Photo Credit: Linda Shapiro
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Ariel Shapiro [they/them] is a klezmer accordionist, cultural organizer, large-scale community cook, and multi-disciplinary artist based on Nipmuc, Nonotuck, and Pocumtuc land in so-called Northampton, Massachusetts. Ariel believes deeply in the transformative power of music and art that is centered around community and intergenerational relationship-building, rooted in culturally-informed history and artistic practices, and committed to justice and collective care work.
Ariel is a core organizer of KlezCummington, an annual Jewish cultural festival dedicated to the creation and deepening of Yiddish diasporic music and cultures, as well the People's Puppet Parade, a community-based, devised spectacle theater processional exploring radical histories and communal expressions of grief and joy. Ariel is a founding member of klezmer bands A Glezele Tey, Burikes, and Khaloymes, performing fresh takes on traditional klezmer tunes and Yiddish songs, leading community jams and zingerays (Yiddish sing-alongs), and accompanying Yiddish dancing and theatrical productions, including Jenny Romaine/Great Small Work’s “Three Cookbooks in the Garden: A stage illusion”, The Un-nameable Children's Project “Across the Ninefold River”, and A.C. Weaver’s “Inhabiting the Tsadik of the Woods”. Ariel also collaborates with Der Tkhines Proyekt, setting old Yiddish prayers (written for and by women and gender non-conforming folks) to new melodies, and composing new works to be sung in the streets, around kitchen tables, and anywhere they can be used to help tear down systems of injustice to build a frayer velt — a freer world. |
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Ariel brings a deep love for nourishing people with copious amounts of local & home-cooked food, having honed skills cooking for large groups at the Possibility Alliance, an electricity-free education center in Missouri, and as a professional cook at Pinewoods, a folk dance and music camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They continue to cook for both small and large-scale events.
Ariel is also a ceramicist and printmaker. Ariel uses techniques from printmaking to carve intricate designs into their pottery with a technique known as “Sgraffito.” Their art is informed by a love for gardening and the natural world, with imagery of vegetables, trees, and rich earth tones infusing their work. Ariel has also spent many years developing skills in collective process, facilitation, and relational organizing, including training with AORTA, the UMass Alliance for Community Transformation, and Restorative Circles. They are an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional through the Northeast Organic Farmers Association and a worker-owner of Pedal People Cooperative, where they do landscaping and gardening work and haul trash, compost, recycling, and yard waste by bicycle. |
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The People's Puppet Parade Presents: The Whisper Healer. Northampton, Oct 2025. Photo credit: Kim Chin-Gibbons
A Glezele Tey at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity, Northampton, March 2025. Photo Credit: Sarah Bluestein
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A Glezele Tey at KlezCummington, July 2025. Photo Credit: Neil Shapiro
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Performing with Rachel Leader during Inhabiting the Tsadik of the Woods by A.C. Weaver at KlezKanada 2023. Photo Credit: Avi.
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Across the Ninefold River - Theater Production in Ashfield, MA, April 2024 (Musician, Musical Direction Team). Photo credit: Kim Chin-Gibbons
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Performing with Burikes at KlezCummington, August 2023. Photo Credit: Neil Shapiro
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Community Matzo Bake, Northampton, MA; April 2022
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Cooking for KlezCummington, August 2022. Photo Credit: Neil Shapiro
Klezmer Night Out! @ the Parlor Room, Northampton, MA; June 2023 (Organizer, Jam Leader)
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Sgraffito beet mugs by Ariel Shapiro
Marching w/ the People's Puppet Parade (Purim Edition), Northampton, MA; March 2023 (Organizer, Musical Director)
Klezmer Night Out! @ the Parlor Room, Northampton, MA; March 2023 (Organizer, Jam Leader)
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People's Purim Parade, March 2022. (Organizer, Musician, Musical Direction Team). Photo Credit: Pippi Kessler
Inhabiting the Tsadik of the Woods created by A.C. Weaver: installation & performance at KlezKanada, Quebec, August 2023.
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"All Together Now!" kids TV show by Sunny Allis; Deerfield, MA, April 15th, 2023
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Performing with A Glezele Tey at the Iron Horse, Northampton, MA; October 2025. Photo credit: Neil Shapiro
