Avi Hoffman, one of the world's most acclaimed Yiddish actors, directors and performers, is coming to Romania, at the invitation of the State Jewish Theatre, for the 10th edition of the TES FEST Yiddish International Theatre Festival, which will take place from May 21 to 30, according to a press release from the organizers sent to AGERPRES on Monday.

This year's festival, an anniversary edition, coincides with the 185th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Goldfaden, known as the 'Father of Yiddish Theater'.

A world premiere of 'Song of Songs', written by King Solomon will be presented in the opening of the festival. The show is directed by Alexander Hausvater, his fifth collaboration with the State Jewish Theater.

This year, professional Yiddish theater troupes from the USA, Israel, Poland, as well as world-renowned klezmer music artists will perform in front of the Bucharest audience.

'We have invited our friends from Israel, the Yiddishpiel Theater, who are presenting a wonderful musical called 'The Golden Bride'. Joining this festival, of course, are our brothers from Poland, the State Jewish Theater of Poland, with a show dedicated to the memory of the heroes of Warsaw, suggestively titled 'Ghetto Gancels'. Besides that, we have prepared interesting workshops, some for actors, others for the general public, workshops held by our friends from the United States, the director of the State Jewish Theatre of New York, Mr. Zalmen Mlotek, and the famous actor Avi Hoffman, a household name of the Jewish Theatre in the United States,' said TES director, Andrei Munteanu.

The International Festival of Yiddish Theater - TES FEST is addressed to the general public of all age groups and aims to open, through specific means of expression, a door of knowledge, thus contributing to understanding, acceptance and rapprochement between cultures. The artistic events will be translated into Romanian.

'The Professional Jewish Theater was born in Romania. The State Jewish Theater in Bucharest is a reference pole for the world Jewish culture, everyone knows about our theater and it is a source of pride for our country that it has been preserved, is going forward, is developing. The public is interested in the Jewish cultural heritage, comes to the theater, is eager for theater and this fact makes us happy because any contribution in terms of education, in terms of culturalization, is good and is an element of added value for our country,' said the TES manager.

All information about TES FEST events is available on the official website: https://tesfest.ro.

Tickets can be purchased exclusively through MyStage, online, or at the theater's box office. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Petronius Craiu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)