Isabel Frey

You are warmly invited to an evening of New Yiddish song. In this transcontinental collaboration, Isabel Frey (voice, guitar) of Vienna and Dmitri Gaskin (accordion) of California present both new and classic works from the Yiddish repertoire. The program includes original compositions from both artists, including a world premiere, alongside hidden gems drawn from the archives. Please join us for an evening of musical and cultural exploration.

Isabel Frey is a Yiddish singer, ethnomusicologist and cultural organizer. She currently works as a Senior Artist at the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where she researches and teaches Yiddish music, and is the co-curator of the KlezMORE Festival Vienna. She is an internationally recognized teacher, performer and scholar of Yiddish song and has released several albums, including Millennial Bundist (2020), the duo album Soveles with Esther Wratschko (2022), and Di Fliendike Pave (2024). She is currently preparing a new duo album Lebn mir eybik? with Benjy Fox-Rosen, to be released in the fall of 2026.

Dmitri Gaskin (accordion) is an instrumentalist, composer, and arranger specializing in klezmer as well as Polish and Romanian folk music. He performs regularly with the klezmer bands Baymele and Tsvey Brider, and has shared the stage with the Louisville Orchestra, David Krakauer, Socalled (Josh Dolgin), Kurt Bjorling, and Veretski Pass, among others. In 2025, with Baymele, he released an instrumental album titled Sapling. Dmitri was the accordionist and music director for the 2022 production of Indecent at the San Francisco Playhouse. He serves as board chair of KlezCalifornia and festival director of the KlezCalYidFest. Dmitri studied accordion with Josh Horowitz and Alan Bern.

Tuesday, January 27, 8pm
Yung Yidish Wien, Lilienbrunngasse 18, 1020 Vienna

The event is partly sponsored by the City of Vienna.

Pre-registration is obligatory. Please send an email to [email protected] with subject line FREY-GASKIN and your name in the body of the email.

Tickets: 15 EUR on the door; 12 EUR for YYW members and FREE for under 18

What an incredible evening with a concert of all the songs from the .mit.palestine album - a compilation of 17 new original Yiddish songs in solidarity with Palestinians and in response to the atrocities committed in Gaza in our name. It is so special that we were able to bring all these artists together for a live performance.

I got to perform „Goles-himen“, my diasporist rewriting of the Israeli national anthem together with the incredible of .music and

I am so immensely grateful to be part of this beautiful community of artists that are so deeply driven by their love for Yiddishkeit and dare to stand up against all forms of injustice, destruction and genocide.

Please purchase the album on Bandcamp (link in bio) - all proceeds are donated to the music-therapeutic-educational project in Gaza 🙏❤️

I feel so honored by this beautiful review of my album “Di fliendike pave” written by Adah Hetko for .geveb 🥰 (link in bio)

“Di fliendike pave is a very ambitious project. Through Di fliendike pave, Isabel Frey shows the world what Yiddish song can be and what it can do.”

You can listen to or buy the album on the Bandcamp page of

Very proud to share this new music video of my song "In farnakht // At twilight" from my latest album "Di fliendike pave" (avaliable on Borscht Beat) – a setting of the poetry by revolutionary Dovid Krivitsky, featuring Zoe Aqua, Moritz Weiß and Ivan Trenev. The breathtaking video was directed by my dear Luzia Johow with the help of many other talented artists. Check it out!

In farnakht // At twilight – Isabel Frey – New Yiddish Song In farnakht / אין פֿאַרנאַכט / At twilightFrom the album "Di fliendike pave", avaliable on Borsht BeatThis is my setting of a poem by Dovid Krivitsky (1882–1...

The 2025 MMRC Lecture „Minority Voices in Civil Society: Exclusion - Inclusion - Solidarity in Music“
with Martin Stokes , Isabel Frey and Marwan Abado .abado

Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 7:00 p.m., Future Art Lab Concert Hall,

Where do marginalised groups locate themselves within civil society, and how do they express their concerns? How can music contribute to negotiating belonging and participation? What collective cultural and musical practices can be employed to challenge political power and representation dynamics and create spaces for transnational solidarity? The MMRC Lecture 2025 with Martin Stokes (Kings College, London), Isabel Frey (IVE, mdw) and Marwan Abado (musician, Vienna) wil explore and reflect on these areas of tension from academic and musical perspectives.

The event will also be livestreamed and will be available afterwards on the mdw Mediathek.

Register on the Website of the Music and Minorities Research Center (MMRC)