Lenka Lichtenberg

Bio:
Lenka Lichtenberg was born and raised in Prague, in the former Czechoslovakia. As a child star, she recorded several Top 10 hits, performed in the musical theatre Semafor with Jiri Suchy, and in various television programs. She received her first formal vocal training at the Prague Music Conservatory, and continued her education at the University of British Columbia. She obtained her Master of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology at York University in 1993; her thesis was on Yiddish music of the Holocaust. She has been teaching music at the Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto between 1997 and 2005.  Thesis:

Identity and history: constitutive factors in the Yiddish repertoire of Chana Erlich    books.google.ca/books/about/Identity_and_history.html

She has now focused on work as a Yiddish/world music composer, performer, and singer/songwriter of both Jewish and universally-themed songs, and on cantorial study and work. She appears at a number of events each year, traveling extensively.

Her first CD Deep Inside (1999), produced by the Juno-award winner Ken Whiteley, received air-play on radio stations in a number of countries, including CBC Radio, which also carried her profile on the Global Village program in June, 2002 and again in June, 2004.

Her second CD Open The Gate(2003), produced by Levon Ichkhanian, is a collection of all-original songs in English and French. (give a listen to the samples!)

PASHTES (simplicity) (2003), Lenka's third CD, is based on a cycle of poems by the Toronto Yiddish poet Simcha Simchovitch. With music composed by Lenka and arranged by Brian Katz, it received airplay in 23 countries.

Fray (free) (2010) is Lenka’s fourth and to date, most adventurous solo CD project. Seeking a very specific, global sound to reflect her personal beliefs, she has enlisted the talents of a unique assemblage of musicians rooted in diverse musical traditions. From classical Indian, Egyptian, and Middle-Eastern music to North and South American styles, Fray is an adventurous melding of modern Yiddish poetry with global musical influences. Blurring boundaries between styles and traditions, the album claims a new space in contemporary world music as a unique, Yiddish-based genre.

Since 2001, Lenka has been studying cantorial music. Time permitting, she has the honour of co-leading Shabbat services and Kabbalat Shabbat at her spiritual home, Toronto's reconstructionist Congregation Darchei Noam. Every year, she sings Kol Nidre at other congregations, and co-leads Yom Kippur services for Rabbi Elyse Goldstein. One of Lenka's current projects is Songs for the Breathing Walls, recordings of traditional and new liturgy (including Lenka's own) in Czech and Moravian country synagogues.

Lenka is passionate about her heritage (which did not include Yiddish), and the importance of cultural identity in our lives in general. Her newest work Fray reflects her eagerness to see new Yiddish music embraced as a beautiful, meaningful and valid part of the global world music mosaic.

TV

 - Director Jaroslav Hovorka's documentary film "Lenka Lichtenberg: Pisne pro ozivle steny" was broadcast December 28-31, 2011, on Czech national TV.

-   OziMenschlife TV, live interview, January 17, 2011. View the interview here at vimeo with David Grossman

-   30-minute profile about Lenka's work in Jewish music aired in Canada in January and again in February, 2009 (OMNI TV1).

-   a documentary film based on Lenka's unlikely journey from a Czech child star with no knowledge of her background to an international Yiddish performer, Jewish music composer and cantor. Czech TV , "Cesty viry", October 15, 2006.
To view the documentary go to Cesty víry

-  A number of programs with the Theatre Semafor and as a soloist in the Czech Republic

 

Radio

 CBC Fresh Air: Mary Ito interviews Jewish-Canadian musician, Lenka Lichtenberg and Palestinian-Canadian musician, Roula Said to talk about their musical collaboration called "Bridges: Yiddish & Arabic Music in Dialogue". ~ April 2, 2011

 Radio Proglas feature, Czech republic ~ February 2011

 Radio Sefarad (program about Fray), Spain ~ October 2010

 Mapamundi (Fray among Top 10 releases for 2010), Spain

 Radio Vltava, Prague, Czech republic: Cajovna, interview with Peter Doruzka ~ September 20, 2010

 Ethno Radio, Czech Republic, on playlist/rotation ~ September 2010

 Featured on Australia's largest ethnic community Radio 3ZZZ - 92.3 FM ~ September 3, 2010

 Radio Shalom Montreal: Program about Pashtes and Lenka's previous recordings. ~ September 4, 2007

 Radio Sefarad, Madrid, Report about Pashtes - in Spanish by Jorge Rozemblum ~ July 6, 2007

 Interview about Pashtes CD, CBC Radio 1, Arts Tonight ~ January 24, 2007

 Profiles on Global Village, CBC Radio June 2002 ~ June 2004

 Radio Centre-Ville, Montreal ~ August 2004

 Airplay on CBC Radio (Roots & Wings, Round Up, Here and Now), world music programs on CHIN, CIUT, CJRT (Absolutely Folk) in Toronto, CHRW in London, CKDJ in Ottawa, Vancouver Co-op Radio, as well as world music programs around the world

 Performances at the CBC Choral Concert ~ 1997

 

Festival appearances:

 Klezfiesta with "Fray", Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Small World Music Festival, Toronto

 Trebic Festival, Czech republic

 Boskovice Music Festival, Czech republic

 Chutzpah! International Jewish Performing Arts Festival, Vancouver, Canada

 Brücke/Most-Stiftung’s Culture Festival, Dresden, Germany

 Geneva Music Festival "La Fête de musique, Switzerland

 San Francisco Jewish Music Festival, U.S.A.

 Klezmore! Festival, Vienna, Austria

 Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto, Canada

 Klezfiesta with Christian Dawid, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Mariposa Folk Festival, Orillia, Ontario, Canada, Sisters of Sheynville

 Washington Jewish Arts Festival with Sisters of Sheynville

 Festival of Yiddish poetry, concert with Daniel Hoffman, Daniel Galay, Kinneret Sagee, Tel Aviv, Israel

 NXNE Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 Distillery Jazz Festival Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 Yiddish Music Festival, Queens, with Zalmen Mlotek. New York, U.S.A.

 Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 Jewish Mosaic Festival, Toronto, Canada

 Celebrate Toronto Street festival, Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 North York Winter Carnival, Toronto, Canada

 City Roots Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 Mamapalooza, Toronto, Canada

 Buffalo Music Festival, Sisters of Sheynville, Buffalo, N.Y., U.S.A.

 Leeds Performing Arts Festival, with Brian Katz, Leeds, U.K.

 Winterfolk Festival, Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 Mameloshen Festival, Sisters of Sheynville, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Major Concerts and Events:

 Hugh's Room, World Jazz for Haiti, Toronto

 Teatro Alvear (Fray), Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Lula Lounge, Bridges with Roula Said, Toronto

 Divadlo na pradle, with Yair Dalal, Prague, Czech republic

 Cafe Babylone, (Fray), Quebec

 Historic Town Hall concert with Yair Dalal, Kosice, Slovakia

 La Sala Rossa (Fray), Montreal

 Czech tour - Stara Synagoga, Plzen; Liberec Synagogue; Spanish Synagogue, Prague; Teplice; Prague, Zidovska radnice; Boskovice Festival.

 The Spiro Ark, solo concert. London, U.K.

 La Cappella, concert with Brian Katz, Bern, Switzerland

 New Band! Di BAKL, at the Free Times Cafe, Toronto, Canada

 Culture as Resistance"- Holocaust commemorative concert. With Mitch Smolkin and the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir. Miles Nadal JCC, Toronto, Canada

 Etty Hillesum Centrum with Brian Katz and Kinneret Sage, Deventer, Holland

 Jewish Book Fair with Simcha Simchovitch, Leah Posluns Theatre, Toronto, Canada

 Solo concert, Hobart, Australia

 Lenka led Bialik Hebrew Day School students in a musical exchange with Theodore Bikel, Toronto, Canada.

 Klub Violino, solo and group concerts, Prague, Czech republic

 Gladstone Hotel - New band! the Bohemian Village Band, with Eric Stein (mandolin, double bass), Alex Gajic (violin), percussionist Alan Hetherington. Songs in Czech, Moravian, Slovak, Russian, and Serbian

 "Lider fun goldenem land": Celebration of Life & Work of Mordechai Gebirtig. Musical presentation and lecture. Beth Emeth, Toronto, Canada

 Concert as a soloist with the Vancouver Folk Choir, Vancouver, Canada

 Concert at the Czech centrum, Dresden, Germany

 Rex Hotel and Jazz Bar, annual Latkapalooza with Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 Prima Vista Music-Bar Restuarant, with Brian Katz, Baden, Switzerland

 Concerts with Christian Dawid, clarinet, Teplice, and Prague, Zidovska radnice, Czech republic

 Yom Kippur Services with Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, Kolel, Toronto, Canada

 Rosh Hashana Services with Rabbi Tina Grimberg, Congregation Darchei Noam, Toronto, Canada

 Yiddish Kavehoyz concerts, New York, U.S.A.

 The Workmen's Circle, song workshop, New York, U.S.A.

 Lenka led Bialik Hebrew Day School's Yiddish musical performance to celebrate the release of the CD "Lomir zingen in Yiddish", which she produced. Sponsored by Ashkenaz Festival for New Yiddish Culture.

 Hugh's Room, Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 Klub Hermes, with blues virtuoso guitarist Sue DaBaco, Prague, Czech republic

 Brampton Folk Club concert series, Sisters of Sheynville, Brampton, Canada

 Kol Nidre, Oraynu Congregation for Humanistic Judaism, Toronto, Canada

 Solo concert, Smolnice, Czech republic

 Flying Club Folk Club, Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 solo musical program, Beit Leyvik, Tel Aviv, Israel

 Leah Posluns Theatre, Sisters of Sheynville, Toronto, Canada

 Winners! Canadian Folk Music Awards, vocal group of the year 2008, Sisters of Sheynville