Today’s matinee concert will be presented with two sets and will feature special guest Fishel Michael Bresler! Multi-instrumentalists Cathy Clasper-Torch and Shelley Katsh bring years of music making and friendship to a virtuoso collaboration of musicianship and spirit. Their repertoire, as heard on their previous CD, “From the Inside Out” as well as on their 2024 CD “With Woven Hands” is infused with melodies ancient and contemporary – played “straight from the heart.” Clasper-Torch performs violin, cello, erhu and piano with a diverse range of RI-based bands and musicians, and has recorded on over 3 dozen albums. Cathy has also been the fiddle instructor at Blackstone River Theatre since 2006. Shelley Katsh, on piano and accordion, performed klezmer and Hassidic music with Fishel Bresler and a range of Boston-based klezmer musicians for 20 years. She currently accompanies and sings with several Rhode Island musical groups. Click link for video clip! IMG_1706 Cathy and Shelley will be joined today by Fishel Bresler on clarinet, flute, mandolin, guitar. After performing in venues from the street to Carnegie Hall in styles from bluegrass to vaudeville, Fishel studied klezmer clarinet and mandolin with recognized master Andy Statman. He has toured with mandolinist David Grisman’s ensemble, and spent thousands of hours in Chassidic communities collecting tunes and absorbing the music in its natural setting. For the past four decades, in addition to performing, he has been providing therapeutic music in settings such as Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

Shelley Katsh

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May 3, 2026

Cathy Clasper-Torch & Shelley Katsh · Blackstone River Theatre

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