Charley Rappaport

Charley Rappaport (b. 1946 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician⁵, co-founder of the Balalaika and Domra Society of America², which coordinates Russian balalaika and domra orchestras across the United States⁴.

Rappaport is a mandolinist, and performs in several styles, both on recordings and live, with his band The Great American Gypsies. He received his "musical education" playing in Russian balalaika orchestras, Russian nightclubs (The Two Guitars and The Russian Bear) and in the New York Mandolin Orchestra under Sol Goichberg⁵. He has appeared throughout the U.S. as a soloist and with The Great American Gypsies. He is currently music director of the Pittsburgh-based group 3 Rivers Mandolin Consort, and conducts the Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra³.

In 2003 he was the subject of a cover story in Mandolin Magazine, a national publication⁵.In 2004 Rappaport was named a "master folk musician" by the state of Pennsylvania and awarded a grant to teach mandolin⁴ and domra^8&7. His recordings include Set 1 (1973), Standing Room Only (1975), Requests (1992), Mandolin X 4 (1995), and Before, I Had A Red Tomato (2004).

References

• Acoustic Music Works
• Livingston, Tamara E. and Katherine K. Preston, "Snapshot: Two Views of Music and Class", pgs. 55-62, in the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
• Theiner, Manny, "Plucky Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra Keeps Folk Tradition Alive", Pittsburgh Post Gazette, October 11, 2007
• Koskoff, Ellen,editor, Professor of Ethnomusicology, Univ. of Rochester's Eastman School of Music,"Music Cultures in the United States" pg. 71, Routledge Publishers, January, 2005, ISBN 041596589-6
• Epstein, Alan, "Where in the World is Charley Rappaport?", Mandolin Magazine, Summer, 2003
• Mair, Marilyn, "Teacher's Spotlight", Mandolin Journal of the Classical Mandolin Society of America, May, 2006
• Cultural Conversations, Publication of The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, Summer, 2004
• Institute for Cultural Partnerships Newsletter, January 15, 2004, Harrisburg, PA, "PA Council on the Arts announces the Recipients of the 2004 "Folk and Traditional Arts Fellowships and Aprenticeships in Traditional Arts" awards"