‘Polina and Merlin Shepherd – the Led Zeppelin of contemporary Yiddish music.’ – Seth Rogovoy, author, “The Essential Klezmer”
Merlin and Polina Shepherd Duo (clarinets, voice, piano) perform together in a way that is rarely encountered. They play music from several linked cultures with improvisation, freedom and spontaneity. The Duo’s playful approach to their root traditions – klezmer, Slavic, East European and southern MediteÂrranean – is full of knowledge and deference. It creates a unique sound that embraces the eÂnduring spirit of folklore and takes the listener to new dimensions.
Merlin & Polina have been performing as a duo since 2004. Apart from their own concerts, they collaborate internationally with performers of various disciplines: a baroque orchestra, a punk band, contemporary dancers, DJs, theatre productions…
Most recently, they were guest soloists on a US and European tour with Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland’s leading Baroque Orchestra. As soloists in the European and American Premiere of Josh Waletzky’s Pleytem Tsuzamen / “Refugees Together” first in Weimar, Germany then Folksbiene Theatre in New York. The most recent collaboration is with Buffo’s Wake Klezmer funk band in Brighton and beyond.
Other collaborations (to name a but few) …
- Concerts in New York and Warsaw with Jinta-la-Mvta (Japan).
- Three Centuries Ago, a programme featuring Rohan Kriwaczek on The Saddest Bagpipes in the World (UK).
- Sklamberg & the Shepherds with Lorin Sklamberg, the lead singer of the Grammy Award winning Klezmatics (USA).
- A programme with an Icelandic choir Söngfjelagið, Reykjavik.
- Mit Jiddisch gegen Rechts with Stella’s Morgenshtern (Germany),
- A programme with Zemel Choir London, performed in London and Brighton.
Together they also have perform as The Sound and Light Cinematic Duo, accompanying the Yuri Morozov Collection of B&W silent Jewish films made in Russia and Ukraine in 1910-1930. Many of these films have not been seen for decades. They have screened and accompanied many films from the archive at events and film festivals in North and South America and throughout Europe and the UK. See the project website here.
Cities where they performed have included London, Brighton, Paris, Murcia, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Brussels, Toronto, Moscow, Kiev, Warsaw, St Petersburg, Kazan, Osnabruck, to name but a few.
Venues include Queen Elizabeth Hall, Rich Mix (London), Joe’s Pub and Winter Garden at Brookfield Place (New York), Brighton Dome and Old Market (Brighton & Hove), The Sage (Gateshead), Midland Arts Centre (Birmingham), Rockpalast (Berlin), The Sage (Gateshead), The Stables (Milton Keynes), Pontio (Bangor), and the list carries on.
Recordings, collaborative and as a duo:
- Aheym – homeward – Sklamberg & The Shepherds, 2015
- Three Centuries Ago – Solo CD featuring Merlin Shepherd and Rohan Kriwaczek, 2014
- A Blade of Grass – Merlin and Polina Shepherd, 2012
- Civilization – Polina Skovoroda with Fanfara, 2010.
- Never mind the Balkans – Max Pashm, Elektrikos/Organikos Records, 2008
- Baym taykh – The Polina Shepherd Vocal Experience, Ashkenazim, Oriente 2007.
Merlin & Polina Shepherd Duo 