So far, it has been a Jewish year of some horrors for the world, such as the war in Iraq and the Southeast Asian tsunamis. But it has also been a year of hope, containing signs of changes toward peace and democracy in the Middle East.
And here in Milwaukee, it is also a year worthy of celebration, as it is the 10th anniversary of one local Jewish community institution: the Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale.
The group will try to express all these emotions at its annual concert, scheduled for Sunday, March 6, 2:30 p.m., at Congregation Sinai.
The concert’s title and overall theme will be “Tikkun V’Tikvah” (“Healing and Hope”).
Chorale president Sharon Fedderly said, “We wanted to focus on tikkun olam [the Jewish principle of ‘repair of the world’] and hope for a better future. Many of the songs will be expressing that theme.”
Partly in keeping with those themes, the group will perform a recently composed piece that it commissioned, “Lo Yareu” by California-based cantor and composer Stephen Richards.
The work sets words from, among other parts of the Bible, Isaiah 11:9, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
The chorale gave the world premier of this work in July at the North American Jewish Choral Festival, held in New York’s Catskills region.
The program also will include a tribute to Jack Marcus, who died last year and was both a community philanthropist and activist and a member of the chorale and of its board. “He exemplified tikkun olam” and “was a caring and giving individual,” said Fedderly.
But the concert “is a celebration as well” of the group’s history, said chorale director Enid Bootzin. To that end, the program will include works that the chorale performed in its earlier years, but hasn’t in a while.
They will include “Uri Tzion,” the “Sim Shalom” setting by the late Max Janowski, who had directed the choir at Milwaukee’s Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue, and an earlier commissioned work, a setting of Psalm 121 by Charles Davidson.
Overall, the group has grown musically over its 10 years of existence. “You’ll see that the music we sing now is more complex. We’re more confident to take on musical challenges,” said Fedderly.
It also has established itself as a provider of musical services to the Jewish community. Bootzin pointed out that the chorale has performed for the Jewish Chaplaincy Program, a program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation in cooperation with Jewish Family Services; at the Jewish Home and Care Center and Chai Point, plus other nursing homes; for cantorial and other programs at synagogues; and in the Summer Evenings of Jewish Music series.
In fact, after this concert, the chorale will also be performing for the Jewish National Fund (March 28), Jewish Family Services (April 10) and Congregation Sinai (May 20).
“There is a need for Jewish choral music to be heard,” said Bootzin. “People look forward to what we bring to the community.”
The group’s formation was inspired by Cantor Ronald Eichaker, formerly of Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun. It grew from the volunteer choir that performed in June 1994 at the Milwaukee-held convention of the Conservative movement’s Cantors Assembly, which also helped celebrate Milwaukee Jewry’s 150th anniversary. Its first president was Libbie Peckarsky, who died last July.
Since then, the chorale has performed in New York, Chicago and Jerusalem, as well as throughout Milwaukee. This past December, it performed live on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Higher Ground” program. Bootzin said the chorale also hopes in the coming year to “do more outreach to outlying Jewish communities” in the state.
Tickets for the concert are $10 general admission, $8 for seniors and students, $5 for children 12 and under. Proceeds from the March 6 concert will go into the Charlotte Gellerman Memorial Fund, which supports Jewish choral music in and beyond the Milwaukee community and which is named for a chorale member who died last year.
The chorale presently has about 30 members, and “we’re always looking” for more, said Fedderly. For more information about the concert, call Donna Neubauer, 414-354-5961.
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