When the days get shorter in November, Vienna takes on a special timbre - melancholic, lively, thoughtful and open to nuances. The KlezMORE Festival Vienna has been part of this atmosphere for over two decades as a cultural event of rare radiance. Since 2004, it has brought together international artists and local initiatives to present Jewish musical traditions in all their diversity, topicality and beauty. Today, the festival is one of the most important platforms for Jewish music and culture in Europe - a place of encounter, remembrance and renewal.

With its 22nd edition, the KlezMORE Festival is breaking new ground. For the first time, concerts and events will take place not only in Vienna, but also at historical venues in St. Pölten and Kobersdorf - in the former synagogues of these towns, which will become spaces of resounding remembrance during the festival. Between cultural memory and contemporary interpretation, sounds will unfold there that connect past and present.
The motto of this year's edition - "Heyb uf dayn kol" ("Raise your voice") - sends out a strong signal. The human voice takes center stage: as the most intimate means of expression, political tool, spiritual gesture and carrier of collective memory. "Polyphony" is understood here not only in musical terms, but also as an artistic and social statement: for dialog, empathy and resistance.

SHE'KOYOKH © Savannah-Photographic

The program reflects this attitude in an impressive range. Yiddish singer-songwriter Daniel Kahn brings combative poetry and Yiddish folk with a punk attitude to the Porgy & Bess stage. At the Sargfabrik, Ola Bilińska interweaves Polish lullabies with electronic soundscapes to create poetic dreamscapes. Together with Turkish singer Çiğdem Aslan, the celebrated British formation She'Koyokh encounters a musical world between klezmer, Balkan and Anatolian tradition - a passionate homage to the unifying power of music.
Choral and spiritual dimensions also come to the fore: Vokalforum Graz and Sephardic singer Aron Saltiel dedicate themselves to polyphonic liturgical chants, whose ancient melodies shine anew in modern arrangements. And when the "Tsirk Dobranotch" sets up camp at Theater Akzent, artistic virtuosity meets musical ecstasy - a klezmer circus as a feast for the eyes, ears and heart.

In addition to the concerts, the festival will once again offer a rich supporting program that promotes cultural depth and interdisciplinary exchange: The synagogue concert "Kol Ishe - Jewish Women's Voices" with Rachel Weston & Jake Shulman-Ment at the liberal congregation Or Chadasch, the heymishe Shabbat evening at the cultural center Yung Yidish, a curated tour through the exhibition "Black Jews, White Jews? On Skin Colors and Prejudices" at the Jewish Museum Vienna and the film screening of "The Klezmer Project" cover a wide range of topics from identity and memory to current issues of cultural visibility.
Two klezmer workshops and a public session - including one with Daniel Kahn - invite visitors to become part of this polyphonic sound space themselves. True to its name, the KlezMORE Festival is always more than just a music festival: a social resonance field that crosses borders and makes community audible.
November 7 to 16, 2025
https://klezmore-vienna.at