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Welcome to the website of the European Cantors Association
Patrons: Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis; Cantor Naftali Herstik, Cantor Joseph Malovany, Cantor Asher Hainovitz
Alex Klein is interviewed in our next 'Voice of the Cantor'
this coming Wednesday, 8th December
Our next Voice of the Cantor is this coming Wednesday, 8th December at 7pm UK time when in a 'something different' mode Rabbi Yossi Binstock, Chazan at St Johns Wood Synagogue will interview Alex Klein, Director of the European Cantors Association and legendary UK impresario.
Following the success of our first series of Voice of the Cantor in which, over eleven programmes, we discussed contemporary issues with panels of cantors from across the religious spectrum, we have returned this Autumn with a second series focussed on cantors who have made their mark on the profession.
In a series of ten 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, Jacob Mendelson, Faith Steinsnyder, Moshe Dubiner, Robert Kieval, Deborah Katchko-Gray and other distinguished practitioners.
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
To register for the programmes in this popular series please go to https://bit.ly/eca-voc2.
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 We have published 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. |
 Book Launched 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 'Voice Of The Cantor' Series
ECA has received many plaudits for
our first 'Voice of the Cantor' series, which ran from March to July. This first series ran over 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 this year, here's a catch up of a diverse sample:
ECA Summer Newsletter Published
ECA's Summer Newsletter is now out. ECA Director Alex Klein reveiws the recent 'Voice of the Cantor' series; Daniel Tunkel asks "Do we need a synagogue choir?"; and Cantor Beny Maissner reflects on the European Cantors Conventions - across the spectrum of Jewish denominations.
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. |
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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 4th December 2021 |
