Programme Notes from Concert at Belsize Square
The Zemel Choir, established by Dudley Cohen in 1955, is proud of its international reputation as one of the world’s finest mixed voice Jewish choirs. Our wide ranging repertoire embraces all the traditional Jewish cultures, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yiddish and Israeli. We regularly perform in major venues throughout the U.K. and overseas, and besides singing well known favourites, are particularly proud to present new music, often specially commissioned, from contemporary composers.
In November 2005 the Choir celebrated its Golden Anniversary with a concert at St John’s, Smith Square.
TV and Radio appearances include the 1986 live television and radio broadcast of Kaddish at Terezin from Canterbury Cathedral, the Expressions of Reconciliation and Hope service in York Minster in 1990, the special edition of Radio 4’s Sunday Worship in January 2001, when we were chosen to represent the British Jewish community as part of the Holocaust Day commemoration and most recently in January 2005 participating in BBC1’s Songs of Praise, The Holocaust Remembered.
Over the years we have made many recordings, the most recent of which is our newly completed CD – Celebrate With Song - conducted by Benjamin Wolf.
We have travelled extensively to the U.S.A., Canada, Israel, and Eastern and Western Europe, and in1993 participated in the Polish Holocaust Memorial ceremonies in Warsaw and Treblinka to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At the 1996 Zimriyah Choral Festival in Jerusalem we were invited to sing at the opening ceremony concert which was broadcast live on Israel Radio, and In October 2001 we toured The Czech Republic and Hungary. Our latest overseas trip was in April 2007 when we made a most successful tour of Belgium, France and Luxembourg.
In November 2008 we have a major concert - Entente Cordiale - where we share the platform with the Polyphonies Hebraiques de Strasbourg, and firm arrangements exist for our tour of Israel in March 2009. Outline plans are also in place for a tour of the Eastern Coast of the USA in 2010.
The Choir has maintained its reputation as a result of professional musical direction, and a strong commitment to rehearsals by its members. We come together not only to sing, but to be part of a warm and friendly social group. We are always happy to welcome new members, especially altos and tenors. To find out more about us, visit our website at www.the-zemel-choir.org or phone our membership secretary, Doreen Havardi on 020-8868 8423.
BENJAMIN WOLF
Musical Director
Benjamin Wolf studied at University College, Oxford, Trinity College of Music and King’s College, London. As orchestral conductor he has worked for the BBC Proms and performs regularly with The Wallace Ensemble, a young professional orchestra of which he is co-founder.
Activities with this orchestra have included a first CD, (recorded Summer 2007), a concert of Israeli/orchestral klezmer music at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the inaugural Wallace Ensemble composition prize. He has conducted for the BBC proms and participated in masterclasses with Benjamin Zander and the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, with Kenneth Montgomery and the National Symphony Orchestra of Lithuania, and with Stephen Cleobury and the BBC Singers.
Since becoming Musical Director of The Zemel Choir he has performed at a number of major London venues, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, St John’s, Smith Square, St James’ Church, Piccadilly and the Victoria and Albert Museum. In January 2005 he conducted The Zemel Choir in a special edition of the BBC’s Songs of Praise, and in November of the same year conducted them in their 50th anniversary concert at St John’s Smith Square. Recent engagements have included a concert at the Purcell Room, a European Tour and the Zemel Choir’s new festival, ’Celebrate with Song,’ at St. John’s, Smith Square. He has recently recorded a CD with the Choir and looks forward to conducting them on a tour in Israel in March 2009. He is Musical Director of the Rushmoor Choir of Aldershot, and regularly conducts the Quorum Chamber Choir. He is currently choirmaster at Belsize Square synagogue.
Increasingly active as a composer, his work Siren Song, (set to a text from Homer’s Odyssey), has recently been performed at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Magdalen College, Oxford. Previous commissions include the incidental music for an adaptation of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market at the Southwark Playhouse and for Frederic Lonsdale’s Canaries Sometime Sing (performed in London and France in 2003). He has written a number of pieces for the Zemel Choir, and his first piano concerto, L’Chaim was performed by the Wallace Ensemble in 2003.
As pianist, he performs regularly with a number of singers and instrumentalists, including tenor Marc Finer and mezzo-soprano Ruti Halvani. He has played for cantors Robert Brody, Avromi Freilich and Yitschak Meir Helfgott.
In addition to his work as a performer, he is currently studying for a PhD in the social history of twentieth-century music.
MICHAEL MIZGAILO-CAYTON
Piano
Michael began his musical career at the age of 16 as a trumpeter in the Grenadier Guards. He went on to study the piano at the Royal College of Music where he was awarded several prizes for conducting, composing and improvisation. He won a scholarship enabling him to continue his studies at the RCM as Repetiteur for the London Schools Opera whilst also becoming the first recipient of the Millennium Organ Scholarship at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.
Michael is in demand as a choral conductor, accompanist and organist. He has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and in cathedrals all over the country. In the course of his career he has toured extensively to the United States of America, the Far East and Europe.
Michael gave his debut recital as an organ recitalist in Westminster Abbey and has given recitals in many cathedrals and parish churches in the UK. He has made several broadcasts for BBC radio including a live broadcast for BBC World Service. Michael is Director of Music at St. John’s Wood Church in London where he conducts the Church’s critically acclaimed professional choir. He is also the Organist at Belsize Square Synagogue and is about to embark on his fourth season as Musical Director of the Chiltern Choir. Michael’s choral compositions are published by Redemptorist Publications.
ELIOT ALDERMAN
Tenor
Eliot Alderman read Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, and gained MA and MSci degrees before turning full-time to singing. He spent several years training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for his BMus (which he gained in June 2004), and subsequently on the School’s Post-Diploma Vocal Training course. He has been taught by Philip Doghan, Ian Kennedy and Adrian Clarke, and has been coached by – amongst others - Linnhe Robertson, Peter Robinson, the late Paul Hamburger, Walter Moore, Graham Clarke and David Syrus – Head of Music at the Royal Opera House.
Eliot’s opera credits include Don Basilio (Marriage of Figaro), Scaramuccio (Ariadne auf Naxos), M. Triquet (Eugene Onegin) for British Youth Opera, and Pirelli (Sweeney Todd). Prior to his move to Tenor, Eliot was a Baritone for which he has a number of opera credits. Eliot recently created the roles of Tony Canzoneri and Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis in Howard Fredrics’ new electro-acoustic opera The Whitechapel Whirlwind. Acting and musical theatre work has included the title rôle in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Giuseppe (The Gondoliers), Senex and Miles Gloriosus (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), the Dentist (Little Shop of Horrors) and Dr Willis (The Madness of George III).
Eliot studied chazzanut (the Jewish cantorial tradition) at the Tel-Aviv Cantorial Institute with Naftali Herstik and Raymond Goldstein of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, as well as privately with Moshe Haschel of St. John’s Wood Synagogue. He is Chazzan Sheni at the Central Synagogue, and regularly freelances at other synagogues. Eliot was appointed Assistant Musical Director of the London Jewish Male Choir, in time for its 80th anniversary celebrations in 2006. He also regularly conducts the synagogue choirs at Central and St. John’s Wood Synagogues.
Eliot recently won a scholarship to study on the prestigious Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music which he started in September 2008.
The Jewish choir “Polyphonies Hebraiques de Strasbourg”
The choir was founded in 1996 by its current musical director, Hector Sabo, on completion of his PhD in Jewish musicology at the University for Human Sciences in Strasbourg.
The choir comprises about fourty choristers from various musical and Jewish backgrounds. It rehearses once to twice a week and covers a repertoire of about fifty pieces from Ladino to Yiddish music, through judeo-italian polyphonies (Salomone Rossi), Israeli songs and 19th and 20th century choir music.
The group gives regular concerts in France (both in its home area of Alsace-Lorraine and in the Paris area) as well as in neighbouring countries (Switzerland, Belgium, Spain). The “Polyphonies Hebraiques” invited the Zemel choir to a major joint-concert at the Strasbourg University in 2007, which won the praise of both the general public and specialised critics. The group has also recorded several CDs highlighting its public performances.
Musical director Hector Sabo originates from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a diploma in Orchestra and Choir Direction. After relocating to France in 1987, he developed a comprehensive career as a musical educator, lecturer, arranger, director and pianist. He directed the choir of the Central Synagogue in Strasbourg for 18 years before being appointed director of the new male choir “Chorale Juive de France” by the Consistoire Israelite de Paris. In addition to the “Polyphonies Hebraiques de Strasbourg”, he created a male quartet called “Hebraica” in 2006, with which he tours many festivals.
PROGRAMME
Polyphonies Hebraiques de Strasbourg
Musical Director: Hector Sabo
Piano: Hubert Villette
Ashkenazi liturgy in Europe and America
Tov Lehodoss (Psalm 92) Louis Lewandowsky
Soloists: Mikael Weill – Nicoline Gerber – Sophie Hirsch
Amonoy Molo’h (Psalm 93) Louis Lewandowsky
Soloist: Mikael Weill
Enosh (No 2) (Psalm 130) Louis Lewandowsky
These three opening pieces highlight the musical richness of Louis Lewandowsky, the first major composer of reformed synagogue music in the second half of the 19th century. His attachment to classical forms and German romanticism do not prevent a universal appeal, still in favour after more than one century of worldwide presence in Jewish concerts from many different backgrounds. The two volumes of synagogue music “Todah Vesimrah” by Lewandowsky contain more than 400 original pieces for mixed voice and male choirs, with or without organ accompaniment.
Lecha Dodi (hymn for Kabalat Shabbat) Sholom Secunda
Soloists: Mikael Weill – Sophie Ottenwelter – Jean Moissonnier
Ahavat Olam (Love of the Universe) Sholom Secunda
Soloists: Sophie Ottenwelter – Mikael Weill – Jean Moissonnier
Sholom Secunda made his name as a composer of Yiddish Broadway musicals and songs (“Donna, Donna”) rather than synagogue music. He notably composed pieces of great virtuosity for the famous tenor and chazzan Richard Tucker, which included solo parts for many different voices and choral parts of unusual beauty. These pieces skilfully mix tradition and modernity and give Secunda’s work a timeless dimension.
Kedusha (Sanctification) Max Helfman
Soloist: Jean Moissonnier
Max Helfman is one of the most inspired composers of synagogue music of the 20th century. Originally from Poland, he emigrated to the US at a very young age. He significantly contributed to the development of Jewish music in America, including the emergence of many inspiring and prolific composers.
Lechu Neraneno (Selichot prayer) Samuel Weisser
Soloists: Sophie Ottenwelter – Mikael Weill – Jean Moissonnier
Joshua Samuel Pilderwasser, better known as Samuel Weisser, was born in Ukraine`in 1888 and moved to the US in 1914 at the age of 26. He occupied many important positions in New-York as a synagogue cantor, as a composer and as an educator. He died in 1952.
Shalom Aleichem (May peace be with you) Abraham Goldfaden
This last piece is a recent arrangement of the final prayer of Shabbat evening services by Hector Sabo, the musical director of the Polyphonies Hebraiques de Strasbourg. The music is by Abraham Goldfaden, the founding father of Yiddish theatre in 19th century Russia.
INTERVAL - 20 MINUTES
The Zemel Choir
Chant des Oiseaux C Janequin
Clement Janequin (c 1485 in Chatellerault, near Poitiers -1558 in Paris) was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous composers of popular chansons. The programmatic chansons of which Janequin is famous were long sectional pieces, and usually cleverly imitated natural or man-made sounds, Le Chant des oiseaux imitates bird calls
Rouse yourselves, sleeping hearts, The god of love calls you. You should all be joyful for spring is come. The birds, all inspired, Do wonders with their song: Listen well to their ditty, Bend your ears…
You what are you saying? The little starling of Paris, The little thing…Wise courteous and well versed Go to the sermon my mistress Get thee to Mass, Madam. To St, Trotin to show your tits And sweet looks.
Who wants it?
Cuckoo, cuckoo…
Cuckoo, where is the cuckoo? Away, go away master Cuckoo, Get out of our company. You will never be missed for you are nothing but a traitor. Treacherously, in every nesy you lay without being called. Rouse yourselves etc…
Eli Eli D Zahavi, Poem: H Senesch , arr. A. Saunders
Soprano Solo: Angela Lawrence
Eli Eli is a poem by Hannah Senesch, a heroine of the last war murdered by the Nazi’s who wrote: ‘O my God, may these things always be; the sand, the sea, the ocean’s roar, the lightning’s flash and mortal’s prayer.’
Psalm 121 Steve Cohen
Soprano Solo: Louise Barnett
Steve Cohen received his training at the Manhattan, Julliard and Eastman Schools of Music, and has composed a large catalogue of symphonic, chamber and musical theatre pieces. He is a member of New York’s Zamir Chorale.
I raise my eyes upon the mountains: whence will come my help? My help is from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to falter: Your guardian will not slumber. Behold, he neither slumbers nor sleeps the Guardian of Israel…
Zochreinu Bezikkoron Samuel Alman Tenor solo: Eliot Alderman
Samuel Alman, (1877 – 1947), was born in Belarus but emigrated to England in 1905. He was choirmaster at the Hampstead Synagogue. He was a prolific composer of many diverse works, but is best known for his liturgical music.
The words are from the Rosh Hashonah Mussaf Service.
‘And I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.’
L’Keil Boruch J Hailman arr, J Malovany
Tenor solo: Eliot Alderman
This comes from the first of two blessings in the Morning Service which precedes the Shema.
To the Blessed Almighty, they offer pleasant melodies: to the King, the Almighty, Who is living and enduring, they utter hyms and make praises heard….Blessed are you,Lord our God, Former of the luminaries..
Yigdal S Secunda
Tenor solo: Eliot Alderman
The composer, Shalom Secunda 1894-1974, was born in Ukraine and was educated in America. He is best known for his work in the Jewish theatre.
Yigdal is a hymn which appears at the start of the morning service and comes at the end of the evening service. This hymn, written by Daniel ben Yehuda, who was a Dayan in Rome in about 1300 is based upon Maimonides thirteen principles of Judaism.
Exalted is the living God and praised He exists, and His existence transcends time. He is One and there is no unity like His, He is invisible, His unity is infinite….
Na Ari Baram Beito Words: M Meir Music: M Wilensky
Soprano solo: Angela Lawrence
My lad’s home is in the sea
He went down there joyfully
He promised to bring me back
Corals the colour of blood
But my heart was fearful…
My lad has not come back
Corals the colour of blood, pearls made from foam
Where is he now?
Sheyn Vi di Levoneh – Beautiful as the Moon Word:C Tauber,
Music:J Rushinsky Arr: J Jacobson
Soloists: Natalie Gies, Danielle Joseph, Helen Stone, Deborah Cooper, Rusty Davis
Joseph Rumshinsky (1881 – 1956) became known as the leading creator of Jewish operetta in New York. But even before coming to America in 1906 he had established a considerable reputation for himself in his native Vilna, and later in Lodz, as a composer and conductor of music for Jewish choirs.
My mind is all mixed up. I walk around in a daze. I have no idea what I even want. I’m so ashamed I blush. My tongue is dead in my mouth. I can’ say what I feel. I sense you all around, You’ve moved into my heart. How can I tell you this? You are: Beautiful as the moon, brilliant as the stars, a gift from Heaven sent just for me…
Yiboneh Hamikdosh Chassidic folk song arranged by M Janowski
Soprano solo: Angela Lawrence
Let the Temple be rebuilt in our lifetimes and there we will sing your song.
Shir Tsitsulim – A Song of Bells M Wilensky, Text: Y Mohar
Moshe Wilensky (1910 - 1997) uses the Israeli folk music idiom to echo the sound of the bells on a shepherd’s flock as they return from the hills
Kos Nisa re’im kol yayin W A Mozart (K560a) arr A Knapp
A Hebrew adaption of a German drinking song.
Raise your glasses my friends let’s drink a toastwhile we still have the strength‘to wine, my delight.’ .Let’s drink it now.
What are you dreaming of, you ne’er-do-wells, why are you sitting down and not speaking
Stand up and sing out loud.
Why have you lost your tongues all of a sudden
Sing out loud, you donkeys.
To wine and to Love which has no equal.’ Long may it live.’
Chanukah in Santa Monica Tom Lehrer arr: J Jacobson
Clarinet Solo: Deborah Cooper
Tom Lehrer (1928 - ) is an American songwriter, satirist, performer and university mathematics teacher.
Chanukah in Santa Monica was originally written for and sung on Garrison Keillor’s ‘A Prarie Home Companion’ radio show in 1990, allegedly to counterbalance ‘White Christmas’ and to remedy the lack of Chanukah songs.
The Zemel Choir & Polyphonies Hebraiques de Strasbourg
Niggun Talmidei Besht Ben Steinberg
This setting for two soloists and choir by Canadian composer Ben Steinberg (1930 -) stays true to the nign tradition by being a wordless melody which sets syllables such as ly dy dy dy and yam ba ba bam bam. .
Programme notes: Polyphonies Hebraiques de Strasbourg - Michele Israel (translated by Ariel Bauer)
The Zemel Choir - compiled by Gary Tucker