Anthony Russell is a performer, composer and arranger specializing in music in the Yiddish language. His work in traditional Ashkenazi Jewish musical forms led to a musical exploration of his own ethnic roots through the research, arrangement and performance of African American folk music, resulting in the EP 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, Anthony formed a duo, Tsvey Brider (“Two Brothers”), with accordionist and pianist Dmitri Gaskin for the creation of new music set to modernist Yiddish poetry of the 20th century. Their new album, Kosmopolitn, is set for release this August on the Borscht Beat label.

 

A Hadar Rising Song Fellow (2021-22), Anthony is also an essayist on music and culture in a number of publications including Jewish Currents and Moment Magazine.  Anthony lives in Atlanta, GA with his husband of six years, Rabbi Michael Rothbaum.