Music

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

An inspiring Shabbat Shira

Cantor Shani Cohen and Wendy Bross Stuart (photo below) team up for another Shabbat Shira concert at Temple Sholom, on Feb. 8. (photo from Temple Sholom)

“I’m looking forward to the Shabbat Shira concert as an opportunity for our community to come together and enjoy some beautiful music as a temporary respite from the challenges of the past two years, within the safety of our own walls,” said Temple Sholom’s Cantor Shani Cohen of her Feb. 8 performance at the synagogue with Wendy Bross Stuart.

“Shabbat Shira is the annual day when we read the Song of the Sea, which is the climax of the Exodus story,” explained Cohen. “To celebrate this Torah reading, there is a tradition of adding some extra musical elements to the weekend. That was the inspiration for the Shabbat Shira concert that Wendy and I are doing. We started this tradition last year, and it was a wonderful evening of music that brought the community together.”

Cohen and Bross Stuart have chosen a range of musical styles for the concert, from musical theatre to jazz to classical art song.

Wendy Bross Stuart (photo from Temple Sholom)

“One of our focuses in the concert is highlighting Jewish composers,” said Cohen. “In this vein, we will be performing ‘How Much Do I Love You’ by Irving Berlin, ‘Still Hurting’ from Jason Robert Brown’s Last Five Years and ‘Vanilla Ice Cream’ from Jerry Bock’s She Loves Me. There will also be some songs by the very talented Jewish songwriting duo Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler, including ‘The Last Song’ and ‘Let Me Grow Old.’

“Finally, I am excited to be sharing a few classical art songs, including some by contemporary American composer Lori Laitman from her song cycle ‘The Mystery,’ and one from Hector Berlioz’s song cycle, ‘Les nuits d’été.’”

Before Cohen went to cantorial school, she studied to be an opera singer. She still feels a strong connection with classical music, she said.

“While I love being a cantor and find the role incredibly fulfilling and meaningful, I realized that I still have a passion for opera,” she said. “Singing opera, for me, is like a workout for my vocal muscles, keeping them in shape and, in turn, helping me sing my cantorial music more confidently.

“I also think it’s important and healthy to have a work-life balance. For me, that means finding activities outside of synagogue life. Over the past two years, I have found some creative outlets that have allowed me to delve into classical music again in a different way than I do as a cantor. It has been an exciting and fun journey that has challenged me in new ways.”

Cohen’s passion for classical singing led her to Opera Lirica, headed by artistic director Trudy Chalmers, which is dedicated to bringing classical music to the community and providing performance opportunities to local opera singers. Among other things, Cohen was invited to perform as part of their Heritage Salon Series.

“My concert was on Nov. 10, and it was entitled The Sacred Tongue and the Mother Tongue: A Concert of Hebrew and Yiddish Songs. I had a wonderful time preparing for the concert with pianist Roger Parton [Opera Lirica’s music director]. I explored my own Israeli and Ashkenazi family background, and performed both new and familiar Hebrew and Yiddish repertoire…. It was a deeply personal concert, and I was proud to share it with not just the Jewish community, but the wider Vancouver music community. It meant a lot to me that after Oct. 7 and the rise in antisemitism that we have experienced, Trudy and Roger were both so supportive of this project and of me. This is the kind of crucial cross-cultural relationship building that I believe music can help us do.”

In another cross-cultural endeavour, Cohen will join the Jan. 26 performance of Songs of the Wasteland about survivor Renia Perel, which was written by Perel, who died in 2017, and arranged by Larry Nickel. The Vancouver Academy of Music is once again presenting the work, in honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day (vancouveracademyofmusic.com/events).

For the past two years, Cohen has performed with the Reform Cantors and Cantorial Soloists of Canada (RCCC) organization in Toronto. “This year, we will be hosting the RCCC concert at Temple Sholom in May! More information to come,” she said.

Cohen and Bross Stuart first worked together on the community Yom Hashoah commemoration a few years ago, and in which both have participated multiple times. They also worked together in the Chutzpah! Festival concert debut of the Joan Beckow Project and album release; Bross Stuart and her daughter Jessica Stuart, who is also a musician, are co-directors of the project.

“We each bring a different musical perspective,” said Cohen of working with Bross Stuart. “Wendy has a wealth of knowledge and experience in musical theatre, Yiddish music and jazz, while I have a background in Jewish and classical music. We each learn from the other, and are able to meld our experiences into programs that I believe are intriguing and exciting for our audience.”

When Cohen started working at Temple Sholom back in 2021, she was straight out of cantorial school, and had just moved to Vancouver from New York. Grateful for the opportunities she has had at Temple Sholom, she said, “I am especially thankful to work with the supportive and inspiring clergy team that we have: Rabbi Dan Moskovitz and Rabbi Carey Brown. It was Rabbi Moskovitz’s vision to bring in an ordained cantor to our synagogue for the first time, and both he and Rabbi Brown have been supporting me through every step of my transition into this vibrant community.”

Over the years, Cohen has found ways to bring more of herself into her job: “more of my passions, interests and identity into what I offer.”

“On a basic level,” she said, “my role includes leading prayer services, running our b’nai mitzvah program and officiating lifecycle events like weddings and funerals. Beyond that, I am passionate about growing our musical offerings at Temple Sholom, and I believe in the power of music to help us tap into our spirituality. That’s why I started a small vocal ensemble that sings at our High Holy Day services, as well as a few special Shabbatot throughout the year. I also started a Temple Sholom band, called the Temple Tones, who enrich our Friday night services a few times a year for holidays and Shabbatot.”

Cohen oversees the Sholom Shishim (60-plus) program.

“My goal with this group is to find new and creative opportunities to engage our seniors,” she said. There have been lunch-and-learns, speakers, concerts and various outings. “We now have on average 70 attendees per month, and our annual Hanukkah party gets up to 100 seniors!” she said.

“I run a monthly Temple Sholom Tea gathering at the Louis Brier for our members who live there, though anyone is welcome to join,” she added. “A few years ago, I began a program I call Teatime with Cantor Cohen, where I meet with small groups of Temple Sholom seniors in local cafés and tea shops, so they can get to know me, each other and, hopefully, create meaningful relationships in their own neighbourhoods.”

One thing Cohen loves about her cantorial role is that she works with people of all ages, from teaching classes at the shul’s religious school, to various adult offerings. “Recently,” she said, “I began a High School Prayer Leader program to train the next generation of prayer leaders.”

Cohen also started a Queer Torah Study group, which has evolved into Kehilateinu, the Temple Sholom Pride Club.

“When my wife and I moved to Vancouver, we were welcomed into the community with open arms, and I want to ensure that our growing number of queer members feel welcomed at Temple Sholom as well,” she said. “I know that Kehilateinu’s events have been especially meaningful since Oct. 7, when so many queer Jews were rejected by their social circles.”

Tickets for the Shabbat Shira concert are $18 for synagogue members and $36 for non-members. The Feb. 8 event starts at 7 p.m. with a happy hour and the concert is at 7:30 p.m. Register at templesholom.ca.

In honour of Arnold Schoenberg

The Israeli Chamber Project ensemble (PR photo)

Celebrating the 150th birth year of Arnold Schoenberg, the Israeli Chamber Project ensemble presents a semi-staged production of his expressionist cabaret Pierrot Lunaire with soprano Hila Baggio as the sad clown. Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Ravel’s La Valse complete the exploration of early 20th-century masterworks.

Two Clowns: Pierrot Meets Petrushka, presented by the Vancouver Recital Society, is at the Vancouver Playhouse this Sunday, Dec. 1, 3 p.m. For tickets, visit vanrecital.com or call 604-602-0363.

– Courtesy Vancouver Recital Society