Queen City Klezmorim

ABOUT OUR MEMBERS:

Hirsh J. CohenTuba and bass player Hirsh J. Cohen is a retired health care executive. He played trumpet and tuba in high school and college, studied classical string bass at the Provincial Conservatory of Music (Montreal) and played tuba in the Canadian army and air force bands. He directed successful big band and small ensemble dance bands throughout his teenage and early adult years. Now retired, Hirsh plays in several community bands in the greater Cincinnati area, including the Sycamore Community Band,  the Highlandaires, the New Horizons Concert Band, and the Jump 'n Jive big jazz band. He is also a founding member of the Cincinnati Klezmer Project and the Queen City Klezmorim.

Claire LeePianist Claire Lee is a graduate of  UC’s College Conservatory of Music with degrees in piano and piano accompanying, Claire Lee has enjoyed a rich musical life ranging from “classical” to Broadway, Dixieland, and Klezmer. She accompanied children’s shows at Yavneh Day School and has been a  church organist for almost four decades as well as keyboardist at Hebrew Union College for services. Claire also directs the High Holiday choir and organizes service music at Northern Hills Synagogue.  She is also a flutist with the New Horizons and UC Community bands.

Jerald KayDrummer Jerald Kay is the retired Frederick A. White Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. Jerry began playing drums at 12 and two years later picked up the tuba. He played in rock and jazz groups as a teenager throughout Maryland and Washington DC and spent some time at Berklee College of Music in Boston prior to beginning his university education. At Washington University in St. Louis he played tuba in the WU Concert and Big Bands and continued playing during his medical school and post graduate studies. He is a member of several concert bands (Sycamore Community Band, Queen City Concert Band, UC Community Band) and jazz and rock groups.

Gayna BassinViolinist Gayna Mandelbaum Bassin received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and a Master of Music degree from Indiana University at Bloomington, where she studied with Ivan Galamian, Jaime Laredo, and Josef Gingold. Gayna was a member of the First Violin section of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1976-1996. She served as Concertmaster with the Cincinnati Community Orchestra from 2003-2004 and as Principal Second Violin in the Musica Sacra Orchestra for several years. She is an active member and board member of Matinée Musicale Cincinnati and has played many solo and chamber music recitals in Cincinnati, Dayton and Indiana.

Laura Sabo

Clarinetist Laura Sabo is a classically trained musician who has crossed to the dark side of improvised music and never wants to go back, except occasionally when she gets to perform with wonderful ensembles such as the West Virginia Symhony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and Concert:Nova. Her teachers have included members of the Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She has received degrees in music from the Ohio State University, Cleveland Institute of Music, and one day very soon she will receive her doctorate from the College Conservatory of Music at UC. Still, she is consistently lured away from the classical world by the expressive, soulful wailing made by gypsy and folk clarinetists of Turkey and Eastern Europe, and finds her truest musical self playing original gypsy jazz with the Marmalade Brigade, Cajun and Dixieland with Lagniappe, trance/belly dance with Mayan Ruins, bass clarinet with Strange Creature, and early music with the Noyse Merchants. Laura is also the organizer/impresario for Classical Revolution Cincinnati and teaches private lessons all around the Cincinnati area. Visit her website for more info and upcoming performances: www.cincinnaticlarinet.com