Shofar: A Call to Come Together
In this time of broken covenants and division, Coro Allegro, Boston’s LGBTQ+ and allied classical chorus, invites all to a free panel discussion in advance of our March 8 concert Shofar: In Memoriam, with the directors of Boston’s three Jewish choruses to celebrate Jewish choral music and Robert Stern’s oratorio Shofar.
Shofar: A Call to Come Together
Monday, February 24, 2020, 7:00-8:30pm
The Public Library of Brookline,
Brookline Village Branch- Hunnenman Hall
361 Washington Street, Brookline, MA.
Free event. Parking available on site.
Panelists include:
Joshua Jacobson
of the Zamir Chorale of Boston
Carol Marton
of Koleinu, Boston’s Jewish Community Chorus
Derek David
of A Besere Velt & the Boston Workers Circle
Catherine Madsen
librettist of Shofar
David Hodgkins
of Coro Allegro & New England Classical Singers
In partnership with the
Jewish Arts Collaborative.
Robert Stern's oratorio, Shofar, is based on the ram’s horn of Jewish liturgy, whose calls, in the composer's words, “are a metaphor for our human experience—our hope of being whole and our fear of being shattered.” His retelling of the story of Moses, the golden calf, and the tablets of the law, premiered by Coro Allegro in 2006/09, has been praised by Gramophone magazine as “deeply affecting” and “a work of dignified power.”
In 2020, with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the death camps and renewed outbreaks of anti-Semitism, it feels more important than ever to celebrate the Jewish choral tradition and Shofar’s message for a broken world. “Begin again,” Stern’s work urges us. “We build the world together.”
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Experience Stern's Shofar live:
Coro Allegro presents Shofar: In Memoriam
Sunday, March 8, 2020 at 3pm
Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, MA.
New England Classical Singers join us for a concert honoring beloved Boston artists Robert Stern, Sanford Sylvan, and Donald Wilkinson, with music of extraordinary beauty by Stern, Vaughan Williams, and Brahms. Featuring soprano Teresa Wakim, tenor Jonas Budris, baritones Aaron Engebreth and David Kravitz in Shofar, plus baritone Ron Williams in Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs.
