56 | AUGUST 29 • 2024 J
N

ARTS&LIFE
ON THE COVER

All music lovers are invited 
to celebrate Klezmer 
and Yiddish culture. 

M

ichigan is gearing up for its first annual 
Klezmer Festival, KlezMitten. Spearheaded 
by Alan Posner of Berkley, the Sept. 15 
event will include heritage-rich performances by four 
area Klezmer bands and a lively celebration of all 
things Yiddish, right here in Downtown Detroit.
Posner’s goal of the pilot event is to make the cel-
ebration fun for the community and accessible for 
everyone. The event is being run on no budget, with-
out sponsors — “Maybe next year if it grows,” said 
Posner hopefully — and the facilities, International 
Institute, are being graciously donated. The bands 
will be paid whatever is collected at the door. 
Posner got his start in the Klezmer world early. 
“I started playing the sax in fourth grade and 
loved it,” Posner said. “I joined the Beth El Kidz 
Klez Band of Michigan when I 
was in fifth grade and was part of 
it all through middle school and high 
school. Once I graduated college, I 
even directed the band after Cantor 
Steven Dubov passed away — his 
legacy definitely still lives on.”
Posner majored in instrumental 
music education at the University of 
Michigan and became a band director 
in 2009; he’s been directing at Bloomfield Hills High 
School since 2014. 
In the same year, he started his own professional 
band, Klezundheit, which has been performing at 
simchahs throughout the last decade.
“Klezundheit is part of the family,” said Posner, 
and he meant that literally: Part of his family is in 
Klezundheit! His father, Ken Posner, is Klezundheit’s 
part-time vocalist and his mother, Gail Posner, is 

Klezmer Festival

Michigan’s First

Klezundheit

Heartland Klezmorim

Rochel 
Burstyn
Contributing 
Writer