Kolot Nashim
The Zamir Chorale of Boston presents:
Kolot Nashim:
Jewish Music by Women Composers
A Virtual Concert and Conversation
Tuesday, November 17, 2020; 7:30 pm
Registration required. No cost, but donations are encouraged.
For many centuries the world of professional music-making had been an exclusive male bastion in Western civilization. Female composers and public performers were a rarity in Europe and America and it was nearly impossible for them to have their works published or heard on concert stages. Kol ishah – the voice of a woman – was suppressed. Now we are presenting kolot nashim – the voices of many women, restoring them to their deserved position.
The first of a two-part series, Kolot Nashim: Jewish Music by Women Composers, is dedicated to the memory of Linda Plaut, the City of Newton's longtime Director of Cultural Affairs and founder of the Newton Festival of the Arts. We also will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote and pay tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Kolot Nashim was originally scheduled to take place last spring, but due to the pandemic, we had to cancel and have reconfigured the program as a series of virtual events open to a world-wide audience. Each program will be co-hosted by Zamir’s Artistic Director, Joshua Jacobson, and conductor and Zamir alumna, Lidiya Yankovskaya. Our November event will feature composers Nurit Hirsh, Alice Parker, and Meira Warshauer, as well as performances of their music.
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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.
