Catskills Are Alive With the Sound of Music
Singers and choral aficionados from across North America and Israel are warming up their vocal cords and practicing scales in anticipation of a summer pilgrimage to the Catskills. This year marks the 18th annual North American Jewish Choral Festival, an event beginning July 8, held by the Zamir Choral Foundation. Some 500 participants will attend the five-day program, which is open to amateur and professional musicians, conductors, choirs and artists.
“This is the seminal event that created the [Jewish] choral movement,” said the foundation’s founder and director, Matthew Lazar. “Singing all day… makes people feel like they’re part of a community,” and the event allows for “individual expression in the context of a group experience.”
This year, legendary musician Theodore Bikel will be presented with the festival’s Hallel V’Zimrah Award, which is given to a leader in Jewish music (past recipients have been Velvel Pasternak, Gil Aldema and Yehezkel Braun).
“I’ve known Theo for a long time,” Lazar said. “He’s a great Jewish leader, a cultural leader and a moral leader. He was a shining light when others weren’t really promoting Jewish music.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!