BEING THERE: Impressions of London's Jewish East End Press Release
Spiro Ark, 25-26, Enford Street, W1H 1DW
April 6th 7.30

Impressions of London's Jewish East End conveyed through anecdote and song by Yiddish singer Hilda Bronstein and through the evocative images and artwork of artist/printmaker Maureen Lopatkin, both of whom share their childhood memories of 'being there'.
On 6th April 2011 at The Spiro Ark Enford Street, London, award winning Yiddish Singer Hilda Bronstein will be performing songs which she first heard sung on the stage of London's last Yiddish Theatre, the Grand Palais in Commercial Road. The event is entitled Being There: Impressions of London's Jewish East End, and will be held during an exhibition of visual art by artist and printmaker Maureen Lopatkin. Both singer and artist were inspired as children by the vitality of East End Jewish life which was an immigrant watershed between the Old World of Eastern Europe and modern post-war England.
Hilda Bronstein was awarded the coveted Mira Rafalowicz prize for the Best Interpretation of Yiddish Song at the International Jewish Music Festival at Amsterdam's Concertgebeouw in 2008 and she was invited back to the Amsterdam Conservatory for a further concert in 2009 where she received a standing ovation. She has also performed at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Union Chapel in Islington, Lauderdale House in Highgate, the Brunei Gallery of SOAS, University of London, and was heard on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour in August 2010. Her 2007 debut album Yiddish Songs Old and New was followed in 2010 by Yiddish Songs with Chutzpah! on which she is accompanied by her newly formed klezmer/swing band who go by the name of Chutzpah! A leading member of that group, Israeli pianist/accordionist Yair Schleider, will be accompanying her at the Spiro Ark.
Maureen Lopatkin was born and brought up in the East End of London. She gained entry to St.Martin's School of Art at the age of fifteen and, after a career in fashion, went on to study History of Art at Middlesex University, and Printmaking at the University of Hertfordshire. Notwithstanding the deprivation and poverty that still existed in the East End after the War, for Maureen, it was in the crowded streets, the bustling markets and at the Yiddish Theatre that one could escape these hardships - and it is these vibrant elements of East End life which now provide the inspiration for her work. She combines traditional methods of printmaking such as silkscreen, mono and etching which she draws into with ink, oil pastels and acrylic paint to produce original images which reflect her engagement with the subject.