For immediate use
October 24, 2007

Celebrate Jewish Music with Kosher Ceilidh at Pier 21

(Halifax, NS) - Shaar Shalom Congregation presents a musical journey through Jewish cantorial and popular music, Kosher Ceilidh, on Sunday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Kenneth C. Rowe Heritage Hall, Pier 21. The concert features two professional Cantors, Ari Isenberg and Tracey Scher, joined by Halifax’s Rhapsody Quintet, Baritone Lowell Shore and Actor/Narrator Marcia Kash. Drummer Dave Burton rounds out the ensemble.

Even as they were forced to move from Spain (Ladino music), to Eastern Europe (Yiddish music), into ghettos and camps of the Holocaust, to freedom in the New World (Broadway/Hollywood musicals), and finally to their own home – the State of Israel – Jews never stopped making music. Echoing the tones of the Jew of each age and country, Kosher Ceilidh is a journey told through music and words. The show was conceived and compiled by Marcia Kash and Shimon Walt, with lighting design by Leigh Ann Vardy.

Cantor Ari Isenberg is now in his fourth year as Cantor at Shaar Shalom Congregation. Originally from Montreal, Cantor Isenberg also holds the pulpit at the synagogue and is active in the community at large, frequently addressing Halifax’s interfaith organizations and speaking to media on shows like Sounds Like Canada, Mainstreet and Information Morning. His training began at a very early age after discovering a passion for cantorial music at the Montreal synagogue he attended as a child. At just 26, he has a wealth of cantorial experience, and will enroll for rabbinical ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City in the coming year.

Cantor Tracey Scher, originally from Nova Scotia’s South Shore, now makes her home in Washington, DC, where she is a full-time Cantor. Cantor Scher studied at Acadia University and then went on to receive a graduate degree in Opera Performance from Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She was invested in 2003 from the Hebrew Union College, and has performed major oratorio works with orchestras in the northeastern US. This performance marks Cantor Scher’s first performance for Halifax audiences since 2005, when she appeared in The Original Soul Music.

Rhapsody Quintet is one of Nova Scotia’s finest ensembles, featuring members Anne Rapson, violin; John Rapson, clarinet; Shimon Walt, cello; Diana Torbert, Piano and David Langstroth, Bass. Rhapsody has released four CDs to date and have appeared twice as guest artists with Symphony Nova Scotia. The Quintet tours throughout Atlantic Canada and Ottawa and Toronto, and recently performed on the Italian Riviera. They arrange and adapt orchestral and piano music to suit their unique instrumentation, and have performed salon music, light classics, theatre music, and chamber music since the mid-80’s, at concerts overlooking the ocean, corporate events, charity fundraisers and dinners for royalty.

Narrator/writer Marcia Kash began her career as an actor at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England and went on to play leading roles in the U.K., across Canada and in the U.S. For the last fifteen years she has been focusing her career on directing and writing for the stage. She is an internationally produced playwright with ten shows to her credit. Currently she has a number of projects on the go including a new stage play entitled Someone Else’s Shoes and a screenplay (co-written with Mary Colin Chisholm) called Middletown. Although she presently lives in Halifax, Marcia is very much in demand as a freelance director and works in theatres across the country.

Baritone Lowell Shore, known in Halifax as the Singing Dentist, has been performing since grade 8 when he appeared in an operetta called Howdy Cowboy. A regular at the Pond Playhouse music comedies, Lowell grew up in Glace Bay, where an elder from the Jewish community told him that because he was born on the holiest day of the Jewish year (Yom Kippur), he had to either become a Rabbi or a Cantor – he credits this experience to his choice of career as a dentist!

Tickets are on sale now at $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors (65+), and are available at the Shaar Shalom Synagogue (1981 Oxford Street), Buckley’s Music (6206 Quinpool Road), Halifax Folklore Centre (1528 Brunswick Street) and The Madrigal Halifax Ltd. (Spring Garden Place, Kinko’s entrance). For further information, please contact Shaar Shalom Congregation at 423-5848.

FOR BROADCAST USE:
Shaar Shalom Congregation presents Kosher Ceilidh, a journey of Jewish cantorial, and popular music from Spain to Eastern Europe, to the American stage and to Israel, on Sunday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Kenneth C. Rowe Heritage Hall, Pier 21. The concert features Cantor Ari Isenberg and Cantor Tracey Scher, as well as Rhapsody Quintet, Baritone Lowell Shore and Actor/Narrator Marcia Kash. Tickets are now on sale at $25 regular and $20 for students and seniors (65 and over) from Shaar Shalom Synagogue at 1981 Oxford Street, as well as Buckley’s Music, the Halifax Folklore Centre and The Madrigal in Spring Garden Place. For more information, please call Shaar Shalom at 423-5848.

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For media inquiries, photos: Peggy Walt
Cultural Affairs Consulting & Promotion
pwalt@eastlink.ca
422-5403
Biographies, photos and recordings (Rhapsody Quintet) of the performers are available.

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