Trumpet /flugelhorn /kudu player Pam Fleming has toured internationally with Black Rock Coalition's Nina Simone Tribute, reggae stars Burning Spear, Maxi Priest, Dennis Brown; and global blues group Hazmat Modine, as well as nationwide with Natalie Merchant for Lilith Fair (also guest soloing with Indigo Girls, Queen Latifah, and Sarah McLachlan). Broadcasts: Bonnie Raitt (VH1), Rufus Wainwright (Letterman), "Li'l" Jimmy Scott (PBS Sessions at 54th St). Pam has also played with Government Mule, Easy Star All-Stars ("RadioDread","Dub Side of the Moon", "Lonely Hearts Dub Band"), Cab Calloway, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Palmer, soca star Arrow, The Klezmatics, Buster Poindexter [David Johansen], Toots & the Maytals. She composes original world jazz for her own group, Fearless Dreamer, as heard on their two recordings, Fearless Dreamer and Climb. A graduate of Eastman School of Music, Pam appeared in a recent Festival of New Trumpet Music [FONT]. She performs on all recordings by Metropolitan Klezmer as well as the band’s sister sextet, Isle of Klezbos, and has composed for them as well. Her flugelhorn solo is heard in HBO’s SCHMATTA, and she performed in J. Edgar Klezmer’s hit debut. More at www.fearlessdreamer.com

Hailed by The New York Times for her “delirious abandon” onstage, versatile vocalist Melissa Fogarty began as a leading child performer at the Metropolitan Opera, making her adult debut with New York City Opera in Mark Morris’ production of Purcell’s King Arthur, then singing The Magic Flute at Battery Park. Other acclaimed recent roles: Ottavia (Opera Omnia’s Coronation of Poppea at Le Poisson Rouge) & New York City Opera's Vox Fest for new opera (2007-2009). A favorite of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici, she has performed many of his works, including world premieres (written with Melissa in mind) at Symphony Space. She has also sung with Seattle Baroque, Ensemble for the Seicento, new music North/South Consonance, and Sequitur at Merkin Hall, among others. A graduate of Eastman School of Music, her debut solo CD Handel: Scorned & Betrayed won accolades including an Outmusic Award. Her second recording, Despite & Still, commemorating the centenary of Samuel Barber, has garnered rave reviews. She received the Adams Fellowship at Carmel Bach Festival and Giorgio Cini Fellowship for study in Venice. Vocalist for both Metropolitan Klezmer & Isle of Klezbos, she also starred in J. Edgar Klezmer. For more info: www.melissafogarty.com

Clarinetist/saxophonist Debra Kreisberg performs, composes, arranges and records with the NYC-based Latin jazz octet Los Mas Valientes, Brooklyn singer-songwriters Matt Singer and Steve Waitt, as well as award-winning klezmer bands Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos with whom she has toured in the U.S. and in Europe. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music with an MM in Jazz Studies from Manhattan School of Music, she has also performed with Natalie Merchant, avant-jazz ensemble Joe Gallant & Illuminati, accordionist/composer/performer Rachelle Garniez, Canadian cabaret Yiddish star Theresa Tova, Rochester Philharmonic featuring Natalie Cole, the NYC funk band D'Tripp, and appeared in J. Edgar Klezmer: Songs from My Grandmother’s FBI Files (Dixon Place, Puffin Cultural Forum, JCC in Manhattan). Her compositions have been heard in the documentary Making Their Mark: From German Immigrants to New York City Icons, for the German Consulate, Lincoln Center online (David Rubenstein Atrium), and in the Off-Broadway production of Yisrael Campbell's show, You Can Never Be Too Jewish at NYC's Theater at St Luke’s. She has been heard on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN Worldbeat, and on Showtime's The L Word. In addition to her performing work, Debra is Managing Director of Educational Outreach at the 92nd Street Y School of the Arts, where she develops and implements arts programming for NYC public schools and also serves on the faculty of the 92Y School of Music.

Bassist Saskia Lane, a San Francisco native, began her classical training on violin at the ripe old age of 4, and took up bass the day she turned 11. Her musical path eventually put her on a train bound for New York City, where she received her Masters Degree from The Juilliard School. The Brooklyn-based musician performs throughout the tri-state area with a variety of jazz, world, pop, and classical artists. Currently, Saskia tours worldwide with Dan Zanes & Friends and nationally with her critically-acclaimed cocktail pop trio The Lascivious Biddies (and now their acclaimed kid-friendly Itty Biddies project), also playing in Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concert Series. She can also be seen sharing the stage with the likes of Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Natalie Merchant and Enya. More about Saskia: www.saskialane.com

Drummer/bandleader Eve Sicular formed Metropolitan Klezmer octet (1994) & Isle of Klezbos all-women’s sextet (1998) and has produced their five CDs, receiving multiple NYSCA & Sparkplug Foundation grants and Outmusic Awards and more for creative work with both bands. Her arrangements have been heard in the HBO documentary feature SCHMATTA: Rags to Riches to Rags, Showtime's The L Word, The Royal Ballet’s First Drafts (Covent Garden), and SITI CO’s Score (NY Theatre Workshop, Wexner Center & national tour). She wrote lyrics and music as well as scripting J. Edgar Klezmer Songs from My Grandmother’s FBI Files, a 2008 TimeOut NY Critics Pick supported by NYC’s Department of Cultural Affairs, which played Dixon Place, The JCC in Manhattan and beyond, featuring most Klezbos bandmates in its cast. Her collaboration with Yiddish diva Adrienne Cooper, Krankayt! Jews, Hypochondria & Song, debuted at The JCC in Manhattan. A Harvard honors graduate in Russian History & Literature, she has published & lectured on The Yiddish Celluloid Closet throughout North America & Europe, as well as working for YIVO Institute, Warhol Foundation Archives, and MoMA’s Yiddish film series Bridge of Light. Drumming since age eight, she has also played samba, R&B, Balkan, swing, Cajun/zydeco, Middle Eastern and more with The Voodoobillies, The Mazeltones, Charming Hostess among others on both East & West Coasts.

Born in Nagoya, Japan, accordionist/pianist Shoko Nagai has been evolving as a professional musician & composer for 16 years. In 1999, she moved to NYC, quickly establishing herself in the downtown jazz scene with such renowned artists as John Zorn, Rasheid Ali, Ikue Mori, Cuong Vu, Stomu Takeishi, Butch Morris, Guillermo E Brown, Matana Roberts, Miho Hatori (cibomatto), Roy Champbell, Satoshi Takeishi, Greg Tardy to name a few. Shoko Nagai Quintet featuring some of NYC’s best musicians has performed extensively at BlueNote, Knitting Factory, The Stone, The Kitchen, Location One, Vision Festival as well as other top clubs & concert venues. Nagai also has performed in Finland (Tampere Jazz Festival 2008), Canada (Montreal Jazz Fest ‘08), Italy (Catania Jazz ‘08) Brasil (Res ‘07), Germany (Moers Jazz ‘06), Norway (Natt Jazz ‘98) touring Japan, Europe, US, and Israel. In 2005, she received a grant from Philadelphia Music Project for JazzJaunts, artists composing premieres with music traditions from their cultural roots. Nagai released her first CD Two Levels Crossing in 2000, VORTEX in 2002, Vsoon in 2003. Nagai is also in Vortex free improv duo with piano (Shoko) & electronics (Satoshi Takeishi). They scored Japanese feature Starfish Hotel directed by John Williams, as well as documentary ANPO premiered at Toronto Film Fest 2010. Nagai also scored French feature film L' Amour Cache' conducted by Butch Morris. She performed with Isle of Klezbos bandmates in J. Edgar Klezmer: Songs from My Grandmother's FBI Files, as well as with Sanda Weigl's Gypsy in a Tree ensemble, and is also a frequent guest artist with Metropolitan Klezmer.

Isle of Klezbos first emerged as an organic offshoot of New York's Metropolitan Klezmer. Formed in 1998, the frolicsome six-piece women's band soon became an acclaimed, dancing-in-the-aisles hit at a wide variety of venues from coast to coast, and made their European debut as the final feature for Vienna's first KlezMORE festival. A versatile, neo-traditional ensemble, the group plays imaginative versions of eclectic Eastern European-rooted Jewish folk music, Yiddish swing and tango, plus an ever-expanding repertoire of vibrant originals.

The sextet brings together a rare combination of talent inspired by extensive experiences in an kaleidoscopic array of styles, from klezmer to Cajun, funk, reggae, classical, punk, and Latin jazz. In 2003, the band released their long-awaited debut full-length CD, "Greetings from the Isle of Klezbos," including both studio tracks and live cuts from Joe's Pub and The Knitting Factory. Enthused reviews, awards, and international airplay have abounded.

ISLE of KLEZBOS concert footage has been broadcast internationally on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN WorldBeat, and PBS In The Life. ISLE of KLEZBOS music has also featured on The L Word (Showtime), WFMU, Northeast Public Radio (Live at the Linda), and film soundtracks for Grace Paley: Collected Shorts and I Guess I’m Not Going to Get to Vegas. The band has also made studio recordings of Klezbos arrangements for the double platinum, glam pop Grammy-nominated Scissor Sisters. Formed in 1998 by drummer/leader Eve Sicular, ISLE of KLEZBOS features alumnae of Juilliard & Eastman Schools of Music and has been honored with multiple awards by New York State Council on the Arts, Outmusic, and Sparkplug Foundation. Various Klezbos bandmates have performed in Sicular’s musical documentary theater piece “J. EDGAR KLEZMER: Songs from My Grandmother’s FBI Files,” and several also play together in Metropolitan Klezmer (octet formed in 1994). From Seattle’s Bumbershoot to St. Louis’ Edison Theater, Vienna’s Porgy & Bess to Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater NYC, BAM Cafe to Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturday, Merkin Hall to Michigan Womyn’s Music Fest, National Yiddish Book Center to The Museum at Eldridge Street, and Spiegeltent to 92YTribeca... plus upcoming debuts at Berkeley's Jewish Music Festival, Stanford University, and band residency at Skidmore College.