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October 12, 2026, 7:50 PM · Violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley has a fascinating perspective, between his American roots, his Jewish heritage and his 12 years in Germany as First Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Bendix-Balgley is at the center of a new release from Berlin Philharmonic Recordings, which showcases his talents as a soloist and composer in a recording called Klezmer Concerto. The recording celebrates Jewish music, featuring his “Fidl-Fantazye” Klezmer Concerto, as well as other klezmer arrangements by Bendix-Balgley, performed with the Berlin Phil.
It’s a remarkable milestone, considering Bendix-Balgley’s family history. Back in the early 20th century, Berlin was home to his paternal grandfather and great grandfather and their family — before they had to flee to escape the Nazis.
“It is poignant to be able to play this Jewish music in Berlin, in the Philharmonie,” Bendix-Balgley said, “and to celebrate this Jewish musical tradition that was nearly lost.”
BELOW: an excerpt from the 1st movement of Noah’s Fidl-Fantazye.
Bendix-Balgley himself was born in Asheville, N.C. and started violin when he was four. His studies took him to Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and the Munich Hochschule, with his principal mentors being Mauricio Fuks, Christoph Poppen and Ana Chumachenco. He was a laureate of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition and won top prizes at the Long-Thibaud Competition in France and the Postacchini Competition in Italy.
Bendix-Balgley wrote his Klezmer Concerto 10 years ago, in celebration of his Jewish heritage, family traditions and lifelong personal connection with klezmer music. He premiered it with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Philharmonic, where he had served as Concertmaster from 2011 until 2015. This recording features a live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, in a Late Night concert in 2023 at the Philharmonie Berlin.
Bendix-Balgley spoke with Violinist.com about his family, about connecting to klezmer music through his father, about his composing process, his observations about American and German symphony orchestras, and his new orchestral excerpt project with Henle.
Violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley. Photo by Nikolaj Lund
Laurie: Tell me a little bit about your upbringing, Jewish heritage and klezmer roots.
Noah: I grew up in a Jewish family in Asheville, North Carolina. My parents truly love and appreciate music classical music, but are not musicians themselves. I remember that classical and folk music was always on in the house. Most often it was classical public radio station in Western North Carolina, but also albums from my parents’ collections of classical and folk music. I do recall there being some Berlin Philharmonic recordings with Herbert von Karajan!
My father Erik Bendix is a professional dancer and dance teacher who specializes in the folk dance traditions of Eastern Europe, so I heard a lot of traditional folk music growing up, music from Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and also klezmer music from the Yiddish tradition.
BELOW: Erik Bendix demonstrates his choreography for Noah’s Klezmer violin concerto.
As a kid, I was often at my father’s workshops and festivals that he taught at. As I had started playing violin, I became interested in learning those folk music styles on violin, whether Greek, Bulgarian, or klezmer. And there were fantastic musicians and bands playing at these festivals. So I got to know great klezmer musicians from bands like Brave Old World and The Klezmatics and started learning the style myself.
Laurie: What was your composing process for the Fidl-Fantazye? Did you improvise, and then write things down? Are there any direct quotes of particular klezmer tunes?
Noah: The first question I had to address was whether to use traditional klezmer melodies that I knew and feature those in my piece, or to compose my own melodies. I chose the latter option, using my knowledge of the style and tunes I know as an influence, but making up my own melodies. To come up with ideas, I definitely played around and improvised first with the violin. So the composition came very much from a player’s perspective.
I also worked at the piano, though my pianistic skills are limited! But it is essential for me to try out harmonies and ideas there. I then collaborated with the wonderful composer Samuel Adler, an important figure of American classical composition and education since many decades. He took my violin/piano version and orchestrated it, bringing color and atmosphere, and some seriously challenging licks for solo players in the orchestra!
My concerto features a number of different dance forms from the klezmer tradition, for example “Khosidl,” “Terkischer,” “Hora” and “Freilekhs.” These different dances are distinguished by their tempo, meter, and rhythmic groove. Of course when composing for example a Hora for my concerto, I had in mind the traditional Hora tunes that I know.
The quotes I did use though were actually from Gustav Mahler: specifically from his Fifth Symphony. Mahler famously used klezmer style in some of his symphonies (most overtly in the third movement of the First Symphony). A couple of melodies from the Fifth Symphony have always sounded ‘klezmery’ to me.
The premiere of my concerto was paired with Mahler’s Fifth in June 2016, and so I decided to put in some Mahler quotes in the klezmer concerto, starting in the second movement. It was my answer to a fantasized idea that perhaps Mahler heard these melodies played by a klezmer band, and then put them in a classical setting!
BELOW: Fidl-Fantazye, movement IIa. Doina – Nign.
Laurie: It’s been some 10 years since you premiered Fidl-Fantazye: A Klezmer Concerto – what has been the response? Has there been anything surprising? Did it feel different to play it with your colleagues in the Berlin Phil, vs. Pittsburgh?
Noah: The Klezmer Concerto has been such a wonderful way to bring this style that I love around the world, and introduce it to classical audiences. It is always really fun to see how different ensembles get to know the piece and style and then really embrace the joy and emotion of it!
I’ve been lucky to play it often – this season I think I’ll play it with the 20th different orchestra so far, from the U.S., to Germany, France, Austria, and China.
Here is one little story that I think illustrates what I love about the experience: After the premiere with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the second place I performed the concerto was in Beijing, with the China Philharmonic in 2017.
The musicians there didn’t know about klezmer music at all, but they were so receptive and really got into the style. A few of the musicians came up to me and said that they really like this music so much, and it reminded them of the folk music from Northwestern China, Xinjiang. The music there also uses mixed meters, with lots of augmented intervals – common features of Middle Eastern music. Of course Western China was at one end of the Silk Road, while the Eastern European Jews were at the other end. I thought it was wonderful how it connected to this other tradition and resonated with the musicians in Beijing!
Every time I play it with a different ensemble, it’s a new adventure, and I like that. Because the piece allows for and encourages flexibility and some improvisational qualities, it’s great to see how different musicians take up that challenge.
To play it and then record it with my Berlin Philharmonic colleagues was a real honor, because this is my musical family now, and I am inspired by my colleagues here all the time.
Berlin was also the home of my father’s family (my grandfather and great grandfather) before they had to flee to escape the Nazis. So it is poignant to be able to play this Jewish music in Berlin, in the Philharmonie, and to celebrate this Jewish musical tradition that was nearly lost.
Laurie: Tell be about the other work on your album, Odessa Bulgar. What drew you to this traditional piece, and what is it about?
Noah: Odessa Bulgar is a klezmer classic, a tune I have played since I was a kid. I play it in a medley of tunes, starting out with an improvisation called a Doina, and then going to a beautiful slow Hora tune called “Der Gasn Nign,” which means “The Street Tune,” This was traditionally played as a processional through the streets on a wedding day.
BELOW: “Odessa Bulgar”
I had previously arranged these tunes for the septet I play in, Philharmonix. For the klezmer concert in Berlin, I rearranged it for orchestra, expanding the scale, and bringing in more instruments and featuring prominently the clarinet, trumpet, piano and solo cello.
The close out the album, I play a solo violin tune called “Yismekhu.” I learned this moving melody from the klezmer violinist and vocalist Michael Alpert, who in turn learned it from the legendary klezmer violinist Abe Schwartz. In this tune, you can hear clearly the krechtz of the klezmer violin. This ornament is quintessential to the klezmer style, and imitates the cry or wail of cantors when their voices break with emotion.
BELOW: Noah performs “Yismekhu” for violin solo.
Laurie: You are an American violinist, but you have been a leader in the Berlin Phil for a long time. How many years have you been there? With the orchestra performing in New York, do you have any thoughts on classical music in the two countries? What could we learn from each other in our approaches, both musically and socially?
Noah: I have been First Concertmaster in Berlin since 2014. Time flies! This is a shared position – I have a wonderful colleague Daishin Kashimoto who is also First Concertmaster. Having a shared position is already a difference between German orchestras and American ones: in Pittsburgh I was the only one in the position.
In Berlin, we do have a lot of flexibility with our schedule, since principal positions are shared. So when I am not playing in the orchestra, I can play solo concerts, play with my chamber groups such as Philharmonix and my Rosamunde String Quartet, or teach. The members of the Berlin Philharmonic really value the flexibility they have and relish the opportunity to pursue artistic projects outside of the orchestra, whether it is chamber ensembles, teaching, conducting or composing. I find that these “outside” artistic endeavors enrich the playing and atmosphere in the orchestra. When colleagues return to play orchestra after time away for other musical pursuits, they come back with new impulses, energy and ideas.
The Berlin Philharmonic is a self-run democratic orchestra. This democracy can be messy and time-consuming, but I like that in the end we are masters of our destiny. The whole orchestra votes at the auditions, decides on tenure for new members, elects the chief conductor, and is involved all important decisions for the orchestra. That is a big difference with American orchestras, where there is unfortunately often a feeling among musicians that important decisions (including artistic ones) are made by management, and musicians can feel left out of the process. Just look at the ongoing situation with the Boston Symphony.
However, I don’t claim that the German model could simply be transplanted to the U.S., since it is completely different. Most German orchestras are primarily relying on public funding, while for U.S. orchestras it is private funding. And U.S. orchestras can build amazing connections with their communities and audiences through the U.S. model, and they can be extremely creative and ambitious because of this.
I do think the German model could (and should) take some elements from the U.S. one, and bring in some more private funding as well. That is becoming necessary too, as arts budget cuts are always a topic in Germany, even recently in Berlin.
Laurie: I understand you have a new orchestral studies book published by Henle – please tell me about that. What inspired you to write it? Do you find yourself teaching or coaching violinists on orchestra excerpts? How is your book different from other such books? Is it just for violin, or for other instruments, too? Did you collaborate with other musicians on it?
Noah: Young violinists often ask me for advice and tips about orchestral excerpts and auditions. I try to help and share what I can, based on my own experiences taking auditions, playing in orchestras and listening to auditions. But I have often found that this idea of “studying excerpts” drives young musicians into a smaller and smaller corner. Only these very short bits of music that are drilled and practiced over and over again in isolation, and all this pressure to “do it right” and in a way the committee will like. This seems to separate orchestral excerpts from music-making and from the wonderful orchestral repertoire that they are drawn from.
I decided I wanted to address this properly and prepare a new orchestral excerpts book. The book will have two parts: the most common audition excerpts, presented as cleanly and accurately as possible (which has been a problem with past collections!). And an appendix, with those same excerpts, accompanied by short texts addressing the context of each excerpt, technical and musical aspects, as well as my suggestions for fingerings and bowings. And I will also have tutorial videos on all the excerpts.
The Orchestral Studies series from Henle will eventually feature all the instruments of the orchestra. It is coming out on their newly announced ‘Horizons’ series.
We start however with strings, and those books will be published later in 2027, as well as on the Henle App.
There are some fantastic other musicians involved in this project who I really respect: Wolfram Brandl will do the operatic violin excerpts: he is Concertmaster of the Berlin State Opera. For viola, we have Teng Li, principal Violist of the Chicago Symphony, and Milan Milisavljevic of the Metropolitan Opera. On cello, my Berlin Philharmonic colleague Ludwig Quandt, and Sennu Laine from the Berlin State Opera. And for bass, Ödön Racz, who is Principal bass of the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera.
It is a big project, but one that I am so excited about!
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