Josh Waletzky has sung, recorded, taught and composed Yiddish music all his life.He co - produced the Grammy - nominated CD “Partisans of Vilna: Songs of Jewish Resistance in World War II” (1989), and his groundbreaking CD of original Yiddish songs, “Crossing the Shadows” (2001), was greeted as “a classic of the American - Jewish folk revival.” Upon the release of his newest album of original Yiddish songs, “PASAZHIRN / Passengers” (2017), Waletzky was hailed as “the poet - laureate of new Yiddish songwriting.” His latest Yiddish song cycle, “pleytem tsuzamen / Refugees together,” was commissioned by Yiddish Summer Weimar in 2019 and had its American premiere at the National Yiddish Theater - Folksbiene in 2023. Waletzky has taught Yiddish song and songwriting internationally, including at Yiddish Summer Weimar and Yiddish New York.
He is also an award - winning documentary filmmaker.He sound - edited the Academy Award - winning film Harlan County, USA(1976); directed the films “Image Before My Eyes” (1981) and “Partisans of Vilna” (1986); directed the Academy Award - nominated film “Music for he Movies: Bernard Herrmann” (1992) and edited the Emmy Award - winning “Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler's House” (1995).Since 2005, he has directed and written the music for four documentaries on Yiddish writers, most recently “With Pen and Paintbrush: Yonia Fain” (2018).
