Hankus Netsky

artistic director, NEC Klezmer Band

A multi-instrumentalist, composer, and scholar, Hankus Netsky teaches improvisation and Jewish music. He is the founder and director of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, an internationally renowned Yiddish music ensemble. Netsky has previously taught Jewish music at Hebrew College and Wesleyan University, and has lectured extensively in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Several of his essays on klezmer music have been published by the University of California Press. Netsky has produced numerous recordings, including almost a dozen by the Klezmer Conservatory Band. He has composed extensively for film and television, and has collaborated with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, Robin Williams, Joel Grey, and Theodore Bikel. At Commencement 2001, Hankus Netsky received NEC's Louis and Adrienne Krasner Teaching Excellence Award. Netsky has also been the recipient of NEC's Outstanding Alumni Award and Laurence Lesser Award for excellence in teaching. Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, Wesleyan University. B.M. with honors, M.M. with honors, NEC. Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Jazz with Jaki Byard and George Russell; contemporary improvisation with Ran Blake. He is a former member of the faculty for the Yiddish Folk Arts Institute and Hebrew College.