Kleztory
chamber ensemble
KLEZTORY:
Airat Ichmouratov, clarinet, bass clarinet and duclar
Anastasia Virlan, violin
Mark Peetsma, double bass
Mélanie Bergeron, accordion
Raphaël D’Amour, guitar
David Ryshpan, piano
Founded in 2000, Kleztory began their joyful and extraordinary journey by traveling all over Quebec, performing in numerous festivals, theatres, cafés and small venues. In the years since, the ensemble has played about 1,000 concerts in Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Romania, Brazil, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Hungary, Costa Rica and China.
In 2001, they self-produced their first album, Kleztory – Musique Klezmer, with what little means they had available at the time. They were so proud of their first recording that they presented it to Yuli Turovsky, artistic director of the I MUSICI de Montréal Chamber Orchestra. A few days later, he proposed that they make a recording together. Klezmer, featuring Kleztory and I MUSICI de Montréal under the direction of Yuli Turovsky, was released in 2004 on Chandos Records and distributed in 50 countries. The project prompted invitations from the classical music community to perform as a soloist with numerous orchestras including Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Orchestre symphonique de Laval, Orchestre Métropolitain, Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Nouvelle Génération, Violons du Roy, McGill Chamber Orchestra and Orchestre de Bruxelles.
A third album, Nomade, came out in 2007 and won them an Opus Prize as the best Jazz / World Music album of the year in Quebec. In 2012, they were selected to play at the prestigious International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam, where they won the Fürth Klezmer Prize. In 2013, Kleztory produced their fourth album, entitled
Arrival, which was nominated as Best album of the year in the Traditional music category by ADISQ. In April 2017, the quintet launched a fifth album, Nigun, the Hebrew word for melody, at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts and landed a second Opus Prize, this time for the best concert of the year in Quebec.
Best CD in October 2020, Kleztory released a sixth album, “Momentum”, on the prestigious British house Chandos Records (distributed in more than 50 countries) and on Amérix Artists, in Canada. If the pandemic hadn’t come along and spoiled the party, 2020 would have been a particularly festive year for Kleztory, with the October launch of MOMENTUM on prestigious British label CHANDOS, plus the group’s 20th anniversary.
Be that as it may! Accompanied by a string quartet, a pianist and a percussionist, the renowned Montreal quintet launched their sixth album Momentum on March 19, 2021 during a launch concert broadcast in live webcast by seven cameras from the Théâtre Outremont in Montreal.
