Episode 102: Rebekah Wolkstein

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Rachel visits her cousin, Rebekah Wolkstein, a classically trained concert violinist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, and vocalist, and mother of three daughters at her home in Toronto. With her husband Drew Jureka, also a multi-instrumentalist as well as a producer and audio engineer, Rebekah performs as part of Payadora Tango Ensemble and Venuti String Quartet.

From their home studio, she and Rachel discuss the experience of losing her income from live performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, creativity, ambition, hoop-jumping, ensemble work, the joy of learning new instruments and forms, the value of classical music studies at a young age even for those who won’t become professional musicians, and how both of them, in different ways and under different circumstances, came into their own as artists while mothering young children. The episode is full of memories, laughter, and of course, music.

Selected Work

• Payadora Tango Ensemble

• “Adios Muchachos/I Get Ideas,” (by Julio César Sanders) violinist and vocalist, with Payadora Tango Ensemble

• “La Perdida,” violinist and songwriter, with Payadora Tango Ensemble 

• Tango in the Dark, with PointeTango

• Venuti String Quartet 

• “Like My Sister,” violinist, vocalist, and songwriter, with family band

• “Years from Today,” violinist, vocalist, and songwriter, with family band

Watch the full feature-length film Tango in the Dark here!

Also Referenced

• Drew Jureka

• Diane Wolkstein

• Sheila Heti

• Judah Goren

• Cleveland Institute of Music

• Cleveland Orchestra

• Itzhak Perlman, In the Fiddler's House

• Mariah Carey

• Whitney Houston

• Ted Gup

• The Plain Dealer

• Connie Schultz

• Paul Hindemith

• Johannes Brahms

• Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards

• Glenn Gould School, The Royal Conservatory of Music

• Toronto Symphony Orchestra

• The National Ballet of Canada

• The Canadian Opera Company

• Jill Barber

• Viva Mexico Toronto Mariachi Band

• Astor Piazzolla

• Alexander Glazunov

• Jean Sibelius

• Nathaniel Wolkstein

• Shirley Temple

• The Legend of Carau (Argentina)

• PointeTango Dance Company

• SoundMachine

• Yiddish Glory
  

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