Music

Guitar virtuosos play

Itamar Erez performs with three other leading musicians on Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m., at Massey Theatre, as part of International Guitar Night. (photo from itamarerez.com)

International Guitar Night takes place on Feb. 1 at Massey Theatre. Once again, Jewish community member Itamar Erez, whose styles range from Middle Eastern, to jazz improv, to world music, is taking part.

“This unique project started with Brian Gore many years ago, when he had the vision to create these unique guitar tours. It’s been going on for over 20 years, with some of the best guitarists in the world,” Erez told the Independent.

“The idea is to put four guitarists on stage with a totally different style and sound,” he explained. “Each plays a solo set and introduces the next player – and, eventually, all four guitarists are playing together in duets and quartets. The audience loves the variety in the music and personalities and, often, there are interesting and funny stories that go with the music.”

Erez will be joined by Jocelyn Gould, a traditional jazz player and singer, Caroline Plante, who comes from the flamenco tradition, and Jamie Dupuis, who brings his harp guitar and Roma jazz influences.

“I’m playing my own mixture of Middle Eastern/Brazilian sounds,” said Erez, whose recent albums include Mi Alegria (2019), May Song (2022; for a review, go to jewishindependent.ca/erezs-new-cd-shows-mastery) and Migrant Voices (2024, with Hamin Honari).

“Migrant Voices was a unique album for me,” Erez said. “I had worked with Hamin for a few years already and we became really good friends. We worked on developing new material for the duet and, towards the recording date, we realized that this album will be mostly based on free improvisation. It just felt like the best approach and most authentic for us. Apart from the album title (Migrant Voices), that was composed by myself, all the tunes were basically improvised right there at the studio.

“In 2024,” he continued, “I also went to the studio with my piano trio (Jeff Gammon on bass and Kevin Romain, drums, and myself on piano) and we recorded in one afternoon a bunch of instrumental covers to tunes – this is something I never had done before, as I always was creating new original material. Among these tracks were Marina Maximilian’s beautiful song ‘Amok Batal,’ three Hanukkah tunes (‘Maoz Tzur,’ ‘Banu Hoshech,’ ‘Kad Katan’) and several other tunes, such as ‘Blue Bossa’ … all done with a very personal approach.

“Over the past year, I have released these tunes slowly as singles – and was overwhelmed with the warm response of audiences for these tracks.”

International Guitar Night is a touring festival, which has three iterations: Canadian, American and European.

“I did one full tour many years ago, in 2009/10, with many concerts in the US, Canada and Scotland,” said Erez. “I did the European version of the tour (Gitarren Nacht) a few years ago, with shows in Germany, Austria and France, and one more time in BC quite recently (2023), where I played for the first time with Jocelyn Gould…. My favourite part of these tours is making friendships with these musicians, some of them are friends for life. And making music with players that come from a totally different background is always fun and exciting.”

This year’s Canadian tour centred on British Columbia, with stops in Oliver, Campbell River, Duncan, Nanaimo and Victoria. The Feb. 1 performance at the 1,260-seat Massey Theatre in New Westminster caps it off. For tickets, go to masseytheatre.com/event/ign-2026.

Guitar Night at Massey

Itamar Erez takes part in International Guitar Night Feb. 1. (photo by Diane Smithers)

International Guitar Night returns to Massey Theatre on Feb. 1. This year’s all-Canadian tour features classical and flamenco guitarist Itamar Erez, jazz guitarist and vocalist Jocelyn Gould, harp guitar innovator and fingerstyle virtuoso Jamie Dupuis, and flamenco guitarist Caroline Planté.

Erez is an internationally acclaimed guitarist and composer whose music fuses Middle Eastern delicacy, jazz improvisation and other world music influences. A recipient of both the 2014 ACUM Prize for Special Achievement in Jazz and the Landau Prize, he has shared the stage with artists such as Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Tomatito and Avishai Cohen, performing at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Barbican and the Sydney Opera House. His albums Mi Alegria (2019), May Song (2022) and Migrant Voices (2024, with Hamin Honari) explore the interplay of global musical languages. Erez tours widely throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East.

Gould, a JUNO Award-winning guitarist and vocalist, is known for her soulful tone, modern bebop phrasing and charismatic presence. She has shared stages with Freddy Cole, Bria Skonberg and Michael Dease, among others. Her four solo albums include Elegant Traveler (2021 JUNO winner) and Sonic Bouquet (2024 JUNO nominee).

Dupuis is a guitarist and composer celebrated for his fingerstyle technique and his distinctive voice on the harp guitar. His viral 2016 cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” earned more than 19 million views and international acclaim. Winner of the Canadian Guitar Festival Competition (2016), he combines classical training with influences from rock, jazz and folk.

Planté is one of the world’s few prominent female flamenco guitarists and a pioneering voice in contemporary flamenco composition. Born in Montréal and trained in both Canada and Spain, she studied with master musicians and led Cruceta Flamenco in Madrid as musical director and composer from 2005 to 2013. Her 2010 album 8 Reflexiones made history as the first flamenco CD composed and recorded by a woman, receiving international acclaim.

Since returning to Montréal in 2013, Planté has launched various projects and collaborated with flamenco artists from diverse backgrounds. Her latest work, The Roses of Lorca, premiered in 2024 and draws inspiration from Spanish poet Federico García Lorca.

For tickets to International Guitar Night, go to masseytheatre.com/event/ign-2026.

– Courtesy Massey Theatre

Music to build bridges

On Nov. 29, sopranos Jaclyn Grossman, left, and Miriam Khalil will perform Salam-Shalom: Echoes of Home, a program they put together in an effort “to build bridges between our communities.”

“Salam-Shalom: Echoes of Home grew out of countless conversations between Miriam and me over the past few years – conversations that gave me a lot of hope during a difficult time,” Jaclyn Grossman told the Independent about her upcoming concert with fellow soprano Miriam Khalil.

“We shared what we were each experiencing, what our communities were going through, and how we might better understand and support one another,” said Grossman. “We both felt a deep need to do something meaningful and to use our voices and our art to foster empathy, connection and healing. This project is deeply meaningful to me because I hope it can create a space for reflection, healing and understanding for our communities, and for anyone who connects with its themes of home, acceptance and belonging. I truly believe we are stronger when we stand together, and I hope this concert helps build bridges that make that possible.”

Grossman and Khalil will be accompanied on piano by Gordon Gerrard, artistic director of City Opera Vancouver, which is presenting the concert. Idan Cohen (Ne.Sans Opera & Dance) will lend his experience in stage and movement, and Avideh Saadatpajouh has created projections that, among other things, highlight some of the textual elements.

“Jaclyn is a beautiful person and has always been someone that I have connected with,” said Khalil about why she wanted to be involved with the production. “Through many of our conversations, our shared dialogue grew and became something we realized we both needed in order to find healing. Jaclyn had mentioned that she had spoken to Gordon about the possibility of creating something together. What made this project so special was our dialogue from the very beginning. Through numerous meetings, we spoke about finding a way through song, language and poetry to create a space for healing and shared empathy and, most importantly, to build bridges between our communities. We longed for the same thing, peace and human connection – this recital is an extension of that longing and an expression of hope.”

As for his participation, Gerrard said he became interested after a conversation with Grossman more than a year ago. “I was distressed to hear that she had had several concert appearances canceled over recent months,” he said. “It seemed to me that many organizations seemed hesitant to present Jewish and Arab artists out of fear of controversy. The program was suggested by Jaclyn as a direct way to counteract this.”

Pianist Gordon Gerrard, artistic director of City Opera Vancouver. (photo from City Opera Vancouver)

About the risk of City Opera Vancouver being “canceled” for presenting Salam-Shalom, Gerrard said, “Certainly, we have committed to this special event after careful consideration of the charged environment that we are all a part of right now. We wanted to be sure that we acted responsibly, and that we would be able to create a respectful space for everyone involved. Because I trust Jaclyn, Miriam and Idan entirely, we’ve been able to have many helpful conversations about this event and how to go about it. This has given us at City Opera confidence that we are doing something that intends to create better understanding and, for us, this remains the priority.”

“Our goal with this project is to create a space for nuanced dialogue, where all voices can be heard and where empathy and understanding can grow,” said Grossman. “While this kind of work isn’t always easy, I believe it’s essential. In times like these, it’s more important than ever for communities to come together, listen to one another, and foster compassion. To me, standing together in empathy and respect for all people feels like the only path forward.”

“My concern,” said Khalil, “is that we have a responsibility to one another. If we keep being afraid, then no change will ever take place. We must unite and listen to each other. As Jaclyn mentioned, without compassion and empathy, the way forward feels unattainable. There is great growth in seeing and appreciating one another’s perspective.”

Grossman and Khalil chose the repertoire, and the result will be a concert of “beautiful and seldom performed works entirely curated by the two of them,” said Gerrard.

The hour-long program comprises melodies from myriad musical heritages, including Arabic, Hebrew, Ladino, Spanish and Yiddish. The concert’s press release highlights “Eli, Eli,” an arrangement of a poem by Jewish-Hungarian resistance fighter Hannah Szenes during the Second World War; “Mermaid Songs” by Palestinian-American composer Felix Jarrar; “Ukolebavka,” a lullaby by Jewish composer Ilse Weber, who wrote and performed songs to comfort children when she was interned in Terezín; “Ayre,” by Argentine Jew Osvaldo Golijov, which explores the themes of exile and belonging using the words of a Hebrew prayer and those of Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwish; and “The New Colossus,” a setting of Emma Lazarus’s poem (inscribed on the Statue of Liberty) by pianist and composer Nate Ben-Horin, who is part of Grossman’s duo, the Likht Ensemble. Another of the songs on the program is “Mi Lo Yeshalach,” by contemporary Israeli composer Hana Ajiashvili. The complete repertoire, with all the lyrics, has been posted on cityoperavancouver.com.

“To me, Salam-Shalom: Echoes of Home is an urgent expression of a voice that feels increasingly silenced,” said Cohen. “I believe the growing calls to silence or divide rather than engage in dialogue are deeply troubling. When Jaclyn, Miriam and Gordon reached out, I immediately said yes.

“This project also speaks to my responsibility to uphold these values and address the horrors we are living through, through art,” Cohen added. “It’s easy to see conflict in simple opposites – right and wrong, us and them – but true understanding asks us to face complexities.

“Art,” he said, “should remain a space for reflection and critical thought, not moral posturing. I believe in its power to unite, to reveal our shared humanity, and to keep hope for peace alive.”

For tickets to Salam-Shalom, go to cityoperavancouver.com.

Milestone performance

photo - The Jerusalem Quartet, left to right: Kyril Zlotnikov, Alexander Pavlovsky, Ori Kam and Sergei Bresler — The Jerusalem Quartet, left to right: Kyril Zlotnikov, Alexander Pavlovsky, Ori Kam and Sergei Bresler. (photo © Felix Broede)

The Vancouver Recital Society welcomes the multiple-award-winning Jerusalem Quartet back to the city for a concert at the Vancouver Playhouse Oct. 19. The program features works from Hadyn, Janácek and Beethoven.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Jerusalem Quartet. Since their first appearance for the VRS in 2001, the ensemble has become a regular and beloved presence on the world’s concert stages. They have appeared many times in Vancouver, and a highlight in the annals of the VRS was their five-concert performance of all the Shostakovich string quartets in the Telus Theatre at the Chan Centre in 2006. They are returning to Vancouver to perform the same program they played in their Wigmore Hall debut 25 years ago, an appearance that launched them to international fame. It features Hadyn’s Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No. 4 (“Sunrise”); Janácek’s Quartet No. 1 (“Kreutzer Sonata”); and Beethoven’s Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130, with the Grosse Fugue finale, Op. 133.

The Jerusalem Quartet is Alexander Pavlovsky (first violin), Sergei Bresler (second violin), Kyril Zlotnikov (cello) and Ori Kam (viola). Both individually and as the quartet, the musicians have performed around the world, garnering numerous accolades.

Born in Ukraine, Pavlovsky immigrated with his family to Israel in 1991, and is a graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.

Bresler was also born in Ukraine. He started to play violin in age of 5 and, at the age of 12, gave his first recital. He immigrated to Israel in 1991, where he studied at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem.

Zlotnikov also studied at the Rubin Academy, having begun his studies at the Belarusian State Music Academy, and Kam, who was born to Israeli parents in La Jolla, Calif., grew up in Israel and studied there, as well as in the United States and Germany. Kam started his musical education at the age of 6, began playing the viola at 15 and had his debut at age 16.

The Jerusalem Quartet has found its core in a warm, full, human sound and an egalitarian balance between high and low voices. This approach allows them to maintain a healthy relationship between individual expression and a transparent and respectful presentation of the composer’s work. It is also the drive and motivation for the continuing refinement of their interpretations of the classical repertoire, as well as exploration of new epochs.

In 2019, the quartet released an album exploring Jewish music in Central Europe between the wars and its far-reaching influence, featuring a collection of Yiddish cabaret songs from 1920s Warsaw, as well as works by Schulhoff and Korngold. The second instalment of their Bartok quartet recording was released in 2020. Starting this year, the quartet began recording exclusively for BIS records, with their first release featuring three quartets by Shostakovich: Nos. 2, 7 and 10.

Although the Quartet No. 2 was composed in 1944, it makes no direct reference to the war; yet, this is a substantive work, dark, powerful and, at times, dissonant. Quartet No. 7, consisting of three short movements played without interruption, is an enigmatic and deeply personal work dedicated to the memory of the composer’s wife. For all its questioning and complex inner references, Quartet No. 10 is among the most immediately appealing of Shostakovich’s later works. By this stage in his life, his music tended to speak in a quieter voice and to a more intimate audience.

The Jerusalem Quartet’s performance at the Playhouse on Oct. 19 starts at 3 p.m., but there is also a pre-concert talk, at 2:15 p.m. For tickets, visit vanrecital.com.

– from vanrecital.com and jerusalem-quartet.com

Broadway for a good cause

(photo from omershaish.com)

Omer Shaish brings My Broadway Shpiel to Vancouver Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m., at Temple Sholom. In addition to offering a night of Broadway tunes, popular Hebrew songs and his own original music, the performance will raise money for Temple Sholom’s campership program. To read more, see jewishindependent.ca/enjoy-the-best-of-broadway.

For tickets, visit tickettailor.com/events/templesholom/1702794. Buy now to make sure you don’t miss out on this fun evening for a good cause. Won’t be in town? Consider buying a ticket or two for someone who can’t afford it.

– Courtesy Temple Sholom

Forgotten music performed

Through a chance conversation with a curator at the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum, conductor and composer Leo Geyer came across musical scores composed by concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust. June 3 to 7, at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre, the music Geyer documented was played for the first time in 80 years. (photo from Sky Arts)

In 2015, London-based musician and composer Leo Geyer was commissioned to write a tribute honouring British historian Sir Martin Gilbert, who had recently died. Visiting Oświęcim, Poland, to better understand the Holocaust historian’s research, a chance conversation with a curator at the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum led Geyer to a trove of forgotten musical scores composed by prisoners who had been forced to perform in the SS-run orchestras in the Nazi concentration camp, where more than 1.1 million died in gas chambers, mass executions, torture, medical experiments, exhaustion and from starvation, disease and random acts of violence.

The deteriorating and fragile sheets of music, written in pencil, were faded and ripped. Many had burn damage. Intrigued, Geyer devoted nearly a decade of detective work to studying the documents and filling in missing gaps, and the music formed the basis for his doctorate at Oxford University. From June 3 to 7, at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre, the music Geyer documented was played for the first time in 80 years, to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz in January 1945. The opera ballet included the unfinished scores that Geyer completed and choreography by New York-born choreographer Claudia Schreier.

“The musicians took incredible risks to make brazen acts of rebellion. When good news of the war [of the Allies’ June 6, 1944, D-Day landings] reached the men’s orchestra in Auschwitz I, they performed marches not by German composers but by American composers,” Geyer said in an interview with France 24’s daily broadcast Perspective.

The guards couldn’t distinguish between a Strauss waltz and a John Philip Sousa march.

The musicians “would also weave in melodies from Polish national identity such as St. Mary’s Trumpet Call (a five-note Polish bugle call closely bound to the history of Kraków). We also know of secret performances [that] would take place, which would principally encompass Polish music, but we also know Jewish music was performed as well,” said Geyer.

The story of the orchestras at Auschwitz was popularized by Fania Fénelon, née Fanja Goldstein (1908-1983), a French pianist, composer and cabaret singer whose 1976 memoir Sursis pour l’orchestre, about survival in the women’s orchestra at the Nazi concentration camp, was adapted as the 1980 television film Playing for Time. The orchestra, active from April 1943 to October 1944, consisted of mostly young female Jewish and Slavic prisoners of varying nationalities. The Germans regarded their performances as helpful in the daily running of the camp in so far as they brought solace to those trapped in unimaginable horror. As well, the musicians held a concert every Sunday for the amusement of the SS.

Geyer explained that the SS organized at least six men’s and women’s orchestras at Auschwitz, and perhaps as many as 12. The groups principally played marching music as prisoners trudged to the munitions factories and other industrial sites, where they worked as slave labourers, he explained.

“Musicians had marginally better conditions than other prisoners,” he noted. Nonetheless, he said, “The vast majority of the musicians and composers did not survive the war.” Most of their names are lost. Geyer was able to track down the composer of one unsigned composition by comparing the handwriting to a document found at a conservatory in Warsaw.

Adding poignancy to the performances in London, the musicians played from copies of the original scores.

“We poured our heart and soul into these performances,” said Geyer. “I am neither Jewish nor Romani. But I am human.”

Gil Zohar is a writer and tour guide in Jerusalem.

* * *

A replica of Auschwitz

Due to conservation issues, the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum no longer permits the filming of movies at the historic site. Using advanced spatial scanning technology, the museum employed a team of specialists, led by Maciej Żemojcin, to create a digital replica of the Auschwitz I camp. The project was recognized at the Cannes Film Festival.

Museum spokesperson Bartosz Bartyzel told Euronews Culture that the replica was created “out of the growing interest of directors in the history of the German camp.”

“The Auschwitz Museum has been working with filmmakers for many years – both documentary filmmakers and feature film directors,” he said. “However, due to the conservation protection of the authentic memorial site, it is not possible to shoot feature films [there]. The idea to create a digital replica was born out of the need to respond to the growing interest in the history of the Auschwitz German camp in cinema and the daily experience of dealing with the film industry. This tool offers an opportunity to develop this cooperation in a new, responsible and ethical formula.”

– GZ

A melting pot of styles

Seattle band Shpilkis helps open the Mission Folk Music Festival July 25. (photo from shpilkisseattle.com)

“We’re delighted to be featured at a folk music festival that understands the vast and expansive variety that makes up folk music, and to bring our unique sound to a community that may have never heard klezmer before,” Michael Grant of the band Shpilkis told the Independent. “We have a secret agenda to get hundreds of Mission Folk Fest enthusiasts into a Yiddish dance line! We love playing festivals and expect this to be a beautiful time.”

The Mission Folk Music Festival’s introduction to Shpilkis begins, “Are you ready to shake your tuchus, Mission folkies? Have we got the band for you!” Shpilkis is part of the weekend festival’s opening night lineup July 25. They play a midday concert on July 26 and share the stage for two different afternoon performances July 27. It’s the Seattle band’s first time participating in the festival, though trombone player Jimmy Austin has played it before, with a different group.

Grant plays the trumpet. He and Austin will be joined in Mission by Zimyl Adler (clarinet), Layne Benofsky (baritone), Stefanie Brendler (French horn), Nancy Hartunian (alto and soprano sax), Gary Luke (sousaphone) and Joey Ziegler (drum kit).

Shpilkis formed in 2017, originally convened by Brendler, said Grant. “The low brass players had been in a successful Seattle Balkan band together, and the rest of us knew each other from Jewish community and music spaces. In 2018, we added our sax and trombone players, and, in 2023, finally found a drummer!”

Some of the members play in other groups or musical projects, but Shpilkis is the primary band for all the musicians, he said.

Shpilkis plays traditional Eastern European Yiddish music, as well as more recent forms of it. The band’s description notes that “members come to this glorious music from a hodgepodge of backgrounds: religious, spiritual, secular, pagan; East Coasters, Midwesterners and Pacific Northwesterners born and raised; Jews and gentiles; music-educated and self-taught, with foundations in jazz, punk, folk, classical and pop.”

“Klezmer, particularly by the later 20th century, is a melting pot of styles – you can hear Greek, Balkan and Eastern European melodies mixed in with Americanish sounds – particularly jazz and even bluegrass,” Grant explained. “We love drawing from across the historical spectrum of klezmer music, from traditional 19th-century repertoire that’s been unearthed via the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project from a Kiev archive, to songs that were written in 1980s Brooklyn or Philadelphia, to fusion and contemporary repertoire. We always arrange songs to put our unique, raucous klezmer brass stamp on it, thinking, ‘How do we get our audience out of their seats and dancing to this?’ Klezmer is inherently dance music, so we prioritize songs that can both be played and danced to at a simcha or nightclub.”

But klezmer is even more than that.

“Klezmer is the sound and musical language of our people,” said Grant. “It is exciting because it is inseparable from the Ashkenazi diaspora, as it integrates the musical influences of its changing environment and geographies while staying rooted in tradition. We as klezmorim love playing klezmer because it connects us to the past, present and future of Jewish cultural expression beyond borders.”

For the full Mission Folk Music Festival lineup – which features more than 20 acts, performing a range of genres – and tickets, visit missionfolkmusicfestival.ca.

Jazz fest celebrates 40 years

Among the performers at this year’s Vancouver International Jazz Festival are Ard n’ Saul (Ardeshir and Saul Berson), at Tyrant Studios on June 21. (photo by Joshua Berson)

The 40th anniversary edition of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival runs June 20 to July 1. It offers more than 180 events, with 50 free shows at 14 locations around the city.

The festival took its maiden voyage Aug. 19-25, 1985. Billed as the first annual Pacific Jazz and Blues Festival, the event featured 100 musicians from British Columbia, Oregon and Washington state at clubs and venues around the city. It was created – and mostly financed – by John Orysik, Robert Kerr and Ken Pickering, along with Deborah Roitberg, who would become a founding board member. Together, they founded the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, which was born with the intent of providing a 10-day music festival along with a year-long jazz presence.

In this year’s festival, there will be open jazz jams June 20-29, presented at and with Tyrant Studios. Come for the 9:30 p.m. sets ($18 in advance, $20 at door), then stay as the headliners become hosts, sharing the stage with visiting artists and local players alike starting at 11 p.m. (pay-what-you-can). Among the headliners are, on June 21, Ard n’ Saul, who pay homage to the classic two horns and rhythm section tradition – the group is led by alto saxophonist Saul Berson and tenor saxophonist Ardeshir.

On June 22, 6 p.m., at Zameen Art House, Infidel Jazz presents Asef ($20 in advance, $25 at door). Members of the group – Berson (saxophones), Itamar Erez (guitar), Sam Shoichet (bass) and Liam Macdonald (drums/percussion) – bring to the stage many years of experience playing a variety of music from around the world, including Balkan folk, tango, klezmer, flamenco and bebop.

Also on June 22, at the Georgia Street Stage at 6:30 p.m., Dawn Pemberton and her band – which includes Max Zipursky on keys – play a free concert of music from gospel and R&B, to jazz, funk and soul. Zipursky also plays with Confiture on June 29, 8:30 p.m., at Ocean Artworks ($15 at door). Led by vocalist Tim Fuller, Confiture celebrates 30 years of house music, blending classics with original tracks.

photo - Andrea Superstein plays at Frankie’s Jazz Club on June 26 — Andrea Superstein plays at Frankie’s Jazz Club on June 26. *(photo from coastaljazz.ca)*

On June 26, Juno-nominee Andrea Superstein plays at Frankie’s Jazz Club, at 8 p.m. ($20-$25), and the Evan Arntzen Quartet, with special guest Lloyd Arntzen, perform a free show on July 1, noon, at Ocean Artworks.

Vancouver-born, New York City-based saxophonist, clarinetist and vocalist Evan Arntzen blends modern jazz influences with deep roots in the genre’s history. The quartet will be joined by Arntzen’s grandfather, Lloyd Arntzen, a legendary clarinetist, saxophonist and vocalist who’s been a pillar of Vancouver’s traditional jazz scene since the 1940s.

For the full festival lineup and tickets, visit coastaljazz.ca.

– Courtesy Coastal Jazz

Enjoy concert, help campers

Temple Sholom Senior Rabbi Dan Moskovitz and kids from the shul at Camp Kalsman. Proceeds from Omer Shaish’s My Broadway Shpiel performance on Aug. 21 go towards Temple Sholom’s campership program. (photo from Temple Sholom)

International singer and actor Omer Shaish brings My Broadway Shpiel to Vancouver on Aug. 21. Attendees can look forward to music from West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Les Misérables and La Cage Aux Folles, as well as original music and some of Shaish’s personal favourites, including popular Hebrew songs. Proceeds from the concert go towards Temple Sholom’s campership program.

Shaish was born and raised in Israel and has performed at Habima National Theatre and Beit Lessin Theatre in Tel Aviv. In 2007, he moved to New York City and graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. With numerous theatre and vocalist credits to his name, Shaish has been touring the world with the classical vocal trio Kol Esperanza, as well as his self-produced show My Broadway Shpiel.

Each year, Temple Sholom, along with its Sisterhood and the Harlene Riback Camp Scholarship, offers a scholarship for up to $150 per child to its member families to help the congregation’s youth attend a Jewish day camp or sleepaway camp. This year, it distributed a total of $15,880 for 74 campers and its goal is to raise even more funds for next year’s campers.

Studies have shown that Jewish camping is key to helping Jewish children explore their Judaism and establish a long-term Jewish connection. Temple Sholom’s campership initiative began in 1975 and has been going strong ever since.

“It is the kehila kedosha, or sacred community, of our Sisterhood that rises to this challenge, among other community responsibilities and occasions. It just so happens that the beautiful concept of kehila kedosha is instilled in our children, our future leaders, at Jewish summer camp,” said Alisa Delisle, a Temple Sholom congregant and the mother of Camp Kalsman song leader Paloma Delisle.

“Jewish summer camp encourages children to discover their Jewish identity while fostering a sense of belonging in a community like no other. For most, this is the first experience to navigate personal care and the world of peers without a parent or guardian’s assistance. As a sacred community, campers learn to take care of one another, cultivate pride in their surroundings and appreciate the power of Shabbat. Through experiential learning, Jewishness at camp is incorporated into everything fun.”

Camp Kalsman and PJ Library also offer summer camp scholarships to the broader Jewish community.

For tickets to My Broadway Shpiel, visit tickettailor.com/events/templesholom/1702794.

– Courtesy Temple Sholom

Concert fêtes Peretz 80th

The Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir has its spring concert on June 15, at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. (photo from VJFC)

The Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir’s spring concert this year celebrates the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture’s 80th anniversary.

Since it was established in 1979, the choir has been recovering, preserving and singing traditional and contemporary Jewish folk music. This year’s concert – on June 15, 7 p.m., at the Peretz Centre – features “Ikh bin a yid,” a cantata by Vladimir Heifetz (1894-1970), based on the poem by Itzik Feffer (1900-1952). Feffer was a Soviet Yiddish poet and member of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee who was executed on the Night of the Murdered Poets. The poem emphasizes how, through courage and creativity, the Jewish people have survived centuries of adversity.

The choir also will perform “Sankt besht,” a poem by Itsik Manger set to music by Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir director David Millard. In the poem, the Baal Shem Tov (the 18th-century Jewish mystic and founder of the Hasidic movement) is awakened from sleep and meditates on grief, joy and dreams.

On the program, as well, is a selection of songs arranged by choir founder Searle Friedman, including “Doyres Zingen” (“Generations Sing”), based on a poem by Ben Chud, first principal of the Peretz Shule.

For concert tickets, visit peretz-centre.org. General admission is $36, but, until May 31, people can get tickets for $12 each. However, no one turned away for lack of funds – there is a “pay as you can” option.

– Courtesy Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir