Anthony Russel

Anthony Russell is a multidisciplinary artist working in the medium of Yiddish language and culture. His work in Ashkenazi Jewish musical forms led to an exploration of his own ethnic roots through the research, arrangement and performance of a hundred years of African American music, resulting in Convergence (2018), a collaboration with klezmer consort Veretski Pass exploring the sounds and themes of one hundred years of African American and Ashkenazi Jewish music. Inspired by an ethnographic trip to Belarus and Poland as a Wallis Annenberg Helix Fellow (2016-17), Anthony formed a duo, Tsvey Brider (“Two Brothers”), with accordionist and pianist Dmitri Gaskin for the composition and performance of original music set to Yiddish poetry. Their recent release, Kosmopolitn, features their settings of 20th century Yiddish modernist poetry for voice and string ensemble. A past Hadar Rising Song, AJU Public, and Mandel Institute Cultural Leadership Fellow and present Mitchell J. Gerstein Distinguished Visiting Artist in Residence at the University of Toronto, Anthony has expanded his work into cultural activism through collaboration with the Workers Circle and as an essayist in a number of publications including The Forward, Tablet Magazine, JTA, PROTOCOLS, Full Stop, Magazine, Ayin Press and Jewish Currents. Anthony lives in San Diego, CA with his husband of ten years, Rabbi Michael Rothbaum.