Klezmer Starts Here
with The Klein Party, Kesselgarden, and other guests

Doors: 6:30pm Show: 7:30pm           Tickets: $20 advance, $25 doors

Advance tickets can only be purchased online-we do not sell advance tickets at the venue. Refunds are not available within 48 hours of the event. Tickets do not guarantee seating during shows at the Royal Room. 

We are now accepting reservations for diners! After purchasing tickets, please visit the Reservations page to book a table. Table reservations require advance tickets, and are only for guests who plan to dine at the Royal Room.  We do not take reservations over the phone. Seating for non-diners is first come, first served. Please arrive early to guarantee a seat!

Klezmer Starts Here! is in its third year at Seattle’s Royal Room. Presented by The Klein Party and South Hudson Music Project, this curated series features local and national klezmer musicians exploring the breadth and depth of Yiddish music.

The Klein Party celebrates and plays “Klezmerish music from All the Old Countries with a jazz sensibility and rock-and-roll exuberance.” The core of the repertoire are original arrangements of Ashkenazi Jewish music from the Old & New Worlds, as well as other music from around the world that shares the ecstatic joy and emotional intensity of the music we call “klezmer.”

They will be joined mid-concert by Kesselgarden Klezmer Duo. Kesselgarden (Carl Shutoff clarinet & Laurie Andres accordion) have been playing together for over 20 years. Kesselgarden plays Eastern European instrumental Jewish music of the 19th and 20th centuries with original, sweet, and joyful  arrangements which are neither noisy nor confusing.

The concert will conclude with an orchestral arrangement of Herman Shapiro’s “European Jewish Wedding.” In the very early 20th century, the mysterious composer Herman Shapiro published this classical music suite that drew heavily on the klezmer tradition, combining traditional tunes and original composition to evoke a marriage celebration of Ashkenzai Jews. This suite only survived as a piano reduction. It was performed in full for perhaps the first time in over a hundred years at the Royal Room last spring and has been freshly arranged for an ensemble that includes The Klein Party, Kesselgarden, plus special guests Marc Gavin -violin, Aaron Harmonson -contrabass, and Duncan Weiner- trombone.