Clarinetist and ethnomusicologist Joel Rubin is an Adjunct Researcher at the University of Bern, Switzerland, Institute of Musicology and Institute of Jewish Studies. Until 2021, he was Associate Professor and Director of Music Performance at the University of Virginia, where he also directed the UVA Klezmer Ensemble. He has been one of the leading figures in the international klezmer movement as performer, scholar, author, educator, and producer for the past forty years.
Academic
Rubin studied classical clarinet with Richard Stoltzman and Kalmen Opperman and learned klezmer from old-time klezmer musicians like Max Epstein and Sid Beckerman. He holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from City, University of London.
As an educator, Rubin has taught together with Kalmen Opperman and Richard Stoltzman at the Clarinet Summit (2004), as well as at Yiddish Summer Weimar, the International Klezmer Festival in Safed, Israel, the International Klezmer Festival in Fürth, the Jewish Culture Festival in Cracow, KlezKamp, KlezCalifornia, Klezfest London, KlezmerQuerque and KlezKanada, among others. He has held numerous residencies, master classes and workshops, and coached ensembles in Europe, North America, and Israel since the mid-1980s. Rubin has also taught at Cornell University, Ithaca College, Syracuse University, and the Humboldt University in Berlin.
Writings
Rubin is the author of New York Klezmer in the Early Twentieth Century: The Music of Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras (U. of Rochester Press, 2020).
Also see the publications section.
Other writings can be found here: academia.edu
Performance
He has led the Joel Rubin Ensemble since 1994, was a founder of the pioneering klezmer revival band Brave Old World, and collaborates regularly with musicians such as Veretski Pass, Uri Caine, Alan Bern, Alicia Svigals, and Steve Greenman. He has performed with Joshua Horowitz as Rubin & Horowitz, as well as with the Epstein Brothers, Moussa Berlin, the Klezmatics, the Painted Bird, and the Klezmer Conservatory Band, concertizing throughout Europe, North America and Asia. He has recorded numerous CDs, most recently The Magid Chronicles with Veretski Pass. His music can be heard in several films, including the French feature-film L’armée du crime (The Army of Crime) and the award-winning documentary portrait, A Tickle in the Heart, which is based on his research and screenplay.
Also see the ensembles section.
Reviews
“Without a doubt one of the greatest klezmer musicians in the world”
(Radio DRS 2, Switzerland)
“Master clarinetist”
(Wall St. Journal Europe)
“Probably the most virtuosic klezmer clarinetist in the world today”
(Dr. Eleonore Büning, S2 Kultur/Southern German Radio)
“The researching intellect among the klezmer players”
(Stuttgarter Zeitung)
“driven the art of Jewish clarinet playing to new heights … The listener who has experienced Rubin’s breathtaking solos once, is not surprised about the spontaneous outbreaks of applause at every concert.”
(Folksblatt)
“With a flawless tone that would make many classical interpreters jealous, Rubin playfully and improvisationally drew forth ever new facets, allowing the sound to rejoice and wail in the high register…”
(Münstersche Zeitung, Münster, Germany)
“… Rubin, more than any other I’ve heard, captures the authentic fibrous roughness of a klezmer clarinet…”
(San Francisco Examiner)
“Whoever has heard his clarinet playing will never forget it! “
(Allgemeine Jüdische Wochenzeitung, Bonn)
“I can barely see Rubin’s hands move, but he’s going wild. Listen to him, hopping octaves and bending notes so smoothly! Man, that dude shreds like Eddie Van Halen.”
(C-Ville Weekly)