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.”
Audition for Zamir!
Tuesday evenings, September 13, and September 20, at Temple Beth Shalom, 670 Highland Ave, Needham. Details are available here.
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.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022, 7:30 pm
Our YouTube premiere will feature beautiful music as well as conversations between host Prof. Joshua Jacobson and noted Rossi scholars and musicians, including Prof. Ben Ravid, Prof. Francesco Spagnolo, and Doron Schleifer and Elam Rotem of Profeti della Qiuinta. Registration is required; donations are encouraged.
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.
Zamir on Amazon and Youtube
Zamir News
Jewishchoralmusic.com, Zamir’s free resource for choral leaders and conducting students, is being nationally recognized for filling a void during “social distancing”.
The American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) highlighted the site among its Resources for Choral Professionals During the Pandemic. While choral leaders and educators had more time for learning and planning, jewishchoralmusic.com introduced them to new treasures. 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 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.
