol Freeman, Quince Marcum, Zachary Wager-Scholl, Kei Matsuyama, Seido Salifoski, Adam Good, Joy Radish, Bengi Sullu, Eric Heuberger, Beth Bahia Cohen |
| 6:30 PM | Gold | Young Bulgarian Voices NY & 101 Kaba Gaidi & Tupani | Bulgarian music with singing and Kaba Gaidi/Tupani for dancing | Lubo Smilenov, Bonnie Silver, Ralph Knag, Yordan Kolev, Jeanne Clifford, James Kogan, Bill Cope, Petya Maglova Shehova, Cathie Springer, Zora Boyadzhieva, Paul Olson, Svetlin Stoyanov, Dimitar Georgiev, Kalin Kopachev, Niya Kalinova, Kalin Kresnitchki, Dinyo Yantchev, Michelle Weller, Ohannes Murat Berin, Maria Berkova, Stoya Maglova, Hristo Shehov, Yana Kalinkova, Neda Kresnitchki, Karini Chotalal, Ivanka Hadjiiska, Rositsa Boyadzhieva, Stela Mihneva, Natalia Mihneva, Rhea Chotalal, Victor Kolev, Anton Kolev, Judy Kropf, Dalia Kropf, Elena Krumova, Meglena Zapreva |
| 6:35 PM | Ballroom | Niva | Niva is an all women band that plays and sings Macedonian roots music - alternately lyrical, mournful, ecstatic and spooky music that used to be the soundtrack of everyday life back in the day. | Kristina Vaskys, Bridget Robbins, Abi Tenenbaum, Emily Geller, Helen Marx, Ella Fine |
| 7:00 PM | Imperial | Dimitri Stefanides | Pontian Greek music on Lyra and drum | Dimitri Stefanides, Jerry Kisslinger |
| 7:00 PM | Empire | Synkratics | Electro-Balkan dance jams, Similar rep to Great Circles and Ansambl Mastika. | Greg Squared, Adam Good, Paul Brown, Chris Stromquist |
| 7:00 PM | Gold | Wind of Anatolia | Turkish Folk and Pop tunes from the last 100 years | Ismail Siglam, Evrim Cicek, Nezih Antakli, Tayyar Akdeniz, Erhan Temel, Baris Sevinc, Berra Beyoglu |
| 7:10 PM | Ballroom | Lubo Smilenov | Bulgarian | Lubo Smilenov, Matt Moran, Petya Maglova Shehova, Hristo Shehov, Jordan Langehennig |
| 7:25 PM | Gold | Eva Salina & Peter Stan | Accordion and voice duo, mostly balkan Roma songs. | Eva Salina, Peter Stan |
| 7:30 PM | Imperial | Lauren Brody’s Accordion Bytes | Bulgarian and Macedonian old-style songs and dance tunes | Lauren Brody, Michael Ginsburg, Jerry Kisslinger, Paul Brown |
| 7:30 PM | Empire | MacNCheez Balkan PowerTrio | Electro/acoustic traditional and modern village and urban folk music from the southern Balkans. | Matthew (Max) Fass, Tim Allen, Johanna Dunn |
| 7:45 PM | Ballroom | Sarma Brass Band | A Balkan Brass Band that evokes the energetic grooves and soaring melodies of the Balkan Roma. They play original material as well as a variety of traditional music from Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, and Albania. Their full and epic sound, consisting of groovy melodies and chest-thumping rhythms, will entice even the most shy listener to dance. | Tano Brock, Tyler Hauer, Tree Palmedo, John Cushing, Michael Prentky, Bobby Govetas, Joe Ricard, Alber Baseel, Matt Moran |
| 7:45 PM | Kafana | Zoe Aqua | ||
| 7:55 PM | Gold | Kids Klezmer NYC | Traditional Klezmer Music | Aaron Alexander, Isaac Alexander, Lev Garfein, Daniel Toretsky, Raul Rothblatt, Charlotte Rothblatt, Dash Rothblatt, Quinn Zannoni, Este Zannoni, Rafi Perlman, Jeff Perlman, Anna Medvedva, Maria Raysvasser, Max Fruchter, Yoshie Fruchter, Raya Ferholt-Wirz, Aspen Fraidstern, Leo Steckel, Naomi Steckel, Solomon Egan Lee, Brandon Chalson, Jordan Welles, Nathan Hasselbring, Luna Tucci |
| 8:00 PM | Chapel | Izvoren Jam | Traditional Macedonian Instruments led by Bill Cope | |
| 8:00 PM | Empire | New York Spelmanslag | Scandinavian folk dances, from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark | Patrice George, Petra Kirstein, Paul Friedman, Kai Song-Nichols, Scott Gianelli |
| 8:00 PM | Imperial | Pontic Firebird | Propulsive and uplifting Greek dance music from the Black Sea coast of Turkey | Beth Bahia Cohen, Adam Good, Paul Brown, Jerry Kisslinger |
| 8:20 PM | Ballroom | Mountain Lions | Saxophones and davul: dance music inspired by zurna/zurla repertoire from the southern Balkans. | Peter Hess, Matt Moran, Catherine Foster, Daro Behroozi |
| 8:25 PM | Gold | Yasna Voices NY Bulgarian Women's Choir | Bulgarian folk songs - arranged and village style - sung a cappella | Vlada Tomova, Gaelyn Aguilar, Melinda Hunt, Elise Barnes, Emma Bauchner, Daniela Ninov, Lyubitsa Gerasimova, Larkin Grimm, Laura Georgiev, Sylke Jackson, Karen Matthews, Kate Nelson, Marika Soltys, Elena Jankova |
| 8:30 PM | Imperial | Brooklyn Chalgija | Urban Macedonian songs and dance instrumentals with Ottoman roots | Adam Good, Greg Squared, John Murchison, Beth Bahia Cohen, Eva Primak, Jenny Luna, Polly Tapia Ferber, Nezih Antakli, Jerry Kisslinger |
| 8:30 PM | Empire | Bulgarian Bitov | Bulgarian Bitov | Lubo Smilenov, Belle Birchfield, Nicole Johnson, Michael Ginsburg, Noel Kropf, Mark Ettinger |
| 8:30 PM | Kafana | Ralph and Friend_ | ||
| 8:48 PM | Ballroom | Dance Kopačka with tapans | Matt Moran & Sylvan Schneiderman (tapan) with Stephen Kotansky (dance leader) perform Kopačka, a traditional Macedonian dance from the Delčevo area | Matt Moran, Sylvan Schneiderman, Henry Goldberg |
| 8:50 PM | Gold | Aqua/ Boden/ Temple Trio | A fun party set of klezmer dance tunes (both standards and new compositions on violin, accordion and cello) as well as some of the raucous, raw fiddle tunes from Transylvania. | Zoe Aqua, Raffi Boden, Ira Temple |
| 8:50 PM | Chapel | Brass Jam | Brass jam led by Tyler Hauer of Conical Cacophony | |
| 8:52 PM | Ballroom | Slavic Soul Party! | Balkan brass funk & Roma accordion wizardry | Matt Moran, Peter Stan, Peter Hess, Aani Kisslinger, John Carlson, Chris Stromquist, Adam Dotson, Alex Asher, Kenny Bentley |
| 9:00 PM | Imperial | Kara Üzüm | A Turkish music project with clarinet, strings, kanun, percussion, and multiple vocalists, playing all your favorite Turkish classics. | Tano Brock, Eva Salina, Eleni Govetas, Eylem Basaldi, Adam Good, Paul Brown, Umut Yasmut, Alber Baseel, Nezih Antakli, Polly Tapia Ferber, Bobby Govetas, Eric Allen |
| 9:00 PM | Kafana | Members of Yale Slavic Chorus | ||
| 9:00 PM | Empire | Romashka | Russian and Romanian Romani music for dancing and dreaming. | Inna Barmash, Jeff Perlman, Jake Shulman-Ment, Jay Vilnai, Ron Caswell, Ben Holmes, Ilya Shneyveys, Aaron Alexander, Ljova Zhurbin |
| 9:15 PM | Gold | Ukrainian Village Voices | NYC singing collective whose mission is to preserve and revive the polyphonic singing style of Ukraine’s villages, frequently focusing on seasonal celebrations, ritual songs, as well as lyrical music. We often sing songs recorded by ethnomusicologists from the oldest dwellers of villages in Ukraine. We pay homage to the ancient spirit of these songs while bringing a unique North American feel to the music. | Laryssa Czebiniak, Ben Batchelder, Jennifer Stepanyk, James Kogan, Caroline Kuhn, Maria Kennedy, Andrew Otto, Jordan Sucher |
| 9:25 PM | Ballroom | Chris Tiktapanides | Greek | Chris Tiktapanides, Jerry Kisslinger |
| 9:30 PM | Empire | Ralph and Friend | Bulgarian - Gadulka + Percussion | Ralph Iverson, Henry Goldberg |
| 9:35 PM | Imperial | Raya Brass Band | Balkan Brass | Greg Squared, Ben Holmes, Matthew (Max) Fass, Steven Duffy, Chris Stromquist, Nezih Antakli, Sylvan Schneiderman |
| 9:35 PM | Gold | Trendafilka | Eastern European polyphony | Lou Carrig, Anais Adair, Renee Anderson, Annalisa Kelly, Grace Kennedy, Oak Fate, Elisabeth Stancioff, Maria Rowinska, Eleanor Warner, Phoebe Vlassis, Lubo Smilenov |
| 9:50 PM | Empire | GrooveIstanbul | Traditional yet lively Turkish music, curated especially for Zlatne Uste festival fans. | Burcu Polatbora, Ismail Siglam, Tayyar Akdeniz, Barış Sevinc, Matt Sellier, Mike Hart |
| _10:00 pm | Chapel | Balkan jam | Balkan Hits, all welcome. Led by Brad Shepek of Paradox Trio with Matt Darriau | |
| _10:00 pm | Gold | Scott Wilson and Efendi | Belly Dance music of Turkey, Egypt, Greece and Armenia | Scott Wilson, George Stathos, Umut Yasmut, Marco Brehm, Kazuki Kozuru-Salifoska, Carmine Guida, Casey Bond, Dorit Konig, Debbie Despina Cartsos |
| _10:00 pm | Imperial | Zelenaya | Polyphonic Eastern Europe vocal traditions-folk song merged with the texture and affect of a metal band! | James Kogan, Caryn Havlik, Mela Closs, Veronica Dougherty, Emre Tetik |
| _10:00 pm | Ballroom | Zlatne Uste | Balkan Brass | Michael Ginsburg, Catherine Foster, Sarah Ferholt, Marian Eines, Morgan Clark, Belle Birchfield, Matt Smith, Don Godwin, Aani Kisslinger, Daniel Stern, Emerson Hawley, Jerry Kisslinger, Seido Salifoski, Emily Geller, Dean Olsher |
| _10:20 pm | Empire | Szikra | Traditional Hungarian dance music of the Csángó people from Moldva and Gyimes in Romania. The energetic, ancient pulse of this music ignites the dancers' fervor. Csángó dances are lively and easy to follow, including line and couple dances, many with syncopated rhythms | Emese Prandovszky O'Donnell, Chris O'Donnell, Valerie Matthews, Joseph Kroupa, Lilli Szobácsi |
| _10:30 pm | Imperial | Michael Winograd plays Dave Tarras | Klezmer | Michael Winograd, Ilya Shneyveys, David Licht, Sarah Myerson |
| _10:30 pm | Gold | The Yale Slavic Chorus | SSA arrangements of folk music from Eastern Europe, Georgia, and the Balkans | Thisbe Wu, Cleia Jones, Kaitlin Kan, Aiwen Desai, Iulia Teleuca, Simone Felton, Nora Brown, Tessa Jones, Virginia Heinsen, Abi Tenenbaum, Jordan Davidson, Lucy Gilchrist, Lee Johns, Natasha Khazzam |
| _10:40 pm | Ballroom | Merita and Raif | Albanian | Merita Halili, Raif Hyseni |
| _10:50 pm | Empire | Balkan Fields | Vocal and instrumental dance music of the Balkans | Dean Brown, Melinda Fields, Mel Fitzhugh, Henry Goldberg, Melinda Hunt, Ralph Iverson |
| _11:00 pm | Kafana | Ariane Morin & Ilya Shneyveys | ||
| _11:00 pm | Imperial | Lyuti Chushki & Friends | Bulgarian music and songs | Valeri Georgiev, Boril Peychinov, Petya Maglova Shehova, Jeff Suzda, Bill Cope, Emily Geller, Paul Brown |
| _11:05 pm | Gold | Zhenya Lopatnik | Original compositions and Ukrainian folk songs. A theatrical journey through time with storytelling around the life of people in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Jewish community. | Zhenya Lopatnik, Oren Neiman, Gilad Ephrat, Ira Temple |
| _11:20 pm | Empire | Dervisi | "Greek Gangsta Hashish Blues" - authentic classic Rebetika from the 1930s, the music of Markos Vamvakaris, Anestos Delias, Rosa Eskinazy etc. | George Barba Yiorgi Sempepos, Dennis Demakos, Eli Hetko, George Stathos, Paula Jeanine Bennett |
| _11:20 pm | Ballroom | Noga Group/Avram Pengas | International- Ethnic-Mediterranean | Avram Pengas, Seido Salifoski, Nick Mandoukos, Elysa Sunshine |
| _11:30 pm | Imperial | Conical Cacophony | Brass Band music from Serbia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria | Tyler Hauer, Ryan Vasios, Dean Laabs, Andrew McPherson, Ezra Rudel, Jason Rosenman, Erik James, Ariane Morin, Owen James, Morgan Liu-Packard |
| _11:30 pm | Kafana | Niva Trio | ||
| _11:40 pm | Gold | Dolunay | Songs from the Turkish people living across Rumeli, the former region of the Ottoman Balkans. Dolunay’s intimate sound, sparse in loudness and textured with the dissonance of eastern blues, gives way to a sound at once earthy and celestial. | Jenny Luna, Adam Good, John Murchison, Paul Brown, Polly Tapia Ferber, Eylem Basaldi |
| _11:50 pm | Empire | Harris Brothers Balkan Band | Intimate and powerful presentation of Balkan and Roma folk dance music. We create personal conversations with dancers through face-to-face performance. | Drew Harris, Tamberlaine Harris, Helen Marx, Ben Thomas, Gawain Thomas |
| _11:50 pm | Ballroom | Novi Hitovi Brass Band | Flaming hot contemporary Romani and Jewish party brass music from the Balkans and beyond. | Aani Kisslinger, Daniel Stern, Peter Hess, Daro Behroozi, Matt Moran, Alber Baseel, Dan Schleifer, Felicia Goldberg, Deidra Montgomery, Nat Ranson, Chris Erway, Don Godwin, Johanna Walczak, Benji Rifati |
| Sun _12:00 am | Imperial | Paradox Trio | Paradox has been synthesizing the sounds, structures and grooves of the Balkans and the near east with their western improvisatory background - Jazz inflected yet melodic. With gaida/kaval/sax, 5 string cello/tarhu, dumbek/metal and electric guitar. | Seido Salifoski, Matt Darriau, Brad Shepik, Rufus Cappadocia |
| Sun _12:10 am | Gold | Michelle Alany & The Mystics | Mediterranean and Eastern European-inspired folk and original music. Driven by fiddle, with clarinet, accordion, percussion and strings. Featuring captivating Sephardic (Judeo-Spanish), Balkan and Klezmer-inspired melodies, sharing songs as cultural vehicles for celebrating differences and similarities. | Michelle Alany, Yoshie Fruchter, Ilya Shneyveys, Philip Mayer, Paul Brown, Andrew Alikhanov |
| Sun _12:20 am | Empire | Dance with the Golden Ukrainian Folk Ensemble | Folk dance researcher and dance instructor Anastasia Fyk teaches traditional Ukrainian folk dances. No experience necessary. | Anastasia Fyk, Ben Batchelder, Iryna Kit, Danté Caroselli, Jordan Sucher |
| Sun _12:25 am | Ballroom | West Philadelphia Orchestra | An energetic party brass band inspired by the great brass bands of Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as klezmer. | Gregg Mervine, Chad Brown, Elliot Beck, Daniel Stern, Adam Hershberger, Dawn Webster, Larry Goldfinger, Elliott Levin, David Fishkin, Hayley Varhol, Larry Toft, Ello Schertzer, Frank Rein |
| Sun _12:30 am | Imperial | Balkan Peppers | A jazz/funk fusion band which combines joyful dance rhythms of the balkans with jazz/Funk improvising solos | Brad Shepik, Seido Salifoski, Jeff Dingler, Ethan Helm |
| Sun _12:50 am | Empire | Ta Pedia Tis Polis | Authentic Greek music, focusing on Rebetiko—a soulful genre often referred to as the "blues of Greece." The music is rich in storytelling and emotion, featuring traditional Greek instruments like the bouzouki, violin, and baglamas, and showcases dynamic vocals and intricate rhythms. | Tommy Kavounidis, Dimitri Behrakis, Eleni Moniodi, George Vardaros, Erikos Vlezmas, David Earle Chorowski, Ilya Shneyveys |
| Sun_1:00 am | Imperial | Mac Faves | Traditional izvorno-style music from North Macedonia | Jeff Fine, Jerry Kisslinger, Adam Good, Kristina Vaskys, Bridget Robbins, Marjorie Selden, Aaron Strelnikov, Paul Miller |
| Sun_1:20 am | Empire | Rodyna | Eclectic folk music from regions in and around Balkans and Eastern Europe. | Kazuki Kozuru-Salifoska, Joseph Castelli, Anya Castelli, Marta Jaremko |
| Sun_1:30 am | Imperial | Kavala Brass Band | Brass music mostly from the area around Florina in Greece | Michael Ginsburg, Catherine Foster, Morgan Clark, Belle Birchfield, Paul Brown, Matt Moran, Jerry Kisslinger, Rachel MacFarlane |
| Sun_1:30 am | Ballroom | Undertow Brass Band | An energetic party band formerly known as What Cheer? Brigade, Undertow takes inspiration from various musical styles, most notably Balkan music; we approach this material non-traditionally but with deep reverence. | Jori Ketten, William Cassidy, Ryan Guillette, Dan Schleifer, Shaunalynn Duffy, Chris Erway, Johanna Walczak, Deidra Montgomery, Sean Hickey, Sarah Thomas, Jonesy Mann, Larry Mauk, Shamus Durac, Sean Collins, Addy Schuetz |