Sh’ma: Listen! Speaker Series presents “Vilna Remembered: Celebrate the City of Vilna with Musician Will Sol” on Wednesday, May 17 at 7:00 pm.

Vilna – known as “Jerusalem of Lithuania” – was an outstanding center of Jewish learning and culture before it was decimated by the Nazi plague during World War II. Will Sol plays guitar and mandolin and is one of St. Louis’ most passionate and prolific advocates of Yiddish music. When he traveled to Vilnius (as the city is known in Lithuanian) in 2006 to study Yiddish for a month, he was overwhelmed by the richness of Vilna’s legacy. Spend an hour in Jewish Vilna with Will, as he evokes this remarkable community in klezmer music, story, Yiddish song and the poetry of Abraham Sutzkever.

Mandolinist Will Sol has been performing Klezmer music and Yiddish song and storytelling for the past decade. He studied Yiddish at the Vilnus Yiddish Institute in 2006. He immersed himself in the rich history of Vilna, much of it obliterated by the war. Sol has been quoted as saying that his goal was to learn “at least enough Yiddish to know what I was doing.” The experience did that and much more. He shares his love for Klezmer and Yiddish poetry and storytelling with audiences throughout the region.

The program will take place at the Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library. To RSVP, please contact Nancy Dubman at 314-442-3771 or NDubman@JFedSTL.org. For inquiries, contact Cyndee Levy at 314-442-3754 or CLevy@JFedSTL.org.

Co-sponsored by Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library and the Holocaust Museum & Learning Center. Learn more about the Sh’ma: Listen! Speaker Series and apply for your organization’s speaker to be featured at JFedSTL.org/SpeakerSeries. Sh’ma Listen! is generously funded by the Lubin-Green Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, and Hank Webber and Chris Jacobs.