[no subject]

[Max Stern 310-524-6152 <lms...>]

Shalom!

What a joy to see this group born.  I already belong to too many groups
-- I'm a Net junkie, and thinking of starting a 12-step program called
"Netters Anonymous" -- but the announcement of jewish-music made me
smile with joy.

To introduce myself:

I am Max Stern, 53 years old, recently married (:>), and a member for
about twelve years of the Kol Echad Chorale of Los Angeles.

Kol Echad is a community-based chorus which sees itself as the premier
Jewish choral group in the west.  We sing exclusively Jewish music,
from Renaissance (Salomone Rossi) to contemporary (Tzvi Avni, Mordecai
Seter) and everything in between (Levandowski, Bloch, Bernstein).  We
sing in Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, Ladino, and English.  We sing very
serious music, and very popular (Sheyn Vi Di Livone, Bei Mir Bist du
Schoen, Rozhinkes mit Mandlen).  We sing liturgical music and secular.
In each season, we sing two performances each of two or three major
concerts with full orchestra, and we sing a number of "smaller"
concerts, usually with piano accompaniment.  We are also "chorus in
residence" at the University of Judaism.

I am a fairly observant Jew (member of the Library Minyan at Temple
Beth Am in L.A.), and I find that singing in Kol Echad is an essential
part of my religious gestalt.  I learn a bit of liturgy more thoroughly
when we sing a piece based on it; and I get more out of the piece when
I know where the text fits in to the liturgy.  My Hebrew competence is
strengthened.  And I have a set of singing colleagues who broaden my
Jewish contacts and horizons.

As an aside, I am married today because of Kol Echad.  To sum up a long
story, my bride is the sister-in-law of a singing colleague who gave me
her phone number just eleven months ago.  We were married on September
20, and members of Kol Echad sang at our reception.

If you, dear reader, live in the Los Angeles area and are interested in
auditioning for Kol Echad, we are currently recruiting for the 5753
season.  Our rehearsals are Monday evenings from 7:30 to 10:00, and I
believe our inital rehearsal will be October 26.  Call me at (818)
501-3470 or (310) 524-6152, or call our director: Cantor Alan Weiner,
(714) 552-7654.  Tell him I sent you!

In a few weeks at most, I will post to this group our concert schedule
for the coming season.

May you be inscribed and sealed for a good 5753.

 |\/|  /_\  \/
 |  | /   \ /\                      Max(dot)Stern (at) 
TorreyPinesCA(dot)ncr(dot)com

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