KlezCalendar

As a select ensemble of Yiddish singers featured on Mandy Patinkin’s highly regarded Yiddish recording, Mamloshen, The New Yiddish Chorale was founded in 1995 by its conductor Zalmen Mlotek, to preserve and perpetuate Yiddish language, culture and ethics through music. Since its founding, the Chorale has performed and recorded a sophisticated repertoire of traditional Yiddish songs, works written for chorus in Yiddish by major composers, and new choral compositions based on texts of important Yiddish poets.

An internationally recognized authority on Yiddish folk and theater music, Mr. Mlotek has been honored with a Drama Desk Award and two Tony Award nominations for his work as co-creator, musical director and conductor of The Golden Land and Those Were the Days. He conceived and musically directed the first All Star Klezmer Extravaganza at Lincoln Center with Itzhak Perlman, which was filmed by PBS for Great Performances and later released on CD and video as the best-selling In the Fiddler's House. Among his more recent projects was an international tour and workshop production of Ghetto Tango, the CD released by Traditional Crossroads. Mr. Mlotek is currently the Executive Director of the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre in New York City, the longest continuously operating Yiddish theater company in the world.

Born in Brooklyn, Robert Abelson is Cantor at Temple Israel in Manhattan. Specializing in Yiddish Art Song, Cantor Ableson, under the guidance of the late, distinguished composer, Lazar Weiner, performed works by little-known Jewish composers in addition to Mr. Weiner’s compositions. A graduate of the School of Sacred Music of the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion, on whose faculty he now serves, he performed with the New York City Opera for many seasons. He has also sung with other prestigious operatic companies, including the Seattle Opera Association, St.Paul Opera, and the Goldovsky Opera Theatre. Cantor Ableson has appeared in concert with many orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony and the Mostly Mozart Festival. One of the stars of the Jewish musical review, On Second Avenue, Cantor Ableson has appeared in a variety of film, television, and theatre programs. More recently, he had a starring role in the Broadway musical hit, Those Were The Days, which completed a national tour.

Cantor Rebecca Garfein, mezzo-soprano, is the Senior Cantor of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City, and is the first female Cantor ever to hold this position. Cantor Garfein has appeared in numerous recitals throughout the United States, Israel, and Europe. In 1997, Cantor Garfein was invited to participate in the Jewish Cultural Festival in Berlin, Germany and was the first female Cantor to give a solo concert in the same city her grandfather of blessed memory fled. At the 1998 Berlin Jewish Cultural Festival, she became the first female Cantor to preside in a German synagogue, and released a CD of the live recording of the 1997 Berlin concert, "Sacred Chants of the Contemporary Synagogue."

A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Cantor Garfein has been a featured soloist with the Ra'a'na'na Orchestra and the Zamir Chorale at the Jerusalem Theater in Israel and in 2001 was a soloist at the 350th anniversary concert of the Curacao Jewish Community.

Cantor Garfein made her New York City debut with the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra at Cami Hall and recently made her Carnegie Hall debut at a concert with Dr. Ruth Westheimer celebrating the release of Dr. Ruth's new book, Musically Speaking.

Cantor Garfein graduated cum laude from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. In 1993, she received her Master’s Degree in Sacred Music and Cantorial Investiture from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR).

Cantor Jennifer Frost, born in Chicago, was raised in Southern California. Her first Following her studies at the University of California at Irvine, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama, she attended Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion where she received a Masters Degree in Sacred Music and Cantorial Investiture. In addition to her work as a Cantor, Cantor Frost performs with Soul on Fire, a theatrical concert of devotional music. Having recorded its first album, Soul on Fire is currently touring throughout the United States.