JTS and the Cantors Assembly Present Voice of a People: Then, Now, Always
The H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and the Cantors Assembly present Voice of a People: Then, Now, Always—A John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Concert at the 68th Annual Cantors Assembly Convention in Rosemont, Illinois on May 4 at 8:00 p.m. The concert will honor Harvey L. Miller, an honorary trustee on the JTS Board of Trustees and namesake of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School. Admission is free and open to the public.
Featured performers will include Cantor Nancy Abramson, director of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School; Hazzan Gerald Cohen; Hazzan Jen Cohen; Hazzan Sidney Ezer; Hazzan Magda Fishman; Hazzan Randy Herman; Hazzan Mitch Kowitz; Hazzan Alisa Pomerantz-Boro; Hazzan Henry Rosenblum; Hazzan Jonathan Schultz; Hazzan Elizabeth Shammash; and Hazzan Steve Stoehr. The program introduces JTS cantorial students Rachel Brook, Sarah Levine, Isaac Yager, and Josh Kowitz.
The event is cosponsored by the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Endowment Fund, the H. L. Miller Cantorial School, and the Cantors Assembly. John Dellheim (z”l) was a Holocaust survivor who became a pioneering computer programmer at IBM. He deeply loved Judaism and Jewish music, and endowed the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Senior Recitals in order to bring Western cantorial music to synagogues around the United States via the graduating cantors of the H. L. Miller Cantorial School, thereby perpetuating the performance and transmission of Jewish sacred music to future generations.
The H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music is home to some of the most accomplished and creative faculty in Jewish and religious music and voice. Its educators are composers, cantors, and artists who prepare and guide new clergy to lead and perform, and to preserve and teach Jewish musical tradition and prayer to new generations of congregants. Students spend five years learning and integrating the skills that will allow them to serve the Jewish community as cantors and leaders. The training includes performance preparation, as well as studies in nusah, prayer, text skills, and general music.