Fran & Flora present a night of contemporary Yiddish music, feat. Merlin & Polina Shepherd, Ilana Cravitz String Band and Fran & Flora
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · 7:15 PM – 11:00 PM
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Experimental-folk duo Fran & Flora curate a special night at The Horse Hospital celebrating contemporary Yiddish culture, showcasing some of the UK’s most acclaimed klezmer artists.
Fran & Flora present brand new material from their upcoming third album; Klezmer clarinet and piano-vocal duo Merlin & Polina Shepherd perform a selection of original compositions; fiddler Ilana Cravitz + string band share a first public outing of selected tunes from Beregovsky's recently uncovered Tish Nign collection.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
FRAN & FLORA
“time-travels brilliantly between solid folk origins and avant garde play with a surprise at every corner" - Jude Rogers, The Guardian
Fran & Flora's critically acclaimed releases and performances have led to their rise in prominence across folk and avant-garde musical landscapes alike. As leading women of their generation their sophomore album Precious Collection (Hidden Notes Records'24) was The Guardian’s ‘Top 10 Best Folk Albums of the Year’. Presenting uniquely reworked Yiddish music (collected from archival recordings & manuscripts) and original compositions for strings, electronics and voice they create an unrivalled evocative and 'border-defying' (Mojo) aesthetic.
Far from recreating music from a bygone era their intricately sculpted contemporary sound remains 'as experimental as it is accessible' (The Guardian). Fran & Flora perform and teach at festivals globally.
MERLIN & POLINA SHEPHERD
"the Led Zeppelin of contemporary Yiddish music." – Seth Rogovoy, author, 'The Essential Klezmer'
Merlin & Polina Shepherd Duo (clarinets, voice, piano) perform together in a way that is rarely encountered. They play music from several linked cultures with improvisation, freedom and spontaneity. The Duo’s playful approach to their root traditions – klezmer, Slavic, East European and southern Mediterranean – is full of knowledge and deference. It creates a unique sound that embraces the enduring spirit of folklore and takes the listener to new dimensions.
They have been performing as a duo since 2004. Apart from their own concerts, they collaborate internationally with performers of various disciplines: a baroque orchestra, a punk band, contemporary dancers, DJs, and theatre productions.
ILANA CRAVITZ is one of the world’s best-known klezmer fiddlers and is also in demand as a producer, editor, and Yiddish dance leader. Based in London, Ilana tours internationally and regularly helps to set up and run Yiddish culture festivals. She has introduced thousands of people to klezmer through her performances and teaching. Ilana was a co-founder of the London Klezmer Quartet and her book ‘Klezmer Fiddle – A How-To Guide’, is published by Oxford University Press.
Ilana Cravitz’ Tish Nigumim String Band play a hand-picked selection of tunes from ‘Jewish Songs Without Words’ - an anthology of 215 tunes collected by Moshe Beregovski (1892-1961) that was prepared for publication in the late 1950s and then kept in the Vernadsky National Library, Kiev.
Nigunim are tunes without words, composed to be sung, catchy and lift the spirits.
Beregovski’s book of nigunim was the fourth of five volumes of Jewish music painstakingly assembled by this dedicated Soviet Jewish ethnomusicologist. Tragically, he did not live to see them published.
Ilana Cravitz is now working on an English edition of this volume, with its glimpses into a now-lost world.
This event is open to the public, and is the closing event to the Jewish Music Institute’s Yiddish Cultural Weekend.
With support from the JMI.
Doors 7:15pm
Music 7:45pm - 10:00pm
Curfew 11:00pm
Fran & Flora present brand new material from their upcoming third album; Klezmer clarinet and piano-vocal duo Merlin & Polina Shepherd perform a selection of original compositions; fiddler Ilana Cravitz + string band share a first public outing of selected tunes from Beregovsky's recently uncovered Tish Nign collection.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
FRAN & FLORA
“time-travels brilliantly between solid folk origins and avant garde play with a surprise at every corner" - Jude Rogers, The Guardian
Fran & Flora's critically acclaimed releases and performances have led to their rise in prominence across folk and avant-garde musical landscapes alike. As leading women of their generation their sophomore album Precious Collection (Hidden Notes Records'24) was The Guardian’s ‘Top 10 Best Folk Albums of the Year’. Presenting uniquely reworked Yiddish music (collected from archival recordings & manuscripts) and original compositions for strings, electronics and voice they create an unrivalled evocative and 'border-defying' (Mojo) aesthetic.
Far from recreating music from a bygone era their intricately sculpted contemporary sound remains 'as experimental as it is accessible' (The Guardian). Fran & Flora perform and teach at festivals globally.
MERLIN & POLINA SHEPHERD
"the Led Zeppelin of contemporary Yiddish music." – Seth Rogovoy, author, 'The Essential Klezmer'
Merlin & Polina Shepherd Duo (clarinets, voice, piano) perform together in a way that is rarely encountered. They play music from several linked cultures with improvisation, freedom and spontaneity. The Duo’s playful approach to their root traditions – klezmer, Slavic, East European and southern Mediterranean – is full of knowledge and deference. It creates a unique sound that embraces the enduring spirit of folklore and takes the listener to new dimensions.
They have been performing as a duo since 2004. Apart from their own concerts, they collaborate internationally with performers of various disciplines: a baroque orchestra, a punk band, contemporary dancers, DJs, and theatre productions.
ILANA CRAVITZ is one of the world’s best-known klezmer fiddlers and is also in demand as a producer, editor, and Yiddish dance leader. Based in London, Ilana tours internationally and regularly helps to set up and run Yiddish culture festivals. She has introduced thousands of people to klezmer through her performances and teaching. Ilana was a co-founder of the London Klezmer Quartet and her book ‘Klezmer Fiddle – A How-To Guide’, is published by Oxford University Press.
Ilana Cravitz’ Tish Nigumim String Band play a hand-picked selection of tunes from ‘Jewish Songs Without Words’ - an anthology of 215 tunes collected by Moshe Beregovski (1892-1961) that was prepared for publication in the late 1950s and then kept in the Vernadsky National Library, Kiev.
Nigunim are tunes without words, composed to be sung, catchy and lift the spirits.
Beregovski’s book of nigunim was the fourth of five volumes of Jewish music painstakingly assembled by this dedicated Soviet Jewish ethnomusicologist. Tragically, he did not live to see them published.
Ilana Cravitz is now working on an English edition of this volume, with its glimpses into a now-lost world.
This event is open to the public, and is the closing event to the Jewish Music Institute’s Yiddish Cultural Weekend.
With support from the JMI.
Doors 7:15pm
Music 7:45pm - 10:00pm
Curfew 11:00pm
By Fran & Flora