|
Welcome to the website of the European Cantors Association
Patrons: Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis; Cantor Naftali Herstik, Cantor Joseph Malovany, Cantor Asher Hainovitz
ECA and Edgware Synagogue present three programmes
On Cantorial Music of the UK Provinces
With Edgware United Synagogue, we're presenting three sessions dealing with UK cantorial music outside London.
The first session was on Tuesday 4th January at 8pm when distinguished Rabbi and Cantor, Geoffrey Shisler, featured Star Chazanim Of The Provinces. The recording is here
On Tuesday 1st February at 8pm, Cantorial expert David Prager and ECA Director Alex Klein will play 5 Choral Cantorial Gems to include choirs in Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.
And on Tuesday 1st March at 8pm Cantor Yehuda Marx will take a look at the Manchester Cantorial Scene Today.
Join on Zoom ID : 377 543 5988 Password 101203. International times : 12 pm US Pacific; 15:00 US Eastern ; 21:00 CET; 22:00 Israel and South Africa. Registration not required.
In our next Voice of the Cantor, the last in our second series on Wednesday, 9th February at 7pm UK time,
Alex Klein interviews Cantor Gideon Zelermyer of Montreal's Shaar Shomayim Synagogue.
Montrealer Cantor Zelermyer has performed around the world as a featured soloist and with the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue Choir receiving widespread critical acclaim.
Following the success of our first series of Voice of the Cantor in early 2021, in which over eleven programmes we discussed contemporary issues with panels of cantors from across the religious spectrum, we have returned with a second series focussed on cantors who have made their mark on the profession.
In a series of one-on-one programmes, ECA Director Alex Klein talks to the luminaries in the cantorate whose legacy needs little introduction. The series includes cantors Beny Maissner, Rabbi Michael Plaskow, Rabbi Lionel Rosenfeld, Alberto Mizrahi, Jacob Mendelson, Faith Steinsnyder, Moshe Dubiner, Deborah Katchko-Gray and other distinguished practitioners.
Hazzan emeritus at one of the Unites States' most prestigious congregations, Cantor Mizrahi will be in conversation with Alex Klein about his life, times and hopes for the future. Register for the event at http://bit.ly/eca-voc2.
You can catch up on the previous programmes too:
* In the first programme in this series Alex Klein talked with Cantor Beny Maissner. Go here on YouTube and go here for the podcast
* The second programme featured Cantor Jacob Mendelson. Go here on YouTube and here as a podcast
* The third programme, starred Cantor Moshe Dubiner. Go here on YouTube and here as a podcast
*The fourth programme featured Rabbi Cantor Michael Plaskow. Go here on YouTube and here as a podcast
*The fifth programme featured Alex Klein himself interviewed by Rabbi Yossi Binstock. Go here on YouTube and here as a podcast
*The sixth programme featured Cantor Faith Steinsnyder. Go here on YouTube and here as a podcast
*The seventh programme featured Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray. Go here on YouTube and here as a podcast
*The eighth programme featured Rabbi Cantor Lionel Rosenfeld. Go here on YouTube and here as a podcast
*The ninth programme featuring Cantor Alberto Mizrahi will be available after Sunday 30th January.
To register for the programmes in this popular series please go to https://bit.ly/eca-voc2.
|
| |
  The UK Cantorial Tradition - With David Prager and Alex Klein
Sunday, February 13 and 27 at 1:00 PM US Eastern / 6:00 PM UK
We are pleased to present two programme with the North America Cantors Assembly.
Chazanut expert David Prager and ECA Director Alex Klein have two presentations about the UK cantorial tradition: one about cantorial superstar, Gershon Sirota, and the other about the composers who wrote for the great hazzanim.
Click here to register. |
| Our 14th European Cantors Convention Will Take Place 2nd - 6th November 2022 at the Rumbach Synagogue, Budapest. Details Available After Pesach |
| |
 |
 Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks' extolling value of Jewish Music
- reprised
We have just republished a video featuring late Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks extolling the virtues of Jewish Music at the 25th Anniversary of the Jewish Music Institute in 2010.
The video is here.
"To me music is the most spiritual form of expression that exists Music was absolutely essential to Jewish spirituality" he says. "Words are the language of the mind – but music is the language of the soul".
He talks about nusach : "...you know exactly when and what kind of literature you are listening to, simply from listening to the music When we move from the secular to the spiritual – words take wings through music".
"How do we make Judaism live for a new generation – that answer is, we have to make it sing. If it has no music, no emotional contact, if there is no music – you can’t hand it on." |
|
Read our Autumn newsletter. In this latest edition:
- A Message from our ECA Director Alex Klein – talking about the European Cantors Association and welcoming its warm collaborators in the UK, USA, Israel and Europe.
- We announce the next ECA European Cantors Convention to take place (Covid permitting) in Budapest in November 2022
- We report on the Launch of the exceptional Michael Jolles Encyclopaedia of Synagogue musicians in Britain from 1656 to the present - and show how you can download your copy. – and also how to contact the editors to submit further information.
- We introduce The Voice of the Cantor (VOC)-2 – Alex Klein conducts a series of interviews with distinguished cantors around the world. This continues fortnightly on Wednesdays. Register at https://bit.ly/eca-voc2
- We share our ECA mission of Bringing together all who love Jewish liturgical music and the power it brings to prayer
You are also invited to share the Birthday Book of 70 messages compiled by ECA for our Director Alex Klein’s 70th birthday earlier this year. If you would like to add a personal message to Alex on this milestone, send it to geraldine@cantors.eu with a picture and we will add it.
Click here for the latest newsletter. |
| if you missed it..... |
See the making of a Professional Chazan - presented by ECA and Edgware United Synagogue on 7th December featuring Cantor Yossi Schwarz, Chazan of Edgware United |
 Book Launch 6th October:
Encyclopaedia of British Jewish Cantors,
Chazanim, Ministers and Synagogue Musicians:
their history and culture.
The European Cantors Association staged the International Launch of Michael Jolles’s
Encyclopaedia of British Jewish Cantors, Chazanim, Ministers and Synagogue Musicians: their history and culture on October 6th.
This book is a major contribution to the knowledge of cantors and ministers who have served British Jewish communities in a musical capacity over the centuries from 1656 to the present day. After ten years of dedicated research, Dr Michael Jolles has produced a remarkable volume of material never assembled in one place before. It includes much information that is not available in any other publication.
Notable quotes from the international launch are :
“Singing is so essential as part of our davening….Imagine someone reading a Beatles song without the music.
When the Chazan begins to sing it transforms us. There is no talking to G-d, only singing”.
Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum; Dean London School of Jewish Studies.
“A publication of the this breadth and depth is so significant for Jewish Music. We need to have one of these for US cantors”.
Professor Mark Kligman, Professor of Musicology, and Director of the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience, UCLA
“Cantors are a crucial part of Jewish history and yet comprise the thinnest, glimmering thread of actual scholarship.
The Jolles book adds to a now-wonderful blossoming of scholarship on the cantorate.”
Cantor Matt Austerklein, PhD Scholar, Halle-Wittenberg University, Germany.
To watch the recording of the event go here. To listen to a podcast of the event go here. To download the book (which is free of charge) go here.
 FIVE DAZZLING UK CANTORS
A presentation by cantorial expert David Prager and ECA Director Alex Klein on '5 Dazzling UK Cantors' in junction with Edgware United Synagogue was a hit with an international audience and many engaged participants
If you missed the event, it's recorded here
 Robert Brody's favourite Yamim Noraim Melodies
For those who may have missed it, here is the presentation by Robert Brody on August 31st of his favourite Yamim Noraim melodies in a presentation hosted by Edgware United Synagogue
 Catch Up With The Acclaimed First Series
of 'Voice Of The Cantor
ECA has received many plaudits for
our first 'Voice of the Cantor' series, which ran from March to July 2021over 11 sessions and covered a number of contemporary issues for the cantorate today. You can catch up with the first series here.
 First Night Selichos Live Recordings
If you didn't manage to attend a service online for First Night Selicos in 2021, here's a catch up of a diverse sample:
From Shtibl to Pirchei Kodesh
Go here to hear the recording of 'From Shtibl to Pirchei Kodesh' with Cantor Benjamin Maissner
Cantor Emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple of Toronto and teacher and performer, talking to Alex Klein
Director of the European Cantors Association on his cantorial journey and philosophy
Recorded live on June 8th 2021. |
ECA was officially launched on 2 July 2012 at the 7th Annual European Cantors' Convention Manchester
UK 2 - 5 July 2012,
by Cantor Joseph Malovany of the 5th Avenue Synagogue New York.
Cantor Malovany is also Professor of Liturgical Music at Yeshiva University and co-Director of the
Moscow Academy for Liturgical Music.
Last Updated 27th January 2022 |
