Led by Founder and Artistic Director Joshua Jacobson, the Zamir Chorale of Boston is a vibrant voice in the presentation, preservation, and perpetuation of Jewish culture.
Celebrating over 50 years of “music with a mission.”
Salamone Rossi:
A 400th-Anniversary Celebration
Join Zamir for a free online celebration of the 400th anniversary
of the publication of Salamone Rossi’s pathbreaking collection of Jewish choral music.
WATCH
Our YouTube premiere features beautiful music as well as conversations between host Prof. Joshua Jacobson and noted Rossi scholars and musicians, including Prof. Ben Ravid, Prof. Barbara Wisch, Prof. Francesco Spagnolo, Howard Adelman, and Doron Schleifer and Elam Rotem of Profeti della Quinta.
Learn more about the life of Salamone Rossi, his compositions and music, on Zamir’s choral music resource website, jewishchoralmusic.com.
Comments From Our Fans
This was a fascinating program. I watched it online and was captivated and inspired. Thanks to Prof. Jacobson for his scholarly and accessible approach. The generosity of sharing his music and knowledge is outstanding.
–Marilyn Wolovick
Victoria, BC, Canada
Josh (Jacobson) has again done a magnificent job on this celebration and presentation!! It is outstanding! Simply wonderful! I really enjoyed all the interviews…Thank you!
–Ron Jantzen
Sherborn, MA
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Supporter: Phyllis Hammer; Friends: Gary Buchwald, Professor Jerome Chanes and Dr. Eva Fogelman, Marcia Solkoff Eskin, Cantor Jeff Klepper, Cantor Erica Lippitz, Cantor Louise Treitman, and Nancy Wright.
Bringing the Joy of Jewish Music to Your Home
We hope you have enjoyed our online programming that we’ve been posting since the beginning of the pandemic. We were delighted to hear from so many of you asking us to continue sending them. Miss any? Recorded sessions can be viewed here.
Watch Zamir’s Musical Messages and recorded programs now!
Zamir on Amazon Smile
Gifts through AmazonSmile
We just learned that Amazon will end its AmazonSmile program to benefit specific charities by February 20, 2023.
In 2013, AmazonSmile was launched to make it easier for Amazon customers to support their favorite charities. The Zamir Chorale of Boston is one of those charities. We are grateful to those who purchased items through Zamir’s AmazonSmile account.
Until this date, customer purchases made via AmazonSmile will continue to accrue funds for Zamir as normal. To help nonprofits like Zamir Amazon will provide us with a one-time payment equivalent to three months of payments based on what we’ve accrued in 2022 through this program. The timing of this final payment will be approximately 60 to 90 days after February 20, 2023.
This means that you can (continue to) help raise funds for Zamir when you purchase Amazon products until the end of April.
HOW IT WORKS: On your first visit to AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), just select Zamir Chorale of Boston to receive donations from your future eligible AmazonSmile purchases. You can also click on the AmazonSmile logo above. If you’ve been donating to Zamir through AmazonSmile, we thank you and hope you’ll continue until the program ends.
Zamir News
Zamir is delighted to host Nashirah, Philadelphia’s premier Jewish choral ensemble, on Sunday, March 12, 3:00 pm at Temple Reyim in Newton. Now in its twentieth year, Nashirah offers distinct musical programming that embodies the broadest possible range of Jewish repertoire, bringing together choral music of many lands, languages, and cultures. Our combined voices will present a program not to be missed! This free event (donations encouraged, registration required) is cosponsored by Temple Reyim and Hebrew College. Register/donate here.
Jewishchoralmusic.com, Zamir’s free resource for choral leaders and conducting students, is being nationally recognized for filling a void during “social distancing”. The enriched site provides a core online/podcast curriculum on the history of Jewish music, and lets them peruse compositions for days on end! See what ACDA has to say here.
Zamir is pleased to partner with the Mass Cultural Council, Department of Transitional Assistance, WIC Nutrition Program, and the Massachusetts Health Connector to offer the Card to Culture program, the most comprehensive effort of its kind in the nation to open doors to arts and culture experiences for low-income families.
Card to Culture lets EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare card holders purchase free tickets to Zamir-sponsored public events. Just contact manager@Zamir.org if you’re interested.
This Arts Access program is not funded by MCC, MDTA, or taxpayers.
Zamir Goes Baroque: full chorus
Photos by Mickey Goldin
Who We Are
Performing on concert stages throughout North America, Europe, and Israel, the award-winning Zamir Chorale of Boston awakens audiences to the exotic rhythms of the Middle East to the majestic anthems of 19th-century European synagogues, from the romances of Spain to the chants of Yemen, and from contemporary American jazz to the much-loved Yiddish tunes of Jewish musical theater.
Founded in 1969 by Joshua Jacobson, one of the world’s leading authorities on Jewish choral music, the Zamir Chorale of Boston’s “music with a mission” brings the joy of Jewish music to audiences that transcend age, religious and ethnic background. Zamir sets the bar for musical excellence.
Founder and Artistic Director
JOSHUA R. JACOBSON, founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, holds a Bachelors degree in Music from Harvard College, a Masters in Choral Conducting from the New England Conservatory, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati, and a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from Hebrew College. He served 45 years as Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University, including nine years as Music Department Chairman and six years as the Bernard Stotsky Professor of Jewish Cultural Studies. He is also Visiting Professor and Senior Consultant in the School of Jewish Music at Hebrew College.
Prof. Jacobson has guest conducted a number of ensembles, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Symphony and Chorus, the New England Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Lyric Opera Company. He has guest lectured and taught workshops for schools, synagogues, festivals and conventions throughout North America and in Israel, Germany and Australia. He has also written articles on various aspects of choral music, and compositions and arrangements that have been published and performed by choirs around the world. In 1989 he spent four weeks in Yugoslavia as a Distinguished Professor under the auspices of the Fulbright program. In 1994 Hebrew College awarded him the Benjamin Shevach Award for Distinguished Achievement in Jewish Educational Leadership, in 2004 the Cantors Assembly presented him with its prestigious “Kavod Award,” and in 2016 Choral Arts New England presented him the Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award. And in June, 2018, Prof. Jacobson received the Distinguished Service Award from Chorus America at its national convention in Chicago.
