Yale Strom is also one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Roma music and history. He has conducted extensive ethnographic research throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans since 1981. He has made ten documentary films, written 14 books, has had numerous photo-exhibitions throughout the world and, with his band Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi, has made 17 recordings. They run the gamut from traditional klezmer to "new" Jewish jazz. His band is on the ARC-UK label. Strom has also composed for theatre, film, radio, television, symphony orchestras and various artists such as Rachel Barton Pine, Sara Caswell, Salman Ahmad and many others. His latest documentary film is Recordially Yours, Lou Curtiss and his latest recording is The Wolf and The Lamb: Live at the Shakh, latest audio drama (audible.com) is Debs in Canton and his newest book is Shloyml Boyml and His Purim Adventure which takes place in Bessarabia. He is currently professor in the Music Department at San Diego State University. Prior to this Strom taught at New York University. www.yalestrom.com
 
From her many appearances with Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi and as a solo artist, Elizabeth Schwartz (vocals) has built a loyal following among fans, critics and collaborators. Her first recording of Yiddish, Hebrew and Ladino vocals for the Naxos World label, Garden of Yidn, debuted on Canada's Mundial Top World Music poll. It was hailed as "a landmark in modern Yiddish song" (Sing Out! Magazine). Her vocals can be heard on the soundtracks for the films L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin!, Rumenye, Rumenye and others. In a historic, barrier-breaking concert, Schwartz was the first woman invited to sing in New York City's 125 year-old, landmark Eldridge Street Synagogue. She performs regularly across North America and Europe in venues ranging from jazz clubs to concert halls (including Carnegie Hall), as well as synagogues and festivals. Schwartz is the subject of the documentary film, Searching for Schwartz, by acclaimed Romanian filmmaker Radu Gabrea. As a writer, Schwartz co-created the award-winning audio drama The Witches of Lublin, her newest audio drama Debs in Canton and has contributed a chapter on klezmer vocal technique to Shpil: The Art of Playing Klezmer (Scarecrow Press). Her recipes of Jewish food can be found on www.theweiserkitchen.com, A Wandering Feast: A Journey Through the Jewish Culture of Eastern Europe (Jossey-Bass) and It's Always About the Food (Harper Collins). Lastly Schwartz just had her first book of short stories published: The Sweet Fragance of Life (Olniansky Tekst Farlag).

Bam Rodriguez is a musician, bass player, synthesist, composer and origami artist from Venezuela/Aruba, living today in NYC. He started with music at the prestigious "El Sistema," where he shaped his love for music and for sharing it with others. Then he went off to study in Belgium, in the Netherland and then finally off to live in NYC, where he is an active member of the musical community, recording, touring, performing, teaching and trying to share the love for music with as many people as possible. Throughout his career he has performed with the likes of Chucho Valdés, Paquito de Rivera, Arturo O'Farrill, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Deepak Chopra, Claudia Acuña, Ray Santo, toured in about 30 different countries and played at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Barbican, Davis Hall, Birdland and his own living room. Bam is part of the community of artists at The National Jazz Museum in Harlem. A Smithsonian Affiliate, this thriving center for jazz stimulates hearts and minds and reaches out to diverse audiences to enjoy this quintessential American music. The Museum was founded in 1997 with a mission to preserve, promote and present jazz by inspiring knowledge, appreciation and the celebration of jazz locally, nationally and internationally.
 
Norbert Stachel is a multi-instrumentalist, recording and performance artist, composer, arranger, lecturer and teacher. He specializes in playing and teaching saxophones, clarinets and flutes in all genres of music. He has recorded and performed with Aerosmith, Tower of Power, Roger Waters, Tony Toni Toné, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Prince, Tito Puente, Diana Ross, Boz Scaggs, Neil Diamond, En Vogue, The Temptations, Sheila E, Quincy Jones, Les McCann, Don Cherry, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Hargrove, Andrew Hill and many others. Norbert has also performed as a saxophone soloist in a classical music setting with many orchestras including the St. Louis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. 
 
Percussionist David Licht co-founded the Klezmatics in NYC in 1986. A member of the legendary groups Shockabilly and Bongwater, he also performed with Ned Rothenberg John Zorn and Tom Cora in the early '80s. Other collaborations include: composing for choreographer Karen Heifetz, and performing with various klezmer ensembles and musicians such as Kapelye, Giora Feidman, Pete Soklow, Michael Winograd, and David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness. He joined Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi in 2005 and can be heard on their recording Borsht with Bread brothers.
 
Peter Stan is an accomplished professional accordionist who both performs and teaches. His heritage is Romani Balkan, although he was born and raised in Australia prior to coming to the US when he was 12 years old. At an early age he began to learn to play the accordion from his father, also an accordionist, for many years. He has won prizes in several prestigious accordion competitions including those sponsored by the American Accordion Musicological Society and the Long Island Music Teachers Association. Peter performs as a soloist, with small groups and with bands. He plays a broad range of musical styles including Balkan, classical, French favorites, Klezmer, popular and contemporary. He has also performed in movies, on radio, cable television, off-Broadway and for the famous Mark Morris dance group. Peter has been the lead accordionist with many bands including Hot Pstromi (Yale Strom). His wide range of performances includes playing at Carnegie Hall (1st Jazz and Jewish music concert); the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio, Texas; and the two-week annual Mayim Mayim Project in Fuerth, Germany. He has toured in Hong Kong, France, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Denmark, Serbia and throughout the United States. In March 2008 Peter was interviewed by Francoise Jallot and appeared in a feature article about him and his work in the celebrated French magazine Accordeon & Accordeonistes.