Biography
music director, arranger, saxophone, and piano
Hankus Netsky
A multi-instrumentalist, composer, and ethnomusicologist, Dr. Hankus Netsky is chair of New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Improvisation Department, a pioneering multicultural music department now in its 41st year, and is founder and director of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, an internationally renowned Yiddish music ensemble. He has composed extensively for film, theater, and television; collaborated closely with Itzhak Perlman, Robin Williams, Joel Grey, Theodore Bikel, and Robert Brustein; and produced numerous recordings, including ten by the Klezmer Conservatory Band. He was the recipient of the Yosl Mlotek Award and a Forward Fifty Award for his role in the resurgence of traditional Eastern European Jewish ethnic musical culture. From NEC, he was awarded an Outstanding Alumni Award and the Louis Krasner and Lawrence Lesser Awards for Excellence in Teaching. He has also taught at McGill University, Hampshire College, Wesleyan University, and Hebrew College. His essays on Jewish music have been widely published, and Temple University Press released his book, Klezmer, Music and Community in 20th Century Jewish Philadelphia.