Thursday, May 16, 2025 (7:30 PM) 

Klezmer Sounds:
Music of Memory and Belonging

Piwnica pod Baranami 
Rynek Główny 27, 31-010 Kraków 

All conference participants are invited to a special concert by artist Kamila Klimczak.
Tickets will be available at the conference office on the day of the lectures.
*The number of tickets is limited. 

“Shein vi di l’vone” in Yiddish means “You are as beautiful as the moon” – this is the title of a concert of Jewish songs performed by Kamila Klimczak, an actress at the Bagatela Theater and a long-time artist of the legendary Cracovian cabaret Piwnica pod Baranami (Cellar under the Rams). For many years, she was also deeply connected – with heart and soul – to the ensemble of Maestro Leopold Kozłowski, the Last Klezmer of Galicia and the last Klezmer of the world. 

It was under his watchful eye that she learned the words of a now-forgotten language, along with the melodies of Jewish and Hebrew songs – songs whose essence lies in being sung from the heart. It is through the heart – sometimes filled with elation, love, and dreams; sometimes with longing and the ceaseless journey toward the Promised Land; and at other times with the profound pain of human fate during times of pogroms and the Holocaust – that these extraordinary, incomparable melodies flow. 

The concert will feature legendary songs by Mordechai Gebirtig, beloved by fans of Jewish music, as well as new pieces – including translations of lyrics by acclaimed Polish poet and lyricist Jacek Cygan, set to music by Maestro Leopold Kozłowski. These songs offer a tender lens through which to view history from a modern-day perspective. 

Kamila Klimczak is a recipient of the #kulturawsieci scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and has been awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit and the Bronze Medal “Meritorious for Culture Gloria Artis.”  

She is always accompanied by outstanding Krakow-based musicians.