YSW-Team
Dr. Alan Bern
Dr. Alan Bern

is co-founder and chairman of othermusic e.V. and creator and artistic director of Yiddish Summer Weimar and Winter Edition. He is a composer/arranger, pianist, accordionist, educator, cultural activist and philosopher. He is co-founder and director of Brave Old World, founder and director of The Other Europeans and Diaspora Redux, and he also performs with Bern, Brody & Rodach and with Guy Klucevsek. His education included classical piano with Paul Badura-Skoda and Leonard Shure, jazz with Karl Berger, the Art Ensemble of Chicago,  Anthony Braxton and others, contemporary music with John Cage, Frederic Rzewski, Joel Hoffman and others, and philosophy and cognitive science with Dan Dennett. He received his master's degree in Philosophy and his doctorate degree in music composition. In 2009, he was given the Ruth Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a musician and educator and achievement with Brave Old World.
>> www.alanbern.net

 
Katrin Füllsack
Katrin Füllsack

has been part of the Yiddish Summer Weimar management team since 2004, and part of the Winter Edition management team since 2008. She has been an associate for press and public relations in the Department of Planning and Communication at the Erfurt Technical University, and has studied journalism at the German Journalism School (Berlin) since 2007. Between 2004-2006 she was worked in the Kulturbüro LaRete (Ettersburg). She studied art history and sociology from 1996-2004 at the University of Jena and wrote her master's thesis on "Vogue 1950-70. The Staging of Femininity. A visual history of the development of fashion photography." She is responsible for public relations and project management.

 
Katrin Petlusch
Katrin Petlusch

I am an art historian and arts administrator. Following my Master's degree in Art History, Psychology and History at the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany in 2001, I began work as an arts administrator for Kulturbüro LaRete, Weimar, organizing European exhibitions (überMENSCHEN, EUROPA VIDEO ARTE, Coniugazioni) and festivals (Notti Italiane, Klezmer Wochen Weimar, Yiddish Summer Weimar). 
I‘m also responsible for concept development, fundraising, public relations and management for several non-profit organizations (other music e.V., DIGIT Deutsch-Italienische Gesellschaft in Thüringen e.V., VDIG Vereinigung Deutsch-Italienischer Kultur-Gesellschaften e.V., VDKC Verband Deutscher Konzertchöre e.V., Kuratorium Schloss Ettersburg e.V.). From 2007 to 2010 I was coordinator of the 90th anniversary of the Bauhaus (Bauhausjahr 2009) in the "ImPuls-Region Weimar - Jena - Erfurt". 
Since 2002 I am connected with and dedicated to Yiddish Summer Weimar (at that time „Klezmer Wochen Weimar”) and I am founding member of other music e.V. and since 2005 member of the board.
From March 2012 I take care of very special „project“ and dedicate myself to my baby Nils and look forward to be guest at Yiddish Summer Weimar.

 
Johannes Paul Gräßer
Johannes Paul Gräßer

Johannes Paul Gräßer joined the othermusic e.V. team as an associate in December 2009. His musical focus has been klezmer and East European music since 1999. He is a member and initiator of several ensembles performing folk music, classical music and experimental music. In addition to various solo projects, he also plays violin with the Modern Klezmer Quartet and was a founding member of The Painted Bird. He is also the organizer and creator of cultural projects. The core value of his work is "to reflect on what is essential and fundamental with a basic honesty that allows the audience to find itself."
>> www.jpg-online.de

 
Kerstin Herrn

I come from Leipzig, where I studied English and Spanish at the university following my final secondary-school examinations. My studies included half a year in Great Britain at Manchester Metropolitan University. After completing a master's degree, I began voluntary work as a television editor. Working with different production companies, I created video content for television stations and corporations, which I immensely enjoyed and which brought me into contact with an incredible number of people. Since 2007 I've been a freelance journalist specializing in writing and press relations. In 2007 I also first became acquaintanced with Yiddish Summer and worked as its press relations director. The experience was fascinating, expanding my horizons and developing me further professionally and personally: I learned a lot, not only about music but also about the connections among cultures and religions, remarkable in a small city like Weimar. That's why I'm with the Yiddish Summer Weimar Festival today.

 
Judith Trechsler

grew up and attended school in the beautiful surrounding of Hesse. After having spent some time abroad in New Zealand, she started studying applied cultural studies at the university of Lüneburg. 2009 she visited Weimar for the first time, taking care of a group of international young people during a work camp at the Yiddish Summer. Once experienced the extraordinary atmosphere at the Yiddish Summer, Judith returned in the following years to support the mangagement team during summer. Also in this year, she will be a part of the team, doing her best, to make the Yiddish Summer a unique experience for everyone.

 
Valentin Schmehl

was stunned by the philosophy and atmosphere of OTHER Music right from his first contact with Alan Bern and friends at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar. That's where he studied cultural management and art history / visual semiotics (Jena) and that's why he currently lives in Weimar. Valentin, mostly called Tino, loves to connect people and therefore aims to support the "Vereins-culture" of othermusic e.V. and tries to bring more organizations and interesting/interested people into contact with the spirit, ideas and visions of Other Music. Speaking French, English, German, Thai, Arabic and Norwegian, he'll probably be of help for some of you. He's looking forward to meet you and maybe have a little dance with some of you at Yiddish Summer 2012!