Cookie Segelstein, violin and viola, received her Masters degree in Viola from The Yale School of Music in 1984. She is principal violist in Orchestra New England and assistant principal in The New Haven Symphony Orchestra. She is the founder and director of Veretski Pass, is a member of Budowitz and The Youngers of Zion with Henry Sapoznik, and has performed with Kapelye, The Klezmatics, Frank London, Klezmer Fats and Swing with Pete Sokolow and the late Howie Leess, Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys, and The Klezmer Conservatory Band. Cookie has presented lecture demonstrations and workshops on klezmer fiddling all over the world, including at Yale University, University of Wisconsin in Madison, Marshall University in Huntington, West VA, University of Oregon in Eugene, Pacific University, and SUNY-Cortland, and at Klezmerwochen in Weimar, Germany. She was on the music faculty at Southern Connecticut State University, is a regular staff member at Living Traditions' KlezKamp, Klezkanada, KlezCalifornia, Klezmer Festival Fürth, Klezfest London, and has been on staff at Centrum's Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Wash. She was featured on the ABC documentary, “A Sacred Noise”, heard on HBO’s “Sex and the City”, appears in the Miramax film, “Everybody’s Fine” starring Robert De Niro, and heard on several recordings including the three Veretski Pass recordings, the Koch International label with Orchestra New England in The Orchestral Music of Charles Ives, Hazònes with Frank London, A Living Tradition with the late Moldovan clarinetist, German Goldenshteyn, Fleytmuzik with Adrianne Greenbaum and Budowitz Live. She is also the publisher of "The Music of..." series of klezmer transcriptions. Active as a Holocaust educator and curriculum advisor, she has been a frequent lecturer at the Women’s Correctional Facility in Niantic, CT. Cookie is also an Apple Certified Support Professional, and owns and operates The Macmama. Cookie lives in Berkeley, California.

Stuart Brotman, bass, basy (cello), tilinca and baraban, has been an accomplished performer, arranger and recording artist in the ethnic music field for over 50 years. A founding member of Los Angeles' Ellis Island Band, he has been a moving force in the klezmer revival since its beginning, and has defined klezmer bass (“It’s a large instrument that plays really low and has an accent.”) He holds a B.A. in music with a concentration in Ethnomusicology from the University of California at Los Angeles, and has taught at KlezKamp, Buffalo on the Roof, the Balkan Music and Dance Workshops, Klezkanada, KlezCalifornia, and numerous European festivals and institutes, including Klezfest London, Yiddish Summer Weimar, Klezmer Festival Fürth, and the Krakow Jewish Festival. Stu has been recording, touring, and teaching New Jewish Music with world class ensemble, Brave Old World since 1989, who are featured in the 2010 documentary, “Song of the Lodz Ghetto, with the music of Brave Old World.”  Long admired as a versatile soloist and sensitive accompanist in traditional and pop music circles, he has toured and recorded with Canned Heat, Kaleidoscope, and Geoff and Maria Muldaur, and played cimbalom on Ry Cooder’s celebrated recording, “Jazz,” which premiered at Carnegie Hall. Stu appeared in the Los Angeles production of Joshua Sobol’s “Ghetto,” the San Francisco production of “Shlemiel the First,” by Isaac Bashevis Singer, played cimbalom in “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” and contrabass balalaika in “Love Affair.” He produced The Klezmorim's Grammy nominated album, "Metropolis,"  has recorded with The Klezmorim, Kapelye, Andy Statman, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Davka, The San Francisco Klezmer Experience, and Khevrisa, and performs with Itzhak Perlman in the PBS Great Performances film and CD, “Itzhak Perlman, in the Fiddler’s House.” Stuart lives in Berkeley, California.