Jewish Music Today Fürth

A Tradition Grown Over Three Decades

The Jewish Music Today Festival Fürth looks back on an extraordinary history. It was founded in 1988 as the Fest des jiddischen Liedes (Festival of the Yiddish Song) — in a city that was one of the most important centers of Jewish life in Southern Germany in the 19th century and bore the nickname fränkisches Jerusalem (Franconian Jerusalem) for good reason. In 2000, it was renamed the International Klezmer Festival before, in more recent times, it took on its current name, Jewish Music Today, to also incorporate contemporary Jewish music genres beyond classic Klezmer.

One Festival, Many Stages

The festival can be experienced over ten days throughout Fürth's city center. The main venues are the Kulturforum, the Stadttheater (City Theatre), and the Kofferfabrik — a former industrial complex that now serves as an alternative cultural venue. In addition, there are readings in libraries, concerts in churches, film screenings at the Babylon cinema, workshops in community centers, and the popular Tants-Hoyz (dance house), where Yiddish dances are practiced together with the performing musicians.

Sound Spectrum: From the Shtetl to Hip-Hop

The program spans from traditional Klezmer and Yiddish song to Sephardic sounds, Jewish jazz, world music fusion, Kabbalah hip-hop, and electronic club music. Headliners of past editions included The Klezmatics, Kleztory, Nani Vazana, Magi, NeoKlez, and Berlin-based DJ Yuriy Gurzhy, among others. The program has been curated for years by the City of Fürth's Cultural Office, led by Gerti Köhn.

More Than a Music Festival

Jewish Music Today sees itself as a comprehensive cultural project. In addition to concerts, there are lectures on Fürth's Jewish history, city tours through the former Jewish quarter, film series, exhibitions, and discussion formats. The festival maintains close collaborations with the Jewish Community of Fürth, the Jewish Museum of Franconia, and the International Klezmer Network.

One City, One Resonance

Approximately 5,000 visitors come to Fürth for each edition — many travel from all over Germany, Israel, and Eastern Europe. The festival has thus established itself as a fixture on the international calendar of Jewish music festivals.