The Zemel Choir's Celebrate with Song 2008
London, United Kingdom, May 16, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The Zemel Choir’s “Celebrate with Song” event of two weeks of intensive workshops and rehearsals is about to start on June 1st with a concert at St Johns Smith Square on June 15th. Designed to promote Jewish Choral music, the event should be huge success, attracting workshop participants from London and beyond. Many participants will have not had the chance to sing Jewish Music before, or may not have sung in a choir for many years.
The participants will be singing Jewish music spanning ten centuries, from early Hebrew plainsong to Baroque cantatas, and much more. There will be two specially formed workshop groups, Intermediate and Advanced. The Intermediate group is open to people with limited experience of choral singing and music theory, and who do not feel confident about reading music or sight singing. The Advanced group is open to those who have significant experience of singing with amateur choirs, and have sufficient grasp of music theory that they can learn pieces with moderately complicated four-part harmonies in two weeks.
Each group will learn three or four pieces covering a range of different styles and periods (liturgical and light, old and new). The aim is to give a flavour of the range of Jewish choral music. The participants will have the opportunity to work with Benjamin Wolf and Malcolm Singer, who will conduct them in different pieces of music. In the afternoon of the 1st June, they will also participate in a Voice Production Workshop led by Deborah Miles-Johnson, vocal coach for the BBC Symphony Chorus, as well as joining the Zemel Choir and former members of the Zemel Choir in a massed choir.
The concert will also include performances by the JFS School Choir, directed by Simon Appleman, the Pandemonium Choir, led by Viv Bellos, and by the Zemel Choir.
Celebrate with Song was the brainchild of Zemel’s Musical Director, Ben Wolf and received sponsorship and support from the Harold Hyam Wingate Trust, the BBC’s “Play it Again” Campaign, The Jewish Music Institute, and the Spiro Ark Foundation. In response to the enthusiasm generated, Ben is already working on plans for further events.
Notes to Editor
The Zemel Choir, established in 1955, is proud of its international reputation as one of the world's finest Jewish choirs. Under the Musical Direction of Benjamin Wolf (www.benjaminwolf.co.uk) Zemel’s wide ranging repertoire embraces all the traditional Jewish cultures, Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Yiddish and Israeli. Zemel regularly performs in major venues throughout the U.K. and overseas, and besides singing well known favourites, is particularly proud to present new music, often specially commissioned, from contemporary composers.
Workshop Leaders – Brief Biographies
Benjamin Wolf is Musical Director of the Zemel Choir. He has performed with the choir at major London venues, on tour in Europe and for the BBC. He regularly conducts a number of other choirs in and around London, as well as composing music for theatre and the concert hall. As a pianist he performs in both the UK and abroad. As an orchestral conductor he has performed for the BBC Proms, as well as conducting the Wallace Ensemble - a young, professional chamber orchestra.
The composer and conductor, Malcolm Singer is Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and a professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He read music at Magdalene College, Cambridge before studying in Europe with both Nadia Boulanger and Gyorgy Ligeti. He was later awarded a Harkness Fellowship, spending two years at Stanford University, California, and was Director of Music of London’s Zemel Choir for ten years. In 1995, a “portrait” concert of his music was given in Cologne, and in 2003 there was a 50th Birthday Concert of his music given in St. John’s, Smith Square, London.
Guest workshop leader, Deborah Miles-Johnson is a freelance mezzo-soprano and has worked with most of the world’s leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle performing Stravinsky; Sir Georg Solti in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Bernard Haitink in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger at the Royal Opera House. She is a former member of the BBC Singers and has also performed with the Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars. She is vocal coach and occasional Chorus Master for the BBC Symphony Chorus and in 1999 became the Assistant Chorus Master of the Philharmonia Chorus. She now also works with the Oxford Bach Choir on a regular basis. As a result she is much in demand for workshops where she is highly successful in improving general technique and choral sound.
Contact: Anthony Cohen
Organisation: The Zemel Choir-The UK’s Leading Mixed Voice Jewish Choir
Workshops: 1st and 15th June at London Rehearsal Rooms,
Concert Venue: St John’s, Smith Square 15th June 7.30pm
Contact Details
Tel: 07770-345679
Fax: 0208-889-7500
E-mail: celebratewithsong@hotmail.com
Web: www.the-zemel-choir.org
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The participants will be singing Jewish music spanning ten centuries, from early Hebrew plainsong to Baroque cantatas, and much more. There will be two specially formed workshop groups, Intermediate and Advanced. The Intermediate group is open to people with limited experience of choral singing and music theory, and who do not feel confident about reading music or sight singing. The Advanced group is open to those who have significant experience of singing with amateur choirs, and have sufficient grasp of music theory that they can learn pieces with moderately complicated four-part harmonies in two weeks.
Each group will learn three or four pieces covering a range of different styles and periods (liturgical and light, old and new). The aim is to give a flavour of the range of Jewish choral music. The participants will have the opportunity to work with Benjamin Wolf and Malcolm Singer, who will conduct them in different pieces of music. In the afternoon of the 1st June, they will also participate in a Voice Production Workshop led by Deborah Miles-Johnson, vocal coach for the BBC Symphony Chorus, as well as joining the Zemel Choir and former members of the Zemel Choir in a massed choir.
The concert will also include performances by the JFS School Choir, directed by Simon Appleman, the Pandemonium Choir, led by Viv Bellos, and by the Zemel Choir.
Celebrate with Song was the brainchild of Zemel’s Musical Director, Ben Wolf and received sponsorship and support from the Harold Hyam Wingate Trust, the BBC’s “Play it Again” Campaign, The Jewish Music Institute, and the Spiro Ark Foundation. In response to the enthusiasm generated, Ben is already working on plans for further events.
Notes to Editor
The Zemel Choir, established in 1955, is proud of its international reputation as one of the world's finest Jewish choirs. Under the Musical Direction of Benjamin Wolf (www.benjaminwolf.co.uk) Zemel’s wide ranging repertoire embraces all the traditional Jewish cultures, Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Yiddish and Israeli. Zemel regularly performs in major venues throughout the U.K. and overseas, and besides singing well known favourites, is particularly proud to present new music, often specially commissioned, from contemporary composers.
Workshop Leaders – Brief Biographies
Benjamin Wolf is Musical Director of the Zemel Choir. He has performed with the choir at major London venues, on tour in Europe and for the BBC. He regularly conducts a number of other choirs in and around London, as well as composing music for theatre and the concert hall. As a pianist he performs in both the UK and abroad. As an orchestral conductor he has performed for the BBC Proms, as well as conducting the Wallace Ensemble - a young, professional chamber orchestra.
The composer and conductor, Malcolm Singer is Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and a professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He read music at Magdalene College, Cambridge before studying in Europe with both Nadia Boulanger and Gyorgy Ligeti. He was later awarded a Harkness Fellowship, spending two years at Stanford University, California, and was Director of Music of London’s Zemel Choir for ten years. In 1995, a “portrait” concert of his music was given in Cologne, and in 2003 there was a 50th Birthday Concert of his music given in St. John’s, Smith Square, London.
Guest workshop leader, Deborah Miles-Johnson is a freelance mezzo-soprano and has worked with most of the world’s leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle performing Stravinsky; Sir Georg Solti in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Bernard Haitink in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger at the Royal Opera House. She is a former member of the BBC Singers and has also performed with the Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars. She is vocal coach and occasional Chorus Master for the BBC Symphony Chorus and in 1999 became the Assistant Chorus Master of the Philharmonia Chorus. She now also works with the Oxford Bach Choir on a regular basis. As a result she is much in demand for workshops where she is highly successful in improving general technique and choral sound.
Contact: Anthony Cohen
Organisation: The Zemel Choir-The UK’s Leading Mixed Voice Jewish Choir
Workshops: 1st and 15th June at London Rehearsal Rooms,
Concert Venue: St John’s, Smith Square 15th June 7.30pm
Contact Details
Tel: 07770-345679
Fax: 0208-889-7500
E-mail: celebratewithsong@hotmail.com
Web: www.the-zemel-choir.org
###
Contact
The Zemel Choir
Anthony Cohen
07770-345679
www.the-zemel-choir.org
Anthony Cohen
07770-345679
www.the-zemel-choir.org
Contact
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