The central legend on which the opera is based is disputed as to
authenticity, but is known to date back to the 2nd century C.E.:
Hannah's tearing off all her clothes at her wedding shames her father
and her brothers into taking action against the oppressive regime. The
hegemon (overlord) Nikanor is killed, but so is Hannah's beloved
Eleazar, whose peacemaking efforts give way to the violence of her
brother Judah ("the Maccabee"). In the final scene, Hannah prophesies
that her youngest brother Simon will be the sole survivor of the Civil
War she has unintentionally ignited. He promises to remember her, "by
lighting the earth with candles."
"The love duet between Eleazar and Hannah (based on the Song of
Songs) and the long passage with the Sukkoth Service are my favorite
parts of this opera, displaying Leonard Lehrman’s mastery of
contrapuntal voices that are at once dissonant and yet beautifully
melodic,” --Orel Odinov Protopopescu, Co-Librettist.
http://ljlehrman.artists-in-residence.com/Hannah.html
By donating to this campaign,
you will help ensure the successful full mounting of a meaningful and beautiful
Jewish grand opera. Not only will
audiences hear some of the great cantorial voices of our time singing music
they rarely get to sing, but will leave the theaters with a new appreciation of
Jewish values and Jewish history. Those
who donate $25 or more and who plan to attend a performance will be
invited to sit in the Priority Seating section on a first-come,
first-serve basis.
Performances:
Tue. Dec. 9, 8pm, Community Presbyterian Church, 12 Nottingham Rd., Malverne Tue. Dec. 23 7pm, Hebrew Union College -JIR, 1 W. 4th St., Manhattan
Reservations: 516-825-2939 Suggested donation: $25 Cash or check only.
Cantor Charles Osborne on what Hannah has meant to him..
Read more about the cast, and thanks for visiting us.
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Cantor MEREDITH GREENBERG (Hannah) received her B.A. in Vocal Performance from Manhattan School of Music, studied at the
Academy for Jewish Religion (AJR), and received her ordination as Hazzan in
2009. She has served as co-spiritual
leader for the past six years at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, NJ. A student of Ellen Shade, Meredith is blessed
to have a loving and supportive family including her parents, Laurence and
Leslie Greenberg and her wife, Leora Perlman. They reside in Montclair, NJ
with their three wonderful children.
After auditioning for the title role in Leonard Lehrman's opera Hannah,
singing an aria from The Ballad of Baby Doe , she then sang through the first act of Hannah and exclaimed: "This is
a role for me!"—with which the composer heartily agreed.
Cantor RAPHAEL
FRIEDER (Mattathias) has served as Chazzan of Temple Israel of Great Neck
since 1991. He has appeared in venues from Carnegie Hall to Tel Aviv's Mann
Auditorium and Vienna's Volkstheater, and has worked with conductors including
Zubin Mehta, Roger Norrington and Gary Bertini. Leonard Bernstein selected him
to sing the first public performance of Bernstein's Arias & Barcarolles in Tel Aviv. A featured soloist for the Milken Archive of
American Jewish Music on Naxos, he has made numerous recordings for Israel
National Radio, and played the role of The Cantor in the hit film Keeping the Faith. He received his degrees in voice and choral conducting at the
Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, and teaches at Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in NY City.
Cantor
DAVID KATZ (Eleazar), while
studying in Israel, was engaged as the lead tenor
in the Jerusalem Great Synagogue Choir singing under Eli Jaffe. Ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in 1998, he
has served as Cantor on Long Island for more than 18 years, the last two at Or
Elohim in Jericho, and was also Cantor of the Raleigh Hotel in the
Catskills. Cantor Katz is a member of the "The Three Jewish
Tenors" along with Cantors Alberto Mizrachi and David Propis. He has sung
with the Houston Grand Opera Symphony (with Marvin Hamlisch conducting), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles
Jewish Symphony, Queens Oratorio Society Symphony, Orchestra Camerata
in Italy, Pan American Orchestra Of NY, One World Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, and many other prominent orchestras throughout the
U.S. He has sung lead roles in opera as Rodolfo in La Bohème, Alfredo in La Traviata and Faust in Gounod's Faust in the
U.S. and Europe. Cantor Katz has sung the national anthem for
the NY Mets at CitiField and the NY Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum.
Cantor
GALIT DADOUN COHEN (Dinah), born and
raised in Ashdod, Israel, earned her Bachelor’s of Music and Artist Diploma
from the Ruben Academy of Music of Tel Aviv University and her Master’s
of Music from City University of New York’s Brooklyn College. In
2010, she was ordained Cantor from HUC-JIR. Since then, she has served as the Cantor of Temple
B’nai Or in Morristown, NJ. Galit has sung opera and classical song
in festivals, concerts, and various projects throughout the United States,
Europe and Israel. She has won awards and scholarships
from the America-Israel Foundation, as well as participated in young
artist programs of the International Vocal Arts Institute led by Joan
Dorneman of the Metropolitan Opera. She deeply loves contemporary Israeli music, classical
music and traditional Eastern European Hazzanut. Along with her
husband Joe, Cantor Galit shares the gratitude and endless joy of raising
their three daughters Danielle, Naomi and Maya.
Tenor JONATHAN KLINE (Judah) attended AJR on a course of cantorial study and has made a
career in a number of venues and media, here and abroad. Engaged
as a solo artist with NY City Opera in several productions including the
world premiere of Haroun & the Sea of
Stories, he appeared in the first national tour of Disney’s Beauty & the Beast. An accomplished interpreter of early and new music, he has appeared as Evangelist and soloist in J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion, and Johannes-Passion, in
concert featuring songs of Walter Hilse (accompanied by the composer) and as a principal soloist in the rarely
performed Requiem Mass of Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Operatically, he most
recently appeared in Mark of Cain
(Moradesh) and Glory Denied (Older
Thompson), at Chelsea Opera; Fra Diavolo
(Diavolo) with Bronx Opera; and The
Impresario (Angel) at Yard Opera.
Mr. Kline has been featured in television campaigns for TV Land, The
American Liver Foundation, Dragon Ball Z, and I-Flex, broadcast
nationally, and was featured as Felix
Polk in the “Greed” segment of Deadly
Sins on the Investigation Discovery network.
Cantor ERIK CONTZIUS (Nikanor)
is a versatile baritone, a creative composer, and a dynamic performer. He has a B.A. in Psychology from Rutgers and an M.S.M. from HUC-JIR. His
Jewish repertoire is eclectic, ranging from the highly classical (performing
the Ernest Bloch Sacred Service in Bulgaria, Canada, and Israel) to
traditional hazzanut (appearing on the stage of the Stardust Ballroom at
Kutshers in the Catskills), to dynamic vocal jazz (touring with The
Afro-Semitic Experience). Contzius' compositions have been performed by cantors
and choirs across the U.S. and can be heard on his album, Teach My Lips a
Blessing. His editing skills are gratefully acknowledged in the production of the Hannah promotional video.
Cantor
MOSHE BEAR (Jonathan), baritone,
hails from Pensacola, FL. He studied at Vanderbilt University and George Peabody
Teachers College in Nashville, then JTS and AJR, from which he received
his ordination. Former
Cantor at South Huntington and Dix Hills Jewish Centers, this year he became Cantor at
Temple Gates of Prayer in Flushing.
Metropolitan Region Chairperson of the Cantors Assembly and conductor of
the Long Island chapter of HaZamir, he has concertized throughout North America,
Europe and Israel, and is featured in the film 100 Voices. The
first singer to perform a concert of Yiddish music at Ellis Island, he
serves as Passover Cantor of the Yiddish Artists and Friends-Actors Club in
Manhattan.
Cantor
FREDDA RAKUSIN MENDELSON (Zipporah,
12/9), HUC-JIR '96, began her career as an internationally known opera and concert
singer for over 20 years. From her debut in Frankfurt, Germany to her
contract with the Met she has specialized in the dramatic mezzo repertoire of
Verdi, and has sung with most of America’s opera houses, including Santa Fe,
San Francisco, and the NY City Opera season in L.A., as well as Barcelona, Rio,
Sao Paolo and Las Palmas, Canary Islands. In addition to many PBS radio
broadcasts, she starred in the PBS telecast of Menotti’s The
Consul and was featured in the 20th Anniversary Gala from
Wolf Trap. She has recorded CDs for the Union of Reform Judaism and
Transcontinental Music, as well as Jewish Music and More (with her husband
Jacob Mendelson) and Charles Osborne's Souls on Fire, based on Elie Wiesel’s
book, narrated by Leonard Nimoy. Cantor Mendelson served Temple
Beth El of Spring Valley for 3 years and has been the Cantor at Larchmont
Temple, Larchmont, NY for the past 15 years.
Cantor JANET
LEUCHTER (Zipporah, 12/23), HUC-JIR '99, is the cantor of the Greenburgh Hebrew Center
in Dobbs Ferry, NY. A lyric mezzo, she has performed in many genres,
including opera, oratorio, theater, folk and art song. She is especially
known for her ongoing study and performance of Yiddish song. She was the
vocalist with the pioneering women's band Klez-meydlekh
and has taught at the Yiddish Folk Arts Program ("Klez-Kamp") and
other venues. She has premiered songs by songwriter Beyle
Schaechter Gottesman and is featured on Gottesman's first recording, Zumerteg/Summer Days. She can also
be heard on the The Spirit of Jewish
Children's Music (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism), Dancing with the Dead: The Music of Global
Death Rites (Ellipsis Arts) and the soundtrack of the acclaimed documentary
Partisans of Vilna. Her Off-Off-Broadway credits include Maria Irene Fornés in Eyes on the Harem (Obie winner), La Vida
es Sueño/Life is a Dream, and Elizabeth Swados' Jerusalem Oratorio. Other
oratorios she has sung include works by Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Amy
Beach, Mendelssohn and Honegger.
HELENE WILLIAMS (Simon), soprano, co-founded the Bronx Opera, where she sang numerous operatic roles, before joining forces with Leonard Lehrman in Jan. 1987 as his star, muse, and Co-Founder of
Court Street Music in Valley Stream. She has performed in all genres across
Europe, North America, Latin America, Israel, and Australia--close to 600 times, including concert excerpts from every one of the female roles in
Hannah and 140 works he has written for her. Career highlights have included Merkin and Carnegie
Recital Halls, Dresden's Staatsoper and Center for Contemporary Music,
Heinrich Heine concerts in six languages all across Germany, the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA, and the first
Yiddish song recital ever given during the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth. Roles
she has created include Queen Isabella and Mrs. Potter in Lehrman's operas
New World and
The Wooing, along with various heroines and villainesses in the works of Marc
Blitzstein and Leonard Bernstein. She has been featured in premieres and first recordings of
works by 20 L.I. composers on Opus One, Premier, Capstone, Albany, and Original
Cast Records, including the first CD devoted to David Diamond's songs, and
centennial concert recordings of works by Abel Meeropol, Marc Blitzstein, and
Elie Siegmeister. Former temple soloist in NJ and Brooklyn, she became Choir
Director of Jericho Jewish Center this year. Founder of Accent Reduction in
English Speech in Valley Stream, she teaches at Baruch College CUNY.
Dr. LEONARD LEHRMAN is the composer of 10 operas, 6 musicals, 4 cantatas, and 195 other
works heard throughout Europe, North America, Israel, Russia, Australia, and at
the U.N., winning numerous awards. Commissions have included an entire Friday Evening Service (published in part by Transcontinental) for the retirement of Cantor Daniel Fogel at North Shore Synagogue in Syosset; an opera for the
Lake George Festival; An Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Song Cycle for Corliss Lamont;
In Memoriam Arnold Rosner for Carson Cooman; We Are Innocent (a Rosenberg Cantata); and New World: An Opera About What Columbus Did to the "Indians"
– commissioned by The Puffin Foundation and premiered on Long Island in
1992. His performances have been posted
on over 1400 YouTube videos, best accessed at <tinyurl.com/LJLvideos>, with over 113,000 views to date. The first Jew to
conduct Fiddler on the Roof! in Berlin, he received his B.A. from
Harvard and D.M.A. from Cornell. Former Assistant Conductor at the
Metropolitan Opera, he is the Founder/Laureate Conductor of the Jewish Music
Theater of Berlin; Founder/Director of the Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus and
the L.I. Composers Archive; Music Director at Jericho Jewish Center; High
Holidays Music Director of the Metropolitan Synagogue; Organist/Choir
Director/Composer-in-Residence at Christ Lutheran Church in Rosedale; and
Reference Librarian at Oyster Bay Library. From 1992 to 2003 he was Music Director of Malverne Community
Presbyterian Church. Six composers wrote music for his wedding to
Helene Williams, conducted by Cantor Charles Osborne at Stephen Wise
Free Synagogue, July 14, 2002. Hannah, the only one of his
operas not yet produced in the U.S. and posted on YouTube, is the third
work of his to receive a premiere at HUC-JIR: In 1997, his opera Suppose A Wedding,
after Bernard Malamud's eponymous Scene of a Play, was premiered in the
presence of Mrs. Malamud. And in 2011, the Motyl String Quartet
premiered his Suite #2: Remembrance. Both these events were
co-sponsored by The Long Island Composers Alliance, of which Dr. Lehrman
was the first President, 1991-98. This fall he taught the first course
ever given in Jewish Opera, at HUC-JIR. Some of his students sang
portions of Hannah in rehearsal and in concert. For further info please visit <www.ljlehrman.artists-in-residence.com>.
The Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus, founded by Leonard Lehrman in
1988 and specializing in music of social consciousness, has performed
and recorded with the Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra (founded by
Kevin Scott) and independently, at the U.N., Weill Hall,
Harlem School of the Arts, WQXR, WBAI, Community Church of NY, Riverside
Church, Malverne Community Presbyterian Church, United Methodist Church
of Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, Temple
Sinai in Roslyn, Temple Judea in Manhasset, Heckscher Park in
Huntington, Donnell Library, Queens College, LIU-Post, NYU, Great Neck
Library, Long Beach Library, Bryant Library, People's Voice Cafe,
and St.-Marks-in-the-Bowery. Works performed multiple times include Siegmeister's
I Have A Dream and Lehrman's
New World,
We Are Innocent,
and
A Requiem for Hiroshima.
Please see
http://ljlehrman.artists-in-residence.com/MPC.htmlNIC CHRISTOPHER (Lighting Designer) is a senior at Hofstra University pursuing a B.F.A. in theater arts with a focus in
lighting and set design. Past credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Technical Director); Much Ado About Nothing
(Master Carpenter); Urinetown (Master Electrician); Antony and Cleopatra (Associate
Lighting Designer); A Lie of the Mind, This Bud of Love, and Masquerade Musical Theatre Company's Spring
Awakening (all Lighting Designer).
BARBARA
D'ANDREA (Art Director) is
a photographer who works in the graphic arts and has shown her work worldwide.
She received her B.F.A. from Moore College of Art, an M.F.A. through the Visual Studies
Workshop and an M.A. in Art Education from Adelphi University. She taught
art for many years in the Roosevelt Union Free School District. As a member of Malverne
Community Presbyterian Church, she designed and produced most of the art work
that hangs in the sanctuary there. Ms. D'Andrea has a passion for archeology
and has done pinhole photo essays on ancient Egyptian monuments and Mayan
temples. Her April 2000 one-person show was reviewed in the NY Times, which praised her "frequently haunting ...daring composition."
PEDRO D’AQUINO (Organ, Piano II, Tambourine), a native of NY City, is Organist and Choir Director of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun of Short Hills, N.J. He is also Cantor of Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan’s Theater District,
and Music Director of the Traditional Latin Mass Community
at the Church of the Holy Innocents in the Garment District. Prior to
his appointment at B’nai Jeshurun, Pedro served as organist of
Congregation Emanu-El of the City of NY, having previously served
as music director of two other synagogues in the NY area
stretching back over a period of 30 years. In 2004 he joined the faculty
of the School of Sacred Music of HUC-JIR in NY, where he is an accompanist/coach and
instructor of music theory. In 2009 he was made a Fellow and Choir Master of the American Guild of
Organists and was awarded both the Choir Master Prize and the
prestigious S. Lewis Elmer Award for having attained the highest scores
on the Choir Master Examination and on any guild examination,
respectively.
Cantor DANIEL PINCUS, Development Director and this Indiegogo Campaign Team
Leader, is a graduate of HUC-JIR. He has served
congregations in Ohio and NYC. Daniel is
a 20-year member of the Sephardic ensemble “Alhambra,” a founding member of the
Mantua Singers (Mati Lazar, Conductor), and as a concert tenor has appeared
with the Marlboro Music Festival, the 92nd Street Y Schubertiades, Music
at Trinity Cathedral, Portland, ORE on NPR, The Rottenberg Chorale, Monadnock
Music, the Oberlin Early Music Festival, and in recital with Malcolm Bilson, John
Van Buskirk, Kenneth Cooper and Trevor Stephenson. He has recorded with soprano Julianne Baird
on Jane’s Hand, a compendium of some of Jane Austen’s favorite music. Most recently, Cantor Pincus has become a
scholar of shofar practice, and has taught numerous shofar workshops and
programs in synagogues, as well as online and at the Hebrew Union College and
the Jewish Theological Seminary. Visit
him at Facebook Group Shofar Corps and
at www.cantordanielpincus.com.
Acknowledgments for help with promo videos: Julie Morgan (Hannah in 1980) and men of the U.S. Seventh Army Soldiers Chorus; Amy Glass, Daniel Pincus and Helene Williams (for videography); Malverne Community Presbyterian Church; After Dinner Opera Company (Beth Flusser); Fredda and Jacob Mendelson; Erik Contzius (for editing); Charles Osborne' and Carol Jochnowitz.
If you are viewing this after the campaign ended but before the second performance, please consider donating to the production HANNAH directly to:
Dr. Leonard Lehrman
33 Court Street
Valley Stream, NY 11580
