This season, SING HALLELUJAH celebrates the arrival of the Jewish people in America, and how our music was changed and enriched by the harmonies, rhythms, colors, and intense emotions of their new home. The program will include American-Jewish musical experiences for chorus, soloists, instrumental ensemble, and feature Cantor Alberto Mizrahi of Congregation Anshe Emet in Chicago as our special guest – himself a Jewish immigrant who came to America as a young boy from Greece.
This is a special concert that brings the Jewish communities of the Philadelphia region together to help remind us that we share responsibility to lift each other up as challenging events unfold all around us. The questions surrounding American identity and who belongs here has never been more urgent and we must keep asking how we can all be of service to our neighbors and collectively bring peace to the world.
Philadelphia Cantor David F. Tilman is the music director and conductor.
Due to scheduling conflicts, our guest of honor, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers from the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh will no longer be able to participate.
Pennsylvania Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, will be speaking on Wendesday, February 27th, 2019 as our guest of honor.
This year's participants include:
Adult Choir of Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Cantor Erin Frankel, Conductor
Adult Choir of Main Line Reform Temple, Cantor Faryn Rudnick, Cantor of Main Line Reform Temple
Beth Israel Choir, Robin Kerollis Napiecek, Conductor; Rabbi Jon E. Cutler
Cantors Assembly of the Delaware Valley, Cantor David F. Tilman, Conductor
Choir of Congregation M’kor Shalom, Cantor Rhoda Harrison, Conductor
Choirs of the Old York Road Kehillah/Jewish Community, Cantor David F. Tilman, Music Director
Makhelat Beth Sholom, Cantor Jen Cohen and Robert A.M.Ross, conductors
Sharim V’Sharot: People of Song, Dr. Elayne Robinson Grossman, Music Director
With Special Guest Cantor Alberto Mizrahi
Cantor Alberto Mizrahi: Greek-born tenor, Alberto Mizrahi, one of the world's leading interpreters of Jewish music, is Hazzan of the historic Anshe Emet Synagogue, Chicago. He has thrilled audiences worldwide on the pulpit, in recitals, symphony and opera performances. His repertoire spans nine languages and a myriad of styles, making his performances unique in the field.
His appearance with Maestro Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, narrating the Schoenberg “Kol Nidre," was released as a CSO live recording and received mention as one of the best ten classical recordings of the year in the New York Times. Alberto was soloist in the Beethoven Society’s “Krzysztof Penderecki Festival,” in Warsaw, where he narrated the maestro’s 7th Symphony and sang “Kadysz” with the Warsaw Philharmonic. He has also appeared with Maestro Penderecki in Bialystok, Chicago, Caracas, Graz, Lodz, and in a televised performance (available on YouTube) in Warsaw. He has sung in front of two U.S. Presidents; George W. Bush, at the White House Hanukkah celebration, and Barack Obama, at the U. S. Capitol for Days of Remembrance. Hazzan Mizrahi most recently performed recital programs in Copenhagen, Paris, Pisa, Saarbrucken, Strasbourg, and throughout the United States, Canada and Israel. He has also performed with major symphony orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Atlanta, Houston, Haifa, Jerusalem, Barcelona, NDR-Hanover, and the Sinfonica Simon Bolivar. Hazzan Mizrahi is featured on the film “100 Voices: a journey home” (Cantors Assembly), the celebrated PBS concert, “CANTORS: a faith in song” (Amsterdam Portuguese Synagogue), and the PBS Hanukkah special with Craig Taubman and his troupe.
Mizrahi has also performed and recorded with the legendary jazz pianist, Dave Brubeck and his quartet (“Gates of Justice”), the great Theodore Bikel (“Our Song”), Howard Levy and the Trio Globo (Matza to Menorah) and understudied Luciano Pavarotti in “Ballo in Maschera” with the Miami Opera while performing the same role in their National Cast.
Hazzan Mizrahi is the immediate past president of the Cantors Assembly, on the Board of the Jewish Theological Seminary, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Mercaz, Zamir Choral Foundation and on the faculty of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School-J.T.S., New York. His extensive discography numbers 40 CDs, among them, eight performances for the Milken Archive on Naxos; FESTIVAL DELIGHTS; THE HIGH HOLY DAYS (with Schola Hebraeica); BIRTHDAY OF THE WORLD Iⅈ BIKEL & MIZRAHI: our song; ALBERTO MIZRAHI: My Song; ALBERTO MIZRAHI AT MENUHIN HALL; and MATZAH TO MENORAH, a jazz recording of Passover and Hanukkah songs with the TRIO GLOBO.
"Mizrahi was charismatic and fearless, unabashedly emotional… the tone full and golden…he held you spellbound…." London Times
“The hazzan here, often improvising with the soul-stretching intensity of John Coltrane, is the internationally renowned Alberto Mizrahi…” Nat Hentof – Wall Street Journal
Check out press on our guest :
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/reich/ct-jazz-cantor-20150505-column.html