Violinist Deborah Strauss wins 2024 ‘Dreaming in Yiddish Award’

The award, named after the late singer Adrienne Cooper, supports artists who have contributed to the Yiddish cultural scene.

Photo by Shendl Copitman

By Forverts Staff November 7, 2024

Deborah Strauss, the widely praised klezmer violinist and educator, is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish Award. The ceremony will take place at the Yiddish New York Festival in December.

Adrienne Cooper was a popular Yiddish singer, musician and activist who was integral to the revival of klezmer music. The Dreaming in Yiddish award supports artists who have contributed to the contemporary Yiddish cultural scene.

Since the mid-1980s, Strauss has found her life’s passion in the world of Yiddish music and culture. Raised in a traditional home filled with European cantorial music, family melodies, Ashkenazic liturgy, Hasidic nigunim and Jewish art song, Strauss’ childhood paved the way to a deep connection to klezmer and Yiddish music.

Strauss was a member of the Chicago Klezmer Ensemble; was featured in the Emmy Award-winning film Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler’s House, and was a member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. She is also in a duo with her husband, guitarist, mandolinist and singer Cantor Jeff Warschauer, and the two have been performing, recording, and teaching together worldwide for nearly 30 years.

Strauss is also a highly regarded Yiddish dancer and award-winning children’s educator who has taught Jewish culture, history, and music at the Workers Circle Yiddish secular schools for more than 20 years.

Previous honorees of the Dreaming in Yiddish award include Shane Baker, Michael Wex, Nikolai “Kolya” Borodulin and Rokhl Kafrissen.

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