Bios
East Rock Klezmer met in 2007 in Connecticut and soon began to play regularly at East Rock Park in New Haven. Our audiences in the park inspired the band's name.
Abigail Fiore - viola, violin
Abi Fiore studies algebraic geometry by day and fiddles by
night. She is a graduate of Columbia University, where she
managed the Columbia Klezmer Band, under the direction of Jeff
Warschauer and Deborah Strauss. She is heard on the Columbia
Klezmer band CD “Thank You, Mr. Belf.” She is
currently pursuing a PhD in mathematics at Yale University, where she
teaches calculus and is a member of the Yale Klezmer Band. A
regular attendee of KlezKanada and KlezKamp, Abi is committed to
preserving and maintaining the klezmer sound of the “Old
World.” She is married to East Rock paykler Mike Fiore.
Michael Fiore - poyke, baraban, percussion
Michael Fiore is quickly gaining speed in his studies of the art of
Yiddish drumming. A novice musician, he has a keen ear and sense
of rhythm; he impressed his band-mates immensely by immediately picking
up rudimentary skills in poike, tsimbl, and jaw-harp. He has
studied at KlezKanada with Aaron Alexander, Thierry Arsenault, and the
great Stuart Brotman. Mike’s other musical influences
include Led Zepellin, Jethro Tull, Rush and Dream Theater. He is married to East
Rock fiddler Abi Fiore.
James Kessler - accordion
James Kessler received his Bachelors Degree from the University of
Connecticut in 2002. He teaches music theory, directs the jazz
ensemble and gives private instrumental instruction at the Wooster
School in Danbury, CT. He is a performing musician in several
musical genres including jazz, rock, hip-hop, classical, folk, world
music, funk, and fusion. James educates students about klezmer
and all forms of music at every opportunity. He is a
faculty member at Ridgefield’s Enchanted Garden Conservatory of
the Arts and also at the Cider Mill Conservatory of Wilton, CT.
He has performed with Adrianne Greenbaum’s Klezical Tradition,
Daddy Catfish, the E.G. Allstars, the Grapes of Vaudevillian Fantasy,
Jake Shulman-Ment and others. As a prominent teacher of
musical composition, his students have been honored with awards year
after year for their musical creations. James lives in South
Salem, NY.
Becky Wexler - clarinet
Clarinetist Becky Wexler enjoys an active career in the United States
and in Canada. Her versatility is highlighted in her repertoire,
which ranges from chamber and orchestral music to klezmer, Balkan,
Dixieland, American folk, and improvisations on Taize chant. Her
warm tone, vibrato, musicality, and technical mastery have been noted
by many acclaimed musicians; she is privileged to include Cookie
Segelstein, Joshua Horowitz, Pete Rushefsky, Deborah Strauss, and Kurt
Bjorling as some of her mentors.
Originally from Washington, D.C., Becky holds a bachelor of the arts
degree in music and religious studies from Macalester College (St.
Paul, MN), a semester’s certificate of study from the
Zoltán Kodály Institute (Kesckemét, Hungary), and
a master’s degree of the arts in religion from the Yale Institute
of Sacred Music (New Haven, CT).
Becky currently directs the music for services at Yale
University’s Slifka Center Shabbat Unplugged and at Kahal
B’Raira, a congregation for Humanistic Jews in Cambridge,
MA. She manages two choirs at Yale—the Camerata and
Schola Cantorum—and enjoys singing Anglican motets with the choir
of St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church (New Haven, CT). She plays
with East Rock Klezmer band (New Haven, CT), Marsh Garden Irregulars
(New Haven, CT), and is a member of the internationally renowned
klezmer band the Lithuanian Empire.