|
Dear Friends,
Shanah Tovah! We hope you are well and thriving during these ever-changing times. Rehearsals have already started for our 54th (triple-chai!) season—how wonderful to be together in person, singing new and familiar music that we can’t wait to share with you. Mark your calendars so you don’t miss any of our in-person concerts or special online programming, including a 400th-anniversary YouTube Premiere event honoring Salamone Rossi on October 26. Also in this issue, Josh Jacobson muses on “Hallelujah.” And meet our newest Zamirniks!
| |
|
In each issue of E-Notes, Artistic Director Joshua Jacobson offers his unique insights and experiences as a world-renowned scholar, composer, conductor, and influential teacher of Jewish music.
Hallelujah! A combination of the word “hallel,” meaning praise, and “yah,” meaning God, it may be the best-known Hebrew word, spoken all around the world. This joyous expression is found throughout the book of Psalms. And in Psalm 150, the ultimate Psalm, it occurs, in various formations, 13 times. Hallelujah has inspired so many “classical” composers, including Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky, and Thompson; Jewish liturgical composers, including Rossi, Lewandowski, Sulzer, Schiller, and Klarman; Christian hymns such as “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!”; popular songs such as Harold Arlen’s “Get Happy,” George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and Kobi Oshrat’s “Halleluyah La-Olam.”
| |
We have chosen “Hallelujah” to highlight our fall concerts. The “Hanukkah Happens” concert at Temple Emanuel (see below) will feature 18 “Hallelujah”s from a variety of traditions: Jewish and Christian, classical and popular, North and South American, European and Israeli. In addition to formal performances by the Chorale, there will be opportunities for the audience to sing along. Hallelujah!
We in Zamir feel joyous and grateful. Just one year ago, after a COVID hiatus of 18 months, we returned for a full season of rehearsals and concerts. And now we’re embarking on our 54th year of bringing inspiring music to thousands of listeners in audiences both in person and online. Hallelujah!
| |
|
Happy 70th, Temple Reyim!
Sunday, October 23, 2:30-6:00 pm, Temple Reyim, 1860 Washington St, Newton: Zamir will be performing as part of the temple’s 70th-anniversary celebrations! Our set will include Lewandowski‘s "Mah Tovu,“ Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Barukh Ha-ba,” and Machtenberg’s “Shehekheyanu.” Details here.
| |
|
Happy Anniversary, Salamone!
Wednesday, October 26, 7:30 pm ET, online: In conjunction with the Jewish date of the publication of Rossi’s “Ha-shirim Asher Lishlomo,” ראש חודש חשוון, we will present a special YouTube Premiere program with narration, music, and excerpts from Josh Jacobson’s interviews with scholars in the field, including Prof. Howard Adelman, Prof. Barbara Wisch, Prof. Ben Ravid, Prof. Francesco Spagnolo, and Doron Schleifer and Elam Rotem of Profeti della Qiuinta. Free but registration is required. Be sure to check out our promotional video here.
To learn more about Rossi’s world and music, visit JewishChoralMusic.com for interviews, performances, and articles.
| |
Shalom, Temple Beth Shalom
Sunday, November 13, Time TBD, Temple Beth Shalom, 670 Highland Ave, Needham: Zamir is heading back out into the Greater Boston community to perform a concert featuring music by Rossi, Weill, Weiner, Klepper, and more. Ticket information will be available through Temple Beth Shalom.
Hallelujah! Hanukkah Happens
Thursday, December 22, 7:30 pm, Temple Emanuel, 385 Ward St, Newton: Don’t miss our annual holiday concert, this year featuring the theme of “Hallelujah,” and including works by classical composers Salamone Rossi, Wolfgang Mozart, George Frideric Handel, and Louis Lewandowski; as well as contemporary composers Leonard Cohen, Benjie Ellen Schiller, and David Shukiar. Cantor Elias Rosemberg is our featured soloist, continuing our rich and rewarding collaboration. Ticket information will be available through Temple Emanuel.
| |
|
Nashirah!
Sunday, March 12, 2023, 3:00 pm, Temple Reyim, 1860 Washington St, Newton: Save the date for this fabulous joint concert with Nashirah Choir of Philadelphia. This community-based chorale performs the broadest possible range of Jewish repertoire under the direction of Julia Zavadsky, who was born in Kyiv and studied in Israel before immigrating to the United States. Nashirah was featured in our “A Choral Rainbow” series last year. We are excited to perform together! Stay tuned for more details.
| |
|
The 2023 Jimmy Fund Benefit Concert in Memory of Sarah Jane Boling
Sunday, March 26, 3:00 pm, Temple Emanuel, 385 Ward St, Newton (in person and livestreamed): This special concert is being produced by longtime Zamir bass Jordan Wagner in memory of his late wife and Zamir alto Sarah Boling z’l, in cooperation with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The concert will feature world premieres of new music commissioned from some of Sarah’s favorite composers. Performers include Zamir, Koleinu, and several chamber ensembles. All funds go to Glioblastoma Brain Tumor Research Fund at Dana-Farber. More details are here.
Italia in the Springtime
Thursday, June 8, 7:30 pm, Temple Emanuel: For our spring concert, Zamir will celebrate the quadricentennial of the publication of Salamone Rossi’s pathbreaking and beautiful collection of synagogue music, "Ha-shirim Asher Lishlomo." The program begins with music of Salamone Rossi and Leon Modena, both sacred and secular, accompanied by period instruments. The second half of the program will feature Italian Jewish music from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Ticket information to come in 2023.
| |
|
Summer Roundup
Josh Jacobson’s article, “Salamone Rossi’s Synagogue Motets: The 400th Anniversary,” was featured, with a gorgeous illustration, on the cover of September’s Choral Journal, published by the American Choral Directors Association.
Visit our JewishChoralMusic website to read the article.
| |
|
Meet Our New Members: Conducting Interns and Singers
Conducting Interns
Cantor Daniel “DJ” Fortine is the cantor at Temple Beth Shalom of Needham, Mass., where he formerly served as a cantorial intern and soloist. He earned his cantorial ordination and a master’s degree in Jewish studies from Hebrew College in May 2022. Cantor Fortine holds a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School, where he performed principal roles in the Hartt Opera Theater’s main stage productions. He also sang in numerous vocal ensembles, including the Hartt Chorale and L’Shir, the university’s premiere co-ed a cappella group. Cantor Fortine’s love for Jewish music was first cultivated at Temple Israel of New Rochelle, New York, and later at the Joseph Eisner Camp Institute for Living Judaism. At TBS in Needham, he is a key member of TBS’s Mayim/Etzim Learning Team, bringing music to the community’s children and teens. He has appeared as a featured soloist with Boston’s foremost Jewish vocal ensembles, including the Zamir Chorale of Boston, Koleinu, and Hebrew College’s Kol Arev chamber choir.
| |
Liana Perlman is a senior at Brandeis University, majoring in vocal performance and minoring in Italian studies and Renaissance studies. Liana spent a semester in Florence, Italy, studying Italian culture, art, and government. She expects to receive her Bachelor of Arts in Music in 2023 and plans to pursue a career as a choral conductor and music educator. Liana has extensive choral singing experience, including serving as a soloist with the Brandeis University Chamber Singers on their recent concert tour in France. In addition, she has a background in theater and the dramatic arts. Liana currently teaches at Temple Beth Shalom Children’s Center and was education coordinator for Brandeis’s Reform Jewish Chavurah. In Spring 2022, as a mentor for Girls Who Conduct, Liana worked with female and nonbinary conductors on leadership and musicianship skills.
New Singers
A hearty welcome to our three new members for the 2022-23 season: soprano Allison Aaron, alto Sarah Immerman, and bass Amir Karger.
| |
|
Cantor Louise Treitman Joins Zamir Board
Gilbert Schiffer, Chair of Zamir's Board of Directors, announced that Zamir singer Cantor Louise Treitman was recently elected to serve on Zamir's board. "With Louise's experience as a member of Zamir; a creator of the Jewish Music Institute at Hebrew College (School of Jewish Music); part-time faculty member in the rabbinic and graduate Jewish education programs; and as a teacher, advisor, and cantorial coach in Hebrew College's cantorial program, I know she'll make a significant contribution to Zamir's success. We are fortunate to have her serve on Zamir's board."
| |
|
Barbara Gaffin
Managing Director
| |
| | | |
