About
The Magid Ensemble (magid, meaning “storyteller” in Yiddish) is a new collaboration featuring award-winning klezmer musicians and composers Mattias Kaufmann, Raffi Boden, and Rachel Leader, Yiddishist storyteller A. C. Weaver, and visual artist Kiah Raymond. The Magid Ensemble explores the interplay of sound, story, light, and shadow to create expressive and immersive storytelling landscapes.
Artist Bios
Weaver
Weaver is a director, writer, translator, Yiddish dance leader and magid (traditional Jewish oral storyteller) based in Northampton MA. They are a puppet and mask designer, and co-founder/co-artistic director of The People’s Puppet Parade, a radical community parade based around the Jewish calendar which facilitates youth leadership and cultural literacy. They co-founded Theater Between Addresses, an all-queer theater collective which produces new work and has frequent workshops supporting new play development. With a love of all things archetypal and magical, they work with the public using folklore and spectacle to bring people of all ages and backgrounds into creative process.
Story Creator & Narrator
Kiah Raymond
Papercut Crankie Design & Construction, Visual Artist
Kiah Raymond is a multi-disciplinary visual artist living in Portland, OR.
Most of their work finds form at the confluence of visual art, music, and storytelling. They take inspiration from folklore, printmaking, and things observed while out in the woods.
Rachel Leader is a klezmer violinist, cultural organizer, and educator based in Western Massachusetts. A member of award-winning klezmer band Mamaliga, as well as founding member of klezmer bands Burikes and A Glezele Tey, Rachel has toured internationally and served as faculty at festivals including Yiddish New York, KlezKanada, and Yiddish Summer Weimar. Rachel is a recipient of the 2021 Klezmer New Leaders Fellowship and is the director and co-founder of KlezCummington, an annual festival dedicated to celebrating and nourishing Yiddish culture in our community.
Violin, Production Manager
Rachel Leader
Mattias Kaufmann
Accordion, Composition
Mattias is an accordionist based in Boston, MA. Mattias is a founding member of Mamaliga, and plays in the Klezmer duo Farnakht with violinist Zoe Aqua, and Saltare, a 5 piece ensemble shaped by musical and dance traditions from around the world. Mattias was awarded first place in the 2021 Bubbe awards category, “Best Original Klezmer Composition”. Mattias holds a degree in Contemporary Musical Arts from New England Conservatory, where they have worked with Hankus Netsky, Carla Kihlstedt, Guy Klucevsek, Anthony Coleman, Ted Reichman and Malcolm Barsamian. Before living in Boston, Mattias spent several summers studying folk music in Hungary, Romania, and Serbia with Serbian chromatic accordionist Nenad Ivanović, Hungarian accordionist Bobár Zoltán, and Transylvanian musicians Marcel Ramba and Istvanka Varga.
mattiaskaufmann.com
Raffi Boden
Raffi Boden is a NY based cellist, composer and educator known for his groovy bass lines and his versatility. With Mamaliga, he has performed internationally and been a guest artist at Yiddish New York, Yiddish Summer Weimar and KlezKanada. Raffi was recently in the Juilliard production of “Indecent”, for which he worked with composer and music director Lisa Gutkin to compose a cello part for the band. In classical contexts, he has performed internationally in Europe and South America, locally in Carnegie Hall, and with members of the NY Philharmonic. Raffi holds degrees from Juilliard and Oberlin. Raffi is also a member of chamber-jazz ensemble Simone Baron & Arco Belo. These days, Raffi is freelancing in NY, teaching, and working on singing in Yiddish!
raffiboden.com
Cello, Musical Direction