The 2012 Winter Jewish Music Concert sold out on December 30, 2012.
But even if you could not purchase a ticket, you can still view the concert. The concert will be streamed live over the interiet. Go to the concert's web site Saturday evening at 8:00 and enjoy the evening.
Here is the concert program, so that you can follow along with the singers and songs.
The Jewish Journal has a fine article about this year's Winter Jewish Music Concert. Sergio Carmona writes:
Cantor Michelle Auslander Cohen, who works at both Temple Beth Am in Margate and Temple Beth El of Boca Raton, is excited to perform in the concert for the third year.
"It's a unique experience to have so much talent of such a variety all in one evening," Auslander Cohen added. "I am sure anyone who comes will be moved and inspired."
Lisa Segal of Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach who performed in the concert once before, said "It's a lovely occasion to see all of my friends and colleagues and to hear their pieces they have selected."
Cantor Tanya Greenblatt of Temple Beth Am in Jupiter is looking forward to participating in it for the first time.
"I'm especially excited to be working with very talented colleagues and Dr. Alan Mason who in my opinion is among the top two or three accompanists of Jewish music in this country and in the world," she said.
Reat the whole article.
The Knight Arts blog has a wonderful profile of the Winter Jewish Music Concert. The author writes that:
It’s hard to get 700 people into a room for most things, if it’s not a sporting event or a major rock concert.
So when that many people showed up in 2009 for a cantorial concert celebrating Alan Mason’s 18 years of service at Temple Israel of Greater Miami, he and his fellow musicians knew they were onto something.
Read the entire article.
The Knight Arts blog is spnosored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The article is written by Greg Stepanovich, a former Palm Beach Post journalist who now writes about music (and composes music too).
We have exciting news to share: Martin Bookspan, the long-time voice of PBS's Live from Lincoln Center, will be the special guest host of the 2012 Winter Jewish Music Concert.
For decaces Mr. Bookspan has been the voice of classical music in the United States. He began his career in radio in 1944, when he interviewed Aaron Copland for the Harvard radio station. In the following decades he served as the voice of the Boston Philharmonic and the New York Symphony (as well as The Guiding Light soap opera).
Mr. Bookspan has a great appreciation for Jewish music. He was reared in a Boston tenement in a home that resounded with cantorial music and Yiddish and Russian folk songs in his parents' glorious voices.
The Winter Jewish Music Concert is proud that Mr. Bookspan will be sharing his love of Jewish music at the 2012 concert.
Photos from the concert have now been posted.
We recognize that many people who wanted to attend the concert were unable to purchase tickets. For this reason we are streaming the video and audio of the concert live on the internet.
For those who will be watching and want to identify the singers, songs, and composers, we have posted the concert program on line.
Debbie Friedman, leading composer of Jewish spiritual music, passed away yesterday at age 59. Some of the many tributes to her have been collected here.
Here is a section of a Debbie Friedman composition performed at a Union for Reform Judaism biennial convention by Alan Mason, Program Director of the South Florida Cantorial Concert.
The South Florida Cantorial Concert is performed in the glorious Bertha Abess Sanctuary. Mrs. Abess was the matriarch of one of South Florida's leading families, and left behind a great charitable legacy. One example.
Her son, Leonard Abess, has been described as the Anti-Madoff. See Rabbi Joshua Hammerman's blog entry to learn why.
One of the concert's best friends is Jane the Writer, who blogs on the Reform Jewish Blog. Jane writes:
At this season of the year, who isn't looking for an excuse to escape the cold and snow with a visit to Florida? Count me in on that one, for sure. In fact, if I had my druthers, I'd be on a plane to Miami tomorrow. And, if I couldn't get it all together by then, I'd book a flight for Friday, January 14th, arriving in time for erev Shabbat. That way, I'd be there in plenty of time not only for Shabbat, but also for the Third Annual South Florida Cantorial Concert scheduled for motzei Shabbat on January 15th.
Read the whole thing here.
This year's concert sold out on December 30th, more than two weeks in advance of the concert. Our best guess is that there are several hundred people more who would attend. But since the Bertha Abess Sanctuary can hold no more than about 700 people, we can sell no more tickets.
But even if you aren't able to attend, you can still watch the concert. We will be streaming the video and audio of the concert live over the internet. At 8:00 Saturday evening, January 15th, go to www.cantorialconcert.org.
On January 6th, about a dozen of the performers on this year's concert appeared on Classical Variations on WXEL radio in West Palm Beach, hosted by Joanna Marie. Each of the performers talked for a bit, and then gave a preview of what they are performing on this year's concert.
You can listen to the hour-long program here.
Perhaps our favorite Jewish music blog is Teruah: Jewish Music. The author describes himself:
I'm a Conservative Jew living in a Christian farm town in Michigan, USA. For me, Jewish music used to be Adon Olam, Hava Nagila, and Fiddler on the Roof. I started getting a clue a few years ago. Jewish music is Klezmer dances, Sephardic ballads and Chassidic niggun. It's thousand year old hymns, three hundred year old Shabbat table songs and 60 year old partisan resistance songs. It's contemporary hip-hop, punk rock, electronica, jazz, and chamber music. In addition to loving its musical and spiritual qualities, Jewish music helps me connect my family with a much broader and diverse Jewish culture than is available locally.
The anonymous blogger has an appreciative article about the South Florida Cantorial Concert:
Normally I don't showcase a lot of individual events. I thought posting this one would be fun partly because they thoughtfully sent me a link to last year's concert to share (see below) and partly because they're planning on webcasting the show. That's something that I'm strongly supportive of. There are a lot of Jews who don't live close enough events like this or, in this tough economy, can't afford the ticket price. (That said, this particular event is VERY reasonably priced at $18. That's half what I paid for a similar concert in Detroit recently, and I was only buying a cheap seat!) Webcasting is a wonderful way to share the good stuff with the whole community.
Read the whole blog item here.
As we approach the 2011 concert, the Jewish Journal has printed an article about the concert. One particularly nice quote is from Aaron Kaplan: "This is a type of concert that you don't really see anywhere else and it's something unique to this area and it's really one of the crowns and jewels of South Florida music."
Thanks to Sergio Carmona for the fine article.
