About

Hannah Mira Friedland is a fiddler, violist, Yiddish dance leader, and cultural worker in Chicago. Raised in a family of musicians, she studied classical violin and viola before falling in love with traditional folk music and dance. Hannah Mira graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she studied music, geography, and religious studies. She is a co-founder of the Upshtat Zingerai Klezmer Band, which has emerged as a central force in the continuity and evolution of klezmer music and Yiddish dance – the traditional music and dance of Eastern European Jews – in Chicago. She regularly participates in the KlezKanada festival, an international hub for Yiddish arts and culture, and has been awarded KlezKanada’s Azrieli Scholarship. Hannah Mira has learned traditional music and dance with master teachers including Alicia Svigals, Abigale Reisman, Michael Alpert, Avia Moore, Alasdair Fraser, Alex Koffman, Kurt Bjorling, and Sowah Mensah. Recent Upshtat Zingerai performances include Tantshoyz: A Klezmer Music and Yiddish Dance Series at Clara in Wicker Park, klezmer concerts hosted by local organizations, and artist markets, a Purim Tantshoyz and Cabaret at Color Club, a KLEZTRONICA collaboration with DJ Chaia, and music for many joyful weddings, b’nai mitzvah celebrations, birthday concerts, and parties. 

Additionally, Hannah Mira plays fiddle in the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, is a violist in the Evanston Symphony Orchestra, has performed in the improvisation-based Omit/Transmit Orchestra, and collaborates on classical, jazz, R&B, and Celtic music projects. Hannah Mira has combined traditional and improvised music for contemporary dance for Hannah Marcus’ improvised movement class at the Old Town School of Folk Music, When Souls Stick doikayt performances directed by Gabriel Chalfin-Piney-González and Jess Bass at Comfort Station, and Hubbard Woods Elementary School’s Nature Through Movement curriculum and performance. She has also composed and performed music for Chicago’s annual Purim shpiel since the production’s beginnings in 2022 and was Music Director for this year’s immersive House of Dreams: Purim 5785 at the Firehouse Art Studio. Hannah Mira has performed at the Chicago Cultural Center and the Museum of Jewish Montreal, as well as for school groups, synagogues, and community centers.

In addition to performing, Hannah Mira loves working with students, teaching classical and folk violin lessons as well as group klezmer music and Yiddish dance workshops.

Passionate about sustaining and creating local gathering places for music, dance, storytelling, and other forms of community building, Hannah Mira also manages several grant programs at Main Street America that support locally-led community placemaking projects - such as outdoor amphitheaters, public art, library projects, climate durability and green space projects, and active transportation initiatives - in downtowns and neighborhood districts across the U.S.