Fabian Schnedler was born in 1973 in Berlin. He studied Yiddish and German Literature at the University of Trier and graduated in Literature, Performance Studies, and Ethnomusicology from the Freie Universitaet Berlin. He was a student at Ernst Busch Drama School, and has worked as an actor with, amongst others, Robert Wilson.

Schnedler has been involved in Yiddish song and music since 1991. He studied Yiddish song and dance at festivals in Oxford, Brussels, Weimar, Krakow, and New York. His teachers included Michael Alpert, Steve Weintraub, Adrienne Cooper, Alan Bern, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman and Sruli Dresdner. He taught Yiddish Singing at Yiddish Summer Weimar and Klezkanada.



Together with Franka Lampe (accordion) he founded Schikker wi Lot in 2002, and since 2008 the duo has been occupied with “Ganovim-Lider” (Thieves' songs). Schikker wi Lot staged and recorded this unheard song collection by Shmuel Lehmans at Yiddish Summer Weimar 2013.



"What ways of performing Yiddish music can we find today?" This question has become a motor in Schnedler's work in recent years.  He found a very personal answer with his Yiddpop-project His band Fayvish brings together singer-songwriter, indie pop and Yiddish poetry.

In 2012 he conceived and was a part of the Semer Project  a cooperation with Alan Bern, Lorin Sklamberg, and Paul Brody, among others. The ideo of the project is to bring back to the stage Yiddish and Jewish Songs that were recorded in 1930s Berlin.

Fabian Schnedler works at the educational department of the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

www.schikker-wi-lot.de
www.fayvish.de

Photo: Manu Miethe