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Delaware Valley Cantors Bring Back
In-Person Concert
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
Courtesy of Cantor Stephen Freedman
C antor Jen Cohen, now in her 15th
year at Temple Beth Sholom in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey, grew to enjoy
Zoom services during the pandemic: She
led songs and prayers over the digital
connection from her dining room, with
her dog at her side.

“It felt important to be able to do that,”
she said.

But even as she enjoyed the new normal,
Cohen recognized that it couldn’t last for-
ever. Now, she’s relieved that it’s over.

“Th ree years is a long time to be
apart, and I think we all feel much more
together now. We haven’t been in lock-
down for a long time. We’re using our
social muscles again,” Cohen added.

On Dec. 11 at Melrose B’nai Israel
Emanu-El in Elkins Park, Cohen and
13 other cantors in the Delaware Valley
will not only use their social muscles but
fl ex them.

Th e Delaware Valley Region of the
Cantors Assembly is bringing back its
annual pre-Chanukah concert. For the
fi rst time since before the pandemic in
2019, it will be in person.

Th e show starts at 4 p.m. Tickets are
available on the synagogue’s website at
mbiee.org or by calling 215-635-1505.

General admission is $18 in advance
and $25 at the door, according to an
event fl yer. You can become a donor
and get a better seat: Shammash-level
donors give $36; Menorahs donate $72;
and Maccabees off er $118.

Th e concert drew between 100 and 300
attendees in pre-COVID times, accord-
ing to Cantor Stephen Freedman of
Melrose B’nai Israel Emanu-El. He said
this year’s ticket sales are moving toward
100 people. If the Elkins Park synagogue
opens its auditorium, it can accommo-
date as many as 250 guests. Th e cantor is
confi dent that the audience will grow as
the event gets closer. Chanukah begins a
week later on Dec. 18.

“It’s an opportunity to hear over a
dozen cantors from the Delaware Valley
region singing together as an ensem-
ble, and also singing solos and duets,”
Freedman said. “You’re going to hear
music that you would not hear from the
bimah on a typical Shabbat.”
Cantor Stephen Freedman of Melrose B’nai Israel
Emanu-El in Elkins Park
Th e cantors will focus on “a number
of themes,” Freedman added. Th e main
one is the Festival of Lights, which is
where the concert’s title, “We’ll Light up
Your Life,” comes from. But Chanukah
will cede the stage to other bright lights
during the night, including Israel’s
upcoming 75th anniversary and a set of
Broadway selections.

During the Chanukah portion of the
show, the group will sing “We are Lights,”
a song about the holiday written by
Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the Tony
Award-winning musical “Wicked.” Later,
they will perform a piece by Salamone
Rossi, an Italian composer who pub-
lished the fi rst known piece of Jewish
liturgical music in 1622, according to
Cantor David Tilman, the choir director
at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel
and a member of the ensemble.

Two cantors will sing “For Good”
from “Wicked.” Another is going to belt
out “America” from the 1980 remake of
“Th e Jazz Singer” starring Neil Diamond.

And one will perform “I Am Easily
Assimilated,” a tune from “Candide,” a
1956 operetta based on the 1759 Voltaire
novella. “It’s kind of like an eclectic concert,”
Freedman said. “But with some really
spectacular voices.”
Freedman and his cohorts organized
a show during COVID,
too, just online and pre-
recorded. And as Cohen
said of Zoom services, the
cantors grew to enjoy their
digital concert as well. But
it was not the same.

In-person, “you get
the vibe of the audience,”
Freedman said. At a pre-
recorded event, there’s
no applause at the end of
each number. In a sanctu-
ary or auditorium, there
is, and then performers
respond to that. And then
the audience responds to
the charisma of the indi-
vidual singers and the
ensemble. “It’s kind of the diff er-
ence between listening to
an album that an artist produces in the
studio as opposed to going to an arena
to hear that same band,” he added. “Th e
music is equally beautiful at both. But
the feeling you get from having a live
presence is exciting.”
Th e cantorial group includes seven
men, seven women and the entire range
of singing voices — from soprano to bass.

And cantors, Tilman explained, are hap-
piest when they sing as a group because
“the music comes together” and “the
harmony is unbelievably wonderful.”
Cohen said she enjoyed the High
Holidays this past year because services
were at capacity again. Th is concert will
feel similar.

“We do this to make people sing
together and to make a joyful noise,” she
said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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