Shir Hadash Booklet - Park Avenue Synagogue

‫שיר חדש‬
Shir Hadash
New Music
at Park Avenue Synagogue
Cantor Azi Schwartz
‫שיר חדש‬
Shir Hadash
New Music
at Park Avenue Synagogue
Cantor Azi Schwartz
Message from Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove
If leadership is
best expressed by
way of personal
example, then in Cantor Azi
Schwartz, Park Avenue Synagogue
is blessed with the finest musical
leadership imaginable. His attention
to his craft, his pursuit of excellence,
and his love for the people of Israel
set the tone for all those who have the
good fortune to be in his presence.
It is a privilege to share the bimah
with him every week and to delight in
his manifold talents. In his presence,
one is inspired to strive for the same
creativity, menschlichkeit, and passion
for Jewish renewal that he brings to
every one of his endeavors.
The music on this CD represents
the cantor’s aspiration to make Jewish
music bridge the generations, giving
new life to our people’s treasures
and introducing what will assuredly
become a new canon of synagogue
music.
Congratulations to Cantor
Schwartz on these commissions. May
these melodies become the shared
song of our congregation into the
years ahead!
Message from Arthur Penn, Chairman, 2013-2014
It is with great
pride that we
present this
CD to the PAS
community. As a leading
center for Jewish music in America
and with the goal of “meeting people
where they are,” we present here
a selection of the best new music
that has been written or arranged
for our community in the last few
years. Respecting tradition but
embracing innovation, Cantor and
Music Director Azi Schwartz has
brought together music by a variety
of composers, in diverse styles,
including traditional cantorial, gospel,
and Broadway. Cantor Schwartz has
led a team of talented singers and
musicians and production staff to
bring you this magnificent product.
This CD offers only a small sample
of the musical world at PAS. We hope
you will enjoy the CD and also join
us at the synagogue for concerts and
engaging Friday night and Saturday
morning community services.
Message from Steven M. Friedman, Chairman, 2008-2013
It is my great
pleasure to
introduce this CD,
which demonstrates the extraordinary
talent of our Cantor and Music
Director, Azi Schwartz, not only as
a singer but also as a visionary for
what synagogue music can be. All
of the musical settings of prayers on
this CD were created for Park Avenue
Synagogue, most of them in the past
two years, directly under Cantor
Schwartz’s guidance. Some of the
pieces are entirely new compositions;
others are new arrangements of
melodies composed decades ago by
legendary liturgical composers. The
cantor’s performance of this music
displays the range of his talents
from traditional hazzanut to gospel
inflections and everything in between.
At worship, in concert and in
recordings such as this one, the music
of Park Avenue Synagogue continues
to touch the listener’s soul and elevate
the spirit, providing peace and joy
according to every listener’s need.
Our community feels privileged
to have Cantor Azi Schwartz and to
share his music with the wider Jewish
community. Enjoy!
Message from Cantor Azi Schwartz
You shall eat old grain long stored, and
you shall have to clear out the old to
make room for the new.
(Leviticus 26:10)
We are excited to present Shir Hadash:
New Music at Park Avenue Synagogue,
published by the Park Avenue
Synagogue Music Center.
In the last few years I have been
privileged to continue our synagogue’s
long tradition of commissioning new
liturgical music. I have had the honor
and the pleasure of collaborating with
some of the finest Jewish composers
of our time, thinking creatively about
our worship experience and the
music which stands at its core. With
each commission, I have guided the
composer through the structure of
the service. For each prayer, we have
reviewed the Hebrew text, its correct
pronunciation, and the meaning of
the prayer as well as the nusach, the
traditional musical motives in which
the prayer has been chanted. At the
same time, I invited each composer to
develop his or her own interpretation,
making the tradition relevant for
Azi Schwartz
Cantor and Music Director
our time. The selections of liturgical
settings on this album are varied in
style and rich in spiritual expressions.
You could think of our synagogue
as a laboratory of Jewish music,
where different tunes and ideas are
being invented and tested. I thank
you all for encouraging this spirit of
experimentation and for participating
in the creation of new liturgical
music! As we continue to shape the
music of our congregation, I invite
you to join us for services, concerts
and music programs and to become
part of our singing community.
The verse from Leviticus quoted
above is about abundance of grain,
but it could well apply to the musical
riches of Park Avenue Synagogue. We
are blessed to enjoy the music of our
past at the same time as we embrace
new melodies and rhythms to express
our prayers.
I thank Rabbi Cosgrove, Arthur
Penn, Steve Friedman and the
leadership of the synagogue for
making this recording possible; Gil
Smuskowitz, Colin Fowler, Ben Ellerin
and my other colleagues at PAS for
their tireless work; and especially my
wife Noa for her love and support.
Azi Schwartz joined
the Park Avenue
Synagogue clergy
in 2009. He follows
distinguished
predecessors,
including Cantor
David Putterman
and Cantor David Lefkowitz, whose
musical leadership established Park
Avenue Synagogue as the flagship of Jewish
liturgical music in the United States.
Born and raised in Israel, Cantor
Schwartz has sung with prestigious
orchestras and choirs around the world.
He has performed in the United Nations
General Assembly Hall, the United States
Capitol Rotunda, and the Knesset, as well
as in the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv
accompanied by the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra and in the Rykestrasse
Synagogue in Berlin accompanied by the
RIAS Kammerchor.
Cantor Schwartz earned a master in
music from the Mannes School of Music in
New York City, where he majored in voice
and conducting. A graduate of the Tel Aviv
Cantorial Institute, he also studied classical
music at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of
Music and Dance. Azi graduated from the
Har Etzion Hesder Yeshiva and completed
his military service as a soloist in the Israeli
Defense Forces Rabbinical Troupe. He
has served as Cantor of the Palm Beach
Synagogue in Florida, Cantor and Choir
Conductor of the Park East Synagogue in
New York City, Cantor of Heichal Meir
Synagogue in Tel Aviv and Assistant Cantor
of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue. He has
released five solo albums in addition to
participating in several other recordings.
Colin Fowler
Ben Ellerin
David Enlow
Artistic Director
Cantorial Intern & Choir Conductor
Organist
Colin Fowler began
studying music at
age 5, in Kansas
City. He continued
his training at
Interlochen Arts
Academy, studying
piano with James
Giles and organ with Robert Murphy.
He received his bachelor of music and
master of music degrees from the Juilliard
School, studying piano with Abbey Simon
and organ with Gerre Hancock and Paul
Jacobs. Although classically trained, he
has performed in Broadway productions,
including Jersey Boys and In the Heights
and is currently the pianist for the Mark
Morris Dance Group music ensemble,
touring worldwide. He has taught music at
NYU and Nyack College, and has served as
the organist and choir director at Calvary
Baptist Church since 2002. Colin has
performed in many of the world’s leading
halls, and has collaborated with major
artists and orchestras.
Ben Ellerin is
a fourth-year
cantorial student
at Hebrew Union
College – Jewish
Institute of Religion.
He earned both
his undergraduate
degree and his master of music from
Indiana University’s Jacobs School of
Music. While an undergraduate, Ben
founded and served as music director
of IU Hillel’s Hooshir, a 12-member
auditioned Jewish a cappella group that
performed at the 2006 White House
Hanukkah Party under his preparation and
leadership. Beyond his studies and work as
a graduate instructor, Ben conducted the
IU Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra and
was active throughout the Midwest as a
conductor, singer, and cantorial soloist. Well known both
in his native
Canada and in the
U.S., David Enlow
is Organist and
Choir Master of
the Church of the
Resurrection in New
York, where he directs a professional choir,
and a member of the organ faculty of the
Juilliard School in New York, responsible
for the service-playing component of the
curriculum. He is also Sub-Dean of the
New York City Chapter, American Guild
of Organists, and a member of the Guild’s
National Committee on Professional
Certification, serving as an examiner of
organists nationwide. Mr. Enlow holds
both an undergraduate and a master’s
degree from the Juilliard School.
Mr. Enlow’s recent recording of
the complete major organ works of
César Franck on the Pro Organo label,
Pater Seraphicus, has received highly
complimentary reviews.
choir &
Instrumentalists
Soprano:
Sarah Brailey
Jacquelyn Familant
Susan Lewis Friedman
Alto:
Maria Bedo
Yonah Gershator
Marguerite Krull
Tenor:
Jhas Agosto
Donald Meineke
John Myers
Bass:
Dennis Blackwell
Clinton Curtis
Tim Krol
Child Soloist:
Nathaniel Sassoon
Instrumentalists:
Nicholas Finch, cello
Todd Palmer, clarinet
Ronen Itzik, percussion
Oran Eldor, piano (Track 4)
Track 1
Track 2
Ein Keloheinu
Zina Goldrich (1964–)
V’shamru
Raymond Goldstein (1952–)
Ein keloheinu, ein kadoneinu, ein
k’malkeinu, ein k’moshi’einu. Mi kheloheinu,
mi khadoneinu, mi kh’malkeinu, mi
kh’moshi’einu. Nodeh leloheinu, nodeh
ladoneinu, nodeh l’malkeinu, nodeh
l’moshi’einu. Barukh Eloheinu, barukh
adoneinu, barukh malkeinu, barukh
moshi’einu. Atah hu Eloheinu, atah hu
adoneinu, atah hu malkeinu, atah hu
moshi’einu. Atah hu sheh-hiktiru avoteinu
l’fanekha et k’toret ha-samim.
V’shamru v’nei yisrael et ha-shabbat, la’asot
et ha-shabbat l’dorotam b’rit olam. Beini
u-vein b’nei yisrael ot hi l’olam, ki sheshet
yamim asah Adonai et ha-shamayim v’et
ha-aretz, uva-yom ha-sh’vi·i shavat vayinafash.
There is nothing like our God, like our Lord.
There is nothing like our King, our Deliverer.
Who compares to our God, to our Lord?
Who compares to our King, our Deliverer?
Let us thank our God, our Lord. Let us thank
our King, our Deliverer. Let us praise our
God, our Lord. Let us praise our King, our
Deliverer. You are our God, our Lord. You
are our King, our Deliverer. You are the
One to whom our ancestors offered fragrant
incense.
[Conclusion of Shabbat morning]
The people Israel shall observe Shabbat,
to maintain it as an everlasting covenant
throughout all generations. It is a sign
between Me and the people Israel for all
time, that in six days the Lord made the
heavens and the earth and on the seventh
day God ceased from work and rested.
[Shabbat morning]
Track 3
Track 4
Mah Tovu
McNeil Robinson (1943–)
L’kha Dodi
Oran Eldor (1983–)
Mah tovu ohalekha Ya’akov, mishk’notekha
Yisrael. Va’ani b’rov hasd’kha avo
veitekha, eshtahaveh el heikhal kodsh’kha
b’yiratekha. Adonai ahavti m’on beitekha,
um’kom mishkan k’vodekha. Va’ani
eshtahaveh, v’ekhra’ah evr’khah lifnei
Adonai osi. Va’ani t’filati l’kha, Adonai,
eit ratzon. Elohim, b’rov hasdekha, aneni
b’emet yish’ekha.
L’kha dodi likrat kalah, p’nei shabbat
n’kab’lah. Shamor v’zakhor b’dibur ehad,
hishmi’anu eil ham’yuhad. Adonai ehad
ush’mo ehad, l’shem ul’tiferet v’lit’hilah.
Likrat shabbat l’khu v’nelkhah, ki hi m’kor
ha-b’rakhah. Merosh mikedem n’sukhah, sof
ma’aseh b’mahashavah t’hilah. Yamin usmol
tifrotzi, v’et Adonai ta’aritzi. Al yad ish ben
partzi, v’nism’hah v’nagilah. Bo’i v’shalom
ateret ba·alah, gam b’simhah uv’tzoholah.
Tokh emunei am s’gulah, bo’i khalah, bo’i
khalah.
How lovely are your sanctuaries, people of
Jacob, your prayer houses, descendants
of Israel. Your great love inspires me to
enter Your house, to worship in Your holy
sanctuary, filled with awe for You. I love
Your house, the place of Your glory. Before
my Maker will I bow in worship, bending the
knee. I pray that this be an acceptable time
for my prayer. O God, Your love is great;
answer me with Your true deliverance.
[Upon entering the synagogue]
Come, my beloved, to greet the bride; let us
welcome Shabbat. Our incomparable God
made us hear in one utterance “observe”
and “remember.” The Lord is One and His
name is One, reflected in fame, in splendor,
and in praise. Come, let us go to greet
Shabbat, for she is the source of blessings.
... Come in peace ... come with joy and
jubilation. Into the midst of the faithful of
the treasured nation, enter, O bride! Enter,
O bride!
[Kabbalat Shabbat]
Track 5
Track 6
Ahavat Olam
Sholom Secunda (1894–1974)/
Raymond Goldstein (1952–)
Hashkiveinu
Oran Eldor (1983–)
Ahavat olam beit Yisrael amkha ahavta.
Torah u-mitzvot, hukim u-mishpatim
otanu limad’ta. Al kein Adonai Eloheinu
b’shokhveinu uv’kumeinu nasiah b’hukekha,
v’nismah b’divrei toratekha uv’mitzvotekha
l’olam va-ed. Ki heim hayeinu v’orekh
yameinu uva-hem neh’geh yomam va-lailah.
With consistency You have loved Your
people Israel, teaching us Torah and
mitzvot, statutes and laws. Therefore, Lord
our God, when we lie down and sleep and
when we rise, we shall think of Your laws
and speak of them, rejoicing in your Torah
and mitzvot always. For they are our life and
length of days; we will meditate on them day
and night.
[Evening service]
Hashkiveinu Adonai Eloheinu l’shalom,
v’ha’amideinu malkeinu l’hayyim. Ufros
aleinu sukkat sh’lomekha. … U-sh’mor
tzeteinu u-vo’einu l’hayim u-l’shalom mei’ata
v’ad olam. Barukh atah Adonai, ha-poreis
sukkat shalom, aleinu v’al kol amo yisrael,
v’al y’rushalayim.
Cause us to lie down in peace, Adonai
our God, and awaken us to life, our King.
Shelter us with Your sukkah of peace. …
Guard our coming and going for life and for
peace, now and always. Blessed are You,
Adonai, who spreads your sukkah of peace
over us and over all your people Israel and
over Jerusalem.
[Shabbat evening service]
Track 7
Track 8
Shalom Rav
Lawrence Rush (1962–)
Kiddush for Friday
Evening
McNeil Robinson (1943–)
Shalom rav al Yisrael am’kha tasim l’olam,
ki atah hu melekh adon l’khol ha-shalom.
V’tov b’einekha l’vareikh et am’kha Yisrael
b’khol eit uv’khol sha’ah bish’lomekha.
Barukh atah Adonai ha-m’varekh et amo
Yisrael ba-shalom.
Grant abundant peace over Israel, Your
people, forever. For You are the sovereign
source of all peace. So may it be good in
Your eyes to bless Your people Israel in
every season and in every hour with Your
peace. Blessed are You, Adonai, who
blesses Your people Israel with peace.
[Evening service]
Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu melekh
ha-olam, borei p’ri hagafen. Barukh atah
Adonai, Eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher
kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’ratzah vanu,
v’shabbat kodsho, b’ahavah uv’ratzon
hinhilanu, zikaron l’ma’aseh v’reshit. Ki hu
yom t’hilah l’mikra’ei kodesh, zekher litzi’at
mitzrayim. Ki vanu vaharta, v’otanu kidashta
mikol ha-amim, v’shabbat kodsh’kha,
b’ahavah uv’ratzon hinhaltanu. Barukh atah
Adonai, m’kadesh ha-shabbat.
Praised are You, Lord our God, King of the
universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.
Praised are You, Lord our God, King of the
universe, whose mitzvot add holiness to
our lives, cherishing us through the gift of
His holy Shabbat granted lovingly, gladly,
a reminder of Creation. It is the first among
our days of sacred assembly which recall
the Exodus from Egypt. Thus You have
chosen us, endowing us with holiness, from
among all peoples by granting us Your holy
Shabbat lovingly and gladly. Praised are
You, Lord, who hallows Shabbat.
[Shabbat evening]
Track 9
Track 10
Ya’aleh
McNeil Robinson (1943–)
Avinu Malkeinu Z’khor
David Lefkowitz (1946–)
Ya’aleh yisheinu mei-erev, v’yavo tohoreinu
mi-boker, v’yeira’eh hinuneinu ad arev.
V’al kulam yitbarakh v’yitromam shimkha
malkeinu tamid l’olam va’ed. Avinu malkeinu
z’khor rahamekha u-kh’vosh ka’as’kha,
v’khaleh dever v’herev v’ra’av u-sh’vi,
u-mashhit v’avon, u-sh’mad u-magefah,
u-fega ra, v’khol mahalah, v’khol t’kalah
v’khol k’tata, v’khol minei fur’aniyot, v’khol
g’zeirah ra’ah v’sin’at hinam, mei’aleinu
u-mei’al kol b’nei v’ritekha.
May our prayers rise up at evening, coming
to You with the dawn, transforming us at
dusk.
[Yom Kippur evening]
And for all this, our King, Your name will be
praised and exalted forever. Our Father,
our King, remember Your mercy, subdue
Your anger and put an end to all plague and
violence, famine and captivity, destruction
and wrongdoing, and disease, and troubles,
and all illness, and all accidents, and all
quarrels, and all manner of calamities, and
all harsh judgments and baseless hatred.
Remove them all from us and from all who
keep Your covenant.
[Yom Kippur day]
Track 11
Track 12
Mah Tovu
Samuel Adler (1928–)
Lo Amut
Avraham Himelstein (19051974)/Raymond Goldstein
(1952 –)
Mah tovu ohalekha Ya’akov, mishk’notekha
Yisra·el. Va’ani b’rov hasd’kha avo
veitekha, eshtahaveh el heikhal kodsh’kha
b’yiratekha. Adonai ahavti m’on beitekha,
um’kom mishkan k’vodekha. Va’ani
eshtahaveh, v’ekhra’ah evr’khah lifnei
Adonai osi. Va’ani t’filati l’kha, Adonai,
eit ratzon. Elohim, b’rov hasdekha, aneni
b’emet yish’ekha.
How lovely are your sanctuaries, people of
Jacob, your prayer houses, descendants
of Israel. Your great love inspires me to
enter Your house, to worship in Your holy
sanctuary, filled with awe for You. I love
Your house, the place of Your glory. Before
my Maker will I bow in worship, bending the
knee. I pray that this be an acceptable time
for my prayer. O God, Your love is great;
answer me with Your true deliverance.
[Upon entering the synagogue]
Lo amut ki-ehyeh, va-asaper ma’asei Yah.
Yasor yis’rani Yah, v’lamavet, lo n’tanani.
Pithu li sha’arei tzedek, avo vam odeh Yah.
Zeh hasha’ar ladonai, tzadikim yavo·u vo.
Od’kha ki anitani va’t’hi li lishu’ah. Even
ma’asu habonim hay’tah l’rosh pinah. Mei’eit
Adonai hay’tah zot, hi niflat b’eineinu. Zeh
hayom asah Adonai, nagilah v’nis-m’hah vo.
I shall not die, but live and recount the
deeds of the Lord. The Lord chastened me
severely, but He did not doom me to death.
Open for me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter them to praise the Lord.
This is the gateway of the Lord; through it
the righteous shall enter. I praise You for
having answered me; You have become my
deliverance. The stone which the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone. This
is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our
eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; let
us rejoice and be glad on it.
[Hallel]
Track 13
Track 14
Torah Service
McNeil Robinson (1943–)
Rofeh Elyon
Jonathan Comisar (1967–)
Ein kamokha va-elohim Adonai, v’ein
k’ma’asekha. Mal’khut’kha mal’khut kol
olamim, u’memshalt’kha b’khol dor vador.
Adonai melekh, Adonai malakh, Adonai
yimlokh l’olam va-ed. Adonai oz l’amo
yitein, Adonai y’vareikh et amo vashalom.
Av ha-rahamim, heitivah virtzon’kha et
tziyon, tivneh homot y’rushalayim. Ki v’kha
l’vad batahnu, melekh el ram v’nisa, adon
olamim.
Rofeh elyon, r’faeinu v’neirafeh ki t’hilateinu
atah. V’hoshi·einu ki Eil melekh rofeh
ne’eman v’rahaman atah. Hadesh yameinu
k’kedem. V’nomar: amein.
None compares to You, O Lord, and nothing
compares to Your creation. Your kingship
is everlasting; Your dominion endures
throughout all generations. The Lord is King,
the Lord was King, the Lord shall be King
throughout all time. May the Lord grant His
people strength; may the Lord bless his
people with peace. Merciful Father, favor
Zion with your goodness; build the walls of
Jerusalem. For in You alone do we put our
trust, King, exalted God, eternal Lord.
[Before returning the Torah to the ark]
[Torah service]
Supreme Healer, heal us and we will be
healed. For you are our glory. Save us,
because you are God, King and a true and
merciful healer. Renew our days as of old.
And let us say: amen.
Track 15
Track 16
Hu Eloheinu
Avraham Himelstein (19051974)/Raymond Goldstein
(1952–)/David Lefkowitz
(1946–)/Azi Schwartz (1981–)
Va-anahnu
McNeil Robinson (1943–)
Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai
ehad. Hu Eloheinu, hu avinu, hu malkeinu,
hu moshi·einu, v’hu yashmi·enu b’rahamav
sheinit l’einei kol hai lih’yot lakhem lelohim.
Ani Adonai eloheikhem. Uv’divrei kodsh’kha
katuv leimor: Yimlokh Adonai l’olam
elohayikh tziyon l’dor va-dor, halleluyah.
We bend the knee and bow, acknowledging
the supreme King of kings, the Holy One
praised be He.
Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord
is One. He is our God and our Father; He is
our King and our Redeemer. In His mercy
He will let us hear a second time in the
presence of all that lives His declaration to
be ‘Your God’: I am Adonai, Your God. As it
is written in Your holy scriptures: The Lord
shall reign through all generations; your
God, Zion, shall reign forever. Halleluyah.
[Shabbat musaf]
Va-anahnu kor’im u-mishtahavim u-modim
lifnei melekh malkhei ham’lakhim ha-kadosh
barukh hu.
[Aleinu – end of every service]
Track 17
V’haya Adonai
McNeil Robinson (1943–)
V’haya Adonai l’melekh al kol ha-aretz,
bayom ha-hu yihyeh Adonai ehad ush’mo
ehad.
The Lord shall be acknowledged as King of
all the earth. On that day the Lord shall be
One and His name One.
[Aleinu – end of every service]
composers
Samuel Adler
Samuel Adler is the composer of over 400
published works, including 5 operas, 6
symphonies, 12 concerti, 9 string quartets, 5
oratorios and many other orchestral, band,
chamber and choral works, and songs,
which have been performed all over the
world. He has fulfilled commissions from
major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad.
He is the author of three books, Choral
Conducting; Sight Singing; and The Study of
Orchestration as well as numerous articles.
Born in Germany, Samuel Adler came
to the U.S. as a child after Kristallnacht.
Adler’s father, composer, cantor and choir
conductor Hugo Chaim Adler, composed
many liturgical settings for Park Avenue
Synagogue, commissioned by Hazzan
David Putterman.
Samuel Adler was educated at Boston
University and Harvard University and
holds several honorary doctorates. He is
Professor Emeritus at the Eastman School
of Music, where he taught and served
as chair of the composition department.
Previously, Adler served as professor of
composition at the University of North
Texas, Music Director at Temple Emanu-El
in Dallas, Texas and music director of the
Dallas Lyric Theater and the Dallas Chorale.
Since 1997 he has been a member of the
composition faculty at the Juilliard School of
Music in New York City, and was awarded
the 2009-10 William Schuman Scholars
Chair.
Adler has been awarded many prizes
and awards and has appeared as conductor
with major symphony orchestras both in the
U.S. and abroad.
Jonathan Comisar
Jonathan Comisar studied piano in the precollege program of the Eastman School of
Music in his native city of Rochester, NY.
He studied piano and music theory at the
Oberlin Conservatory and after graduation
continued to study composition and
Broadway orchestration. Jonathan Comisar is an invested
Cantor with a master in sacred music
from the Hebrew Union College School of
Sacred Music. He served as the Cantor
of Community Synagogue of Rye, NY
from 2000 – 2008. He is sought after
as a composer of Jewish liturgical and
contemporary music and has received
commissions and artist residencies from
synagogues across North America. Cantor
Comisar also serves on the faculty of
Hebrew Union College, where he teaches
courses on music theory, liturgy, and
composing/arranging.
Jonathan Comisar is a composer/
lyricist in the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel
Musical Theater Workshop in New York
City. His musical theater piece “Things
As They Are,” about the life of American
photographer Dorothea Lange, was
awarded Best of the Festival Audience
Favorite Prize at the New York Musical
Theater Festival, 2010. Comisar’s score
was also twice nominated for the Fred Ebb
Foundation Award (2009, 2011).
Oran Eldor
Park Avenue Synagogue Composer in
Residence (2012-2013), Oran Eldor has
composed for Broadway, Off-Broadway
and Israeli National Theater and Television,
including: Snapshots, Map Quest, and
Sesame Street (Israel). His arrangements
were highly praised by Stephen Sondheim
and The New York Times. He has arranged
and orchestrated concerts for Deborah
Voigt, Kristen Chenoweth, Bette Midler, Alan
Gilbert, James Taylor, Meryl Streep, Julia
Roberts, Angela Lansbury and Bernadette
Peters, The New York Pops at Carnegie
Hall, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
A graduate of Berklee College of Music,
Eldor has been a composition fellow at
the Royal Opera House, London, and the
BMI musical theater workshop. He is the
recipient of the Rokem Composition Award
and the Esterhazy Quartet Composition
Award.
Zina Goldrich
Zina Goldrich is a musical theater
composer best known for her work with
lyricist Marcy Heisler. The two won the
2009 Fred Ebb Award for excellence in
songwriting. They are currently working on
the musical adaptation of Ever After, the
Drew Barrymore Cinderella movie produced
by 20th Century Fox, which is aiming for a
Broadway run in Spring 2014.
Goldrich and Heisler’s song, “Baltimore”
was recently sung by Audra McDonald
on Live at Lincoln Center. She composed
music for Dear Edwina (Drama Desk
Nomination) and Junie B. Jones (Lucille
Lortel Nomination) which ran successfully
Off-Broadway. Snow White, Rose Red
(and Fred) (Helen Hayes Nomination) was
commissioned by the Kennedy Center and
is currently licensed by MTI. On television,
Goldrich has composed for Wonderpets,
Johnny and the Sprites, Pooh’s Learning
Adventure, and Peg + Cat, which is coming
this fall to PBS. She is the recipient of the
ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons
Award and a Larson grant and is a SeldesKanin Fellow. She has played keyboards on
Broadway for Avenue Q, Bombay Dreams,
Oklahoma, and Titanic, where she also
conducted. Zina Goldrich is a member of
Park Avenue Synagogue.
Raymond Goldstein
Raymond Goldstein was born in 1953 in
Cape Town and completed his musical
studies there. Since 1978 he has been on
the faculty of the Jerusalem Rubin Academy
of Music and Dance specializing in opera.
He also holds the post of arranger/composer
and associate conductor to the Jerusalem
Great Synagogue Choir where he has over
600 works to his credit. In 1991 Goldstein
was appointed senior teacher at the Tel Aviv
Cantorial Institute.
As a musical director/accompanist,
he frequently appears on stage, radio and
television in Israel and has undertaken
concert tours in Australia, the U.S. and
Western Europe. He has made professional
recordings with international cantors
and singers, and his name appears on
more than 200 CDs, cassette tapes and
DVDs as accompanist and/or arranger.
His compositions include a chamber
opera, two cantatas, a concert Kabbalat
Shabbat service, orchestrations, works for
chamber ensemble, and more than 2000
arrangements, both sacred and secular.
Avraham Himelstein
Born in Warsaw in 1905, Avraham
Mordechai Himelstein sang in his local
synagogue choir from age 6. He absorbed
traditional nusach there and studied with
the foremost conductors and choirmasters
of the city. By the age of 14, he was
conducting four-voice choirs himself. After
attending the Warsaw State Academy for
two years, he served as a choir conductor
with the great cantors of Warsaw and was
also active in conducting youth choirs. In
1936, he accepted a call from Tifereth Israel
Synagogue in Rowland Street, Cape Town,
to act as its choir director. Once there, he
was accorded excellent reviews and earned
an outstanding reputation in the fields of
conducting, composition and arrangement
of music for cantor and choir. From Cape
Town, he moved to Johannesburg, first to
the Yeoville Synagogue and then to the
Great Synagogue in Wolmarans Street, the
largest synagogue in Johannesburg, and
the seat of the Chief Rabbi.
Himelstein regarded the continuity
and fostering of hazzanut and of choral
synagogue music as a holy mission. He
devoted much time to training both cantors
and choir directors in nusach. In his later
years he turned to composing hazzanut
for cantor and choir. Several books of his
compositions have been published.
David Lefkowitz
David Lefkowitz was senior cantor at Park
Avenue Synagogue from 1976–2009. He
has commissioned and premiered hundreds
of compositions. He has also composed
prolifically and has rescued and edited rarely
heard and important synagogue works from
many periods and in many styles. His focus
has always been to pass on to the current
generation the grand musical tradition of
the past while simultaneously encouraging
and embracing contemporary synagogue
music. Highly acclaimed for his clear lyric
tenor voice, Cantor Lefkowitz has performed
internationally.
Cantor Lefkowitz received the David
Putterman Award for Lifetime Achievement
in the Cantorate from the Cantors Assembly
in 2003 and had a 2003–2004 appointment
to the Rabbinical Assembly Law Committee.
He received his professional training
at the University of Pittsburgh, the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America and the
Juilliard School. He is a past president of
the American Society for Jewish Music,
vice president and music director of the
David Nowakowsky Foundation, and faculty
member of the School of Sacred Music at
Hebrew Union College.
McNeil Robinson
“Neil” Robinson served as Principal
Organist of Park Avenue Synagogue from
1964–2012. Hazzan David Putterman
guided his initial education in Jewish liturgy
and ritual and in the nuances of hazzanut.
For almost half a century, Neil accompanied
the synagogue’s cantors, directed the choirs
and composed many settings for the liturgy.
Regarded as one of America’s leading
virtuosos, McNeil Robinson is recognized
as one of the all-time great European and
American organists for his prowess as an
improviser. One of the most prominent
musicians in New York City, Robinson
is Chair of the Organ Department at the
Manhattan School of Music. His students
have won top awards in national and
international organ competitions and many
hold prominent positions throughout the
United States. He is the Director of Music
and Organist at the Roman Catholic Church
of the Holy Trinity. Robinson has had
works commissioned by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the San Francisco Symphony,
Musica Sacra, and the American Guild of
Organists, and has had his music performed
at New York’s Lincoln Center, on network
radio, and in churches throughout the United
States.
Lawrence Rush
Lawrence Rush is composer, lyricist and
bookwriter of Richard Rodgers Award
finalists Pride & Prejudice – the Musical and
Winter of the Fall, which was workshopped
at Illinois Wesleyan University. He cocomposed and arranged the L.A. Weekly
Award-nominated Rules for Girls, which ran
at two Los Angeles theaters, and composed
the bilingual musical, A Maiden’s Consent,
which twice toured the U.S. Rush’s songs
and arrangements have been performed in
cabarets and concerts throughout the U.S.
and Europe. His Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sonnets received performances in the U.S.,
Austria and Berlin. Altar was commissioned
by and performed at Marble Collegiate
Church’s World AIDS Day service. His
choral compositions include “Sim Shalom,”
which received the Shalshelet Award
for Jewish choral music. His piano work
“Transitions” will be performed in November
at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. A
CD of his Poe-inspired work, The RavenWinged Hours, for tenor, soprano, piano,
cello, alto flute and tam-tam, has recently
been released. Rush is also a musical
director, singer, actor, and a member of the
BMI Advanced Musical Theater Workshop
and The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc.
Lawrence Rush is a member of the Park
Avenue Synagogue Choir.
Sholom Secunda
Sholom Secunda was born in 1894 in
Aleksandria city, in what is now Ukraine.
In 1908, his family emigrated to New York,
where he was a noted child cantor until
his voice changed. Secunda studied at
the Institute for Musical Arts in New York
City (predecessor to the Juilliard School of
Music) and studied orchestration for a year
under Ernest Bloch. He taught piano, sang
in choruses and served as a choir director,
orchestrator and composer in a variety
of theaters in New York and Philadelphia
before becoming recognized as a fulltime
composer.
In 1932 Secunda wrote the melody for
the popular song “Bay mir bistu sheyn” on
the lyrics of Jacob Jacobs for the musical
performed at the Parkway Theatre in
Brooklyn, which later became a major hit
for the Andrews Sisters. Together with
Aaron Zeitlin he wrote the famous Yiddish
song “Dos kelbl” (“The Calf,” also known as
“Donna Donna”) which has been covered
by many musicians, including Donovan and
Joan Baez. Along with Abraham Ellstein,
Joseph Rumshinsky, and Alexander
Olshanetsky, Secunda was one of the “big
four” composers of his era in New York
City’s Second Avenue National Theater
(Yiddish theater) scene.
Credits
Production manager:
Gil Smuskowitz
Recording engineer: Robert Anderson & Brian Montgomery
Mastering: Randy Merrill
Edit: Brian Montgomery
Graphic Design: Lawrence Conley
Editor: Marga Hirsch
Photography: Karen Cattan/Sugar Studio
Recorded: June 24, 25 and 26, 2013 at Park Avenue Synagogue
English translations adapted from Siddur Sim Shalom (Rabbinical Assembly, 1985).