Hershey Felder was born on July 9,1968 and is a pianist, actor, and playwright known for his portrayals of classical and American composers on the theatrical stage.
12 Facts About Hershey Felder
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Hershey Felder was raised in a Yiddish-speaking home mainly, from age 13, by his widower father.
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Hershey Felder traveled to Los Angeles in 1994 and worked briefly for the Steven Spielberg Shoah Foundation, now the USC Shoah Foundation, where, using his knowledge of Yiddish and French, he interviewed Holocaust survivors to preserve their oral histories on film.
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For nearly two years, Hershey Felder focused on the persona and music of George Gershwin, meeting with many of Gershwin's family members, and in 1999 he created at Los Angeles Tiffany Theatre a workshop production of a one-man show, George Gershwin Alone, which has since had more than 40 productions in theatres in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Italy.
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In 2013, Hershey Felder received a letter from Russian Theatrical Producers inviting him to portray Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
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Since Tchaikovsky is believed to have been homosexual, Hershey Felder named his work "Our Great Tchaikovsky", performing it only in the US.
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In 2013, Hershey Felder directed concert pianist Mona Golabek in The Pianist of Willesden Lane, in his adaptation of her book The Children of Willesden Lane, telling the story of Golabek's mother as an adolescent in the Kindertransport during World War II.
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On May 10,2020, Felder live-streamed his one-man play Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin from his home in Florence, Italy to selected audiences throughout the United States.
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In 2020 Hershey Felder went onto create the broadcast entertainment brand Live From Florence which broadcasts original productions performed and filmed on location for worldwide audiences.
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In November 2021, Hershey Felder moved away from live-streamed theater to on-demand musical films with the premiere airing of Dante and Beatrice in Florence, for which he wrote both the script and the score, co-directed the film, and performed two roles as well as playing the piano and singing.
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In 2022, Hershey Felder produced, narrated, conducted interviews, and, on the piano, accompanied cellist Amit Peled in the movie, "Musical Tales of the Venetian Jewish Ghetto".
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Hershey Felder is married to former Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell.