Dr Daniel Gouly & Josh Middleton

Daniel Gouly and Josh Middleton will be working on an innovative theatre piece that blends newly unearthed Klezmer music from the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project (recently discovered in the Vernadsky Library in Ukraine) with the wonderful stories of Isaac Babel that are full of Jewish gangsters, humor, and heartbreak in early 20th-century Odessa.

For the team, part of the excitement of this project will be performing music largely lost since its collection by soviet and pre-soviet Ethnomusicologists more than a century ago, a rich archive that hugely expands our knowledge of all forms of pre-Holocaust Jewish musical life. Not only that, but by exploring the rich cultural connections between Ukrainian and Jewish histories, they hope the production will help foster a sense of cultural solidarity and shared european history in a moment of conflict.

Dr Daniel Gouly is a clarinetist, composer, and co-founder of Don Kipper, an ensemble celebrated for its innovative blend of traditional Mediterranean and contemporary music, earning multiple awards and critical acclaim. With a strong focus on theatre, has toured the UK, US, and Europe with the acclaimed Bubbleschmeisis, and created multi-sensory shows with Oily Cart and other theatre companies, demonstrating his commitment to accessible, community-focused art, blending music, storytelling, and cultural history to create compelling and impactful performances. He also has a parallel career releasing the deepest, darkest Techno he can extract from his army of synthesisers.

Find Josh Middleton online:

Instagram: @joshmiddletonmusic

Josh Middleton is a versatile musical director, accordionist, and composer based in London, specializing in Klezmer and East European folk music. A founding member of the award-winning ensemble Don Kipper, alongside his work with Raka and Elaha Soroor, Josh has toured extensively, bringing modern and traditional sounds to audiences all across Europe. His theatrical work includes composing and performing music for productions at the Donmar Warehouse, JW3, and the Menier Chocolate Factory, and he has composed for numerous theatre companies such as Movingstage, String Theatre, Mirth and Misery, the Bus King Theatre and Lost & Found Puppet Co. In addition to accordion, Josh also plays keys, guitar, Irish whistle, harp, trumpet, Appalachian Dulcimer, Bulgarian bagpipe, and has a great passion for singing folk songs in English and Bulgarian!

Find Dr. Daniel Gouly online:

Instagram: @daniel.gouly

This residency is supported in collaboration with Tsitsit Fringe Festival 2024