Soul to Soul 2021 (feat. Zalmen Mlotek, Elmore James, and Tatiana Wechsler)

This episode is all about NYTF's annual concert tradition: Soul to Soul.  The electrifying and emotionally captivating theatrical concert that explores the parallels of African American and Jewish history takes to our virtual stage this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. 

We interview NYTF Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek and singer Elmore James. We discuss how the two artists first met, their relationship to Yiddish and African Music, and learn about how the first Soul to Soul concert came to fruition.

Then, we talk to Soul to Soul director/producer Tatiana Wechsler about the process of making Soul to Soul virtually, growing up in an African and Jewish household, her performing influences, and her time performing with NYTF in The Golden Bride.


About our Guests
Zalmen Mlotek is an internationally recognized authority on Yiddish folk and theater music as well as a leading figure in the Jewish theatre and concert worlds. For the past 20 years, he has been the Artistic Director and conductor at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. He brought Yiddish-Klezmer music to Broadway and Off-Broadway stages with the Tony-nominated Those Were the Days and Drama Desk Nominated Amerike – The Golden Land. He serves as Music Director for most NYTF productions, including the Drama Desk Nominated musical, THE GOLDEN BRIDE. His music can be heard in over two-dozen recordings and films, has taught and performed all over the world and worked with countless singers including Jan Peerce, Theodore Bikel and Mandy Patinkin. He is currently the musical director and conductor of critically acclaimed, award-winning Fidler Afn Dakh (Fiddler on the Roof – In Yiddish), directed by Joel Grey. He received his musical training at the Juilliard School of Music and studied under Leonard Bernstein.

Elmore James Elmore James has spent a lifetime in the theater as an actor, Broadway musical performer, international opera singer, and director. He has performed at all the major musical venues in New York City, including the Metropolitan Opera House and Carnegie Hall, as well as in the opera houses of Europe.​

Tatiana Wechsler – NYTF: The Golden Bride, The Sorceress. Off-Broadway: X: Or, Betty Shabazz…, Julius Caesar (The Acting Company). NYC: Othello. First woman to play Curly in Oklahoma! (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Regional: Love in Hate Nation (Two River Theatre), Benny & Joon (Paper Mill Playhouse), The Legend of Georgia McBride (Marin Theatre Company), Love’s Labor’s Lost (OSF). Film: Netuser. Appearances at The O’Neill Theater Center, Joe’s Pub, Feinstein’s/54 Below, Yankee Stadium, Birdland, The Beacon Theatre, Madison Square Garden, Town Hall, The Minskoff Theatre, Lincoln Center, The Delacorte Theater, and Radio City Music Hall. Singer-songwriter. NYU New Studio graduate.