ADRIANNE GREENBAUM BIO
ADRIANNE GREENBAUM, pioneer of the klezmer flute tradition, recognized as the “Queen of Klezmer Flute”, Professor of Flute at Mount Holyoke College for nearly 5 decades, is the foremost purveyor of the klezmer flute tradition. Having reached International acclaim as both a klezmer and classical flutist, Adrianne performs on modern, traverso and 19th c. flutes and has performed in many national and international festivals and conventions, including the National Flute Association, the British Flute Convention, and tours in many cities and states and abroad. Her home base is as Professor of Flute at Mount Holyoke College, a position she has held for nearly 5 decades.
Having received her upper level degrees from the Oberlin College Conservatory and Yale University School of Music, she has also held professorships at prestigious colleges and universities in addition to Mount Holyoke, those being Smith, Yale and Wesleyan. With performances of both klezmer and classical concerts across the globe, her career ranks amongst the finest musicians of her time, a career that she is currently celebrating as her Golden Anniversary!
She began her career as a classical musician and has maintained her presence in the field performing recitals at universities, conventions national and local – British, National Flute Association, New York to name a few - and as an orchestral musician as Principal of both the New Haven Symphony and Orchestra New England. Highlights of her presence in the classical arena included many years performing with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, performances with New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, and as Principal flutist with Berlin Ballet at the Met. She can be heard in recordings of her own solo album “Sounds of America” as well as those produced by Koch International and Music Masters labels.
Her solo klezmer recordings produced 4 klezmer recordings, all of which have been firmly placed in the core of the klezmer output of the late 20th and now 21st centuries. Her latest recording project Farewell to the Homeland: Poyln gained an appreciation from the public and from colleagues alike for her in-depth research and transcribing of early klezmer manuscripts, in particular tunes from the Frandt kapelye of Dubiecko, Poland – all continuing to be presented in an entertaining, narrated concert format. Other themed concerts with FleytMuzik include a narrated A Khasene far di Zisn Kale and her informative touring show Tartan, Baroque and Klezmer!
A recently added klezmer project is the formation of “di naye froyen kapelye” a super group of five prominent North American women in klezmer, with Cookie Segelstein, Marilyn Lerner, Susan Watts and Lauren Brode.
As Greenbaum has always enjoyed teaching while sharing her knowledge and passion, she is repeatedly sought after to coach students of all levels, and has been on faculty of well-known “camps”, including KlezKamp, KlezKanada, and Boxwood. She also presents virtual classes exploring both klezmer and baroque flute.
ADRIANNE GREENBAUM SHORTER BIO
Adrianne Greenbaum, Professor of Flute at Mount Holyoke College, is a nationally acclaimed flutist and clinician, performing on historical instruments of the 18th and 19th centuries and modern Boehm system. Reviews of her playing never neglect to point out her expressive phrasing and rich colors, no matter what genre of music.
Having received her upper level degrees from the Oberlin College Conservatory and Yale University School of Music, she has held professorships for five decades at prestigious colleges and universities previous to Mount Holyoke, those being Smith, Yale and Wesleyan. With performances of both klezmer and classical concerts across the globe, her career ranks amongst the finest musicians of her time. Her career as performer, professor, mentor, and coach spans four decades.
ADRIANNE has involved herself with teaching at all levels, from the day-one experience of flute playing, to coaching professionals on the fine distinction of colorful tone production, period performance practice and, most importantly, making music come alive. Beyond her private studio she has taught at many adult programs: KlezKamp, KlezKanada, KlezmerQuerque, Boxwood Festival (Nova Scotia), New England Adult Music Camp and Santa Fe Flute Immersion, to name a few. Her presence in the klezmer world as the foremost purveyor of the klezmer flute tradition, reviving the presence in the early klezmer Kapelye, continues to uphold the klezmer flute tradition. Adrianne leads virtual and live workshops in both klezmer and baroque traditions and enjoys presenting day-long classes wherever she travels; in fact, the very reason for travel being performing and teaching. is a published composer and arranger of her own compositions, klezmer works for flute choir and of klezmer flute and orchestra music.
Press reviews
"I can't think of a stronger case being made for the flute as an essential klezmer instrument (besides the historical fact that Old World kapelyes often included flutes) than this album, particularly Adrianne Greenbaum's spirited playing on her own composition, 'Di Terkishe Fleyt,' which boasts the soulful vibrancy, wit and virtuosity of the great clarinetists like Brandwein and Tarras. With tsimblist Josh Horowitz, fiddler Cookie Segelstein and bassist Marty Confurius, Greenbaum has assembled a gorgeous neo-traditional ensemble of classical proportions. Call her the Andy Statman of the klezmer flute." Seth Rogovoy, author, "The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music"
“Adrianne’s playing moved me very much and her soul will move you as well. I thoroughly enjoyed her playing on this CD”, Sir James Galway
"I am awestruck, and am not going to waste further verbiage trying to describe what an amazing, beautiful, virtuosic album this is. If you like klezmer, or you like flute, or if you didn't know that you liked either, this will still be your favorite album for a long time. This CD, by Klezical Tradition's Adrianne Greenbaum opens with a stunning, muscular flute doina and never stops. The album also includes a vibrant medley of tunes from former-Soviet klezmer turned New York klezmer, German Goldenshteyn, as well as his rocking, driving "Rusishe Sher". And, then, Greenbaum's own "Dobriden" is such a perfect period processional, despite its recent origin. Nor is this a neo-classical snob's album. The album closer, "Gelebt und Gelakht," for instance, gives everyone a chance to stretch a bit, but the thrilling flute runs that carry the piece are simply sublime. Along with Greenbaum, we get a chance to hear Josh Horowitz accompany on the tsimbl, and Cookie Segelstein on violin, and get a sense of how klezmer might have sounded, at its best, 100 or 200 years ago, before klezmer horns, before Americanized klezmer, before the clarinet became the main solo instrument. It's classical klezmer, if you will. It's classical klezmer featuring a variety of vintage flutes for the perfect period sound. But this is also classical music grounder in dance tradition. Playing the older wooden flutes makes a difference. This music swings. It also has power. And yet, it is also very modern. It blows my mind to the possibities of klezmer the way Andy Statman and Zev Feldman's groundbreaking "Jewish Klezmer Music" of 20 years ago made me first excited about klezmer. What is certain is that this album makes clear how good a flute can make klezmer sound, and how perfectly it works with tsimbl and bass and fidl. Mostly, though, this is Greenbaum's album. Her flute playing is inspired. It rocks. Even on the most intricate, quiet, classical passages, this is the sort of playing that makes clear how much of a difference amazing musicianship makes. This is amazing musicianship. This is the sort of album that defines a sound and a standard, the way that Alicia Svigal's "Fidl" defined klezmer fiddle for many, years ago, and this is accomplished by going far back to klezmer's pre-American roots. The CD also includes some nice notes about the history of the flute, and the klezmer flute. What an amazing, profoundly essential CD! What a beautiful, wonderful, gift. This CD is instantly part of my'essential klezmer' collection". Ari Davidow Klezmershack.com
This style of traditional Jewish music has not usually associated with the flute in recent years, but Greenbaum has researched its roots and discovered that, indeed, earlier generations of performers of Yiddish and other eastern European folk music frequently featured the flute in their ensembles and that there is a significant solo flute literature in this style. She has ventured into this realm and made it her own. With a strong and varied background in classical flute, including many years of experience as solo flutist with the New York Ballet, extensive freelance work, and now as a professor at Mt. Holyoke College and principle flute of the New Haven Symphony, Adrianne Greenbaum has now focused her virtuoso skills on this fresh and invigorating repertoire. On this recording, she is heard playing four types of wooden flutes from the 1890s up to a modern Verne Q. Powell wooden flute. She is by turn dazzling and moving on all of them, bringing out the incredible intensity and emotion of this music with soulful inflections and vibrant tonal shadings. She plays with a brilliance, ferocity, and fearlessness that comes from complete mastery. The twenty-one selections on this CD will be a fresh breeze and a welcome change for most flutists--and likely will make you reconsider what the flute is capable of and wonder why we limit ourselves by focusing primarily on the Baroque, Classical, and French traditions. There is another world to explore, and Greenbaum opens the door to these delights. Enjoy! J.E.P./FluteNet
Press Photos
FleytMuzik
Adrianne Greenbaum
di naye froyen kapelye
Adrianne Greenbaum
Uhrovska Baroque
Wall Street Chamber Players
Adrianne Greenbaum