March 07, 2024 March Soul Sounds:
Jewish Melodies from a Carpathian Farming Village

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Jewish Melodies from a Carpathian Farming Village
with Hankus Netsky and Jessica Kate Meyer

Join us for our second Soul Sounds concert on March 7 at Hebrew College. Hankus Netsky and Hebrew College Rosh Tefillah & Artist-in-Residence Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer share spiritual Jewish melodies passed down to them by Morris Hollender z”l, the sole survivor of his musical village.

A survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp, Morris Hollender came to the Boston area from Czechoslovakia in 1967. A child from a renowned musical family in the Munkacs/Beregsacz region, he learned nusach and melodies from his Uncle Shloyme, Yiddish folk songs from his mother and extended family, and nigunim from his father and his Uncle Berl. Hollender’s role as Ba’al Tefile and Ba’al Koreh at Temple Beth Israel in Waltham became the cornerstone of his musical legacy in the United States and across the world. His repertoire is a rare gift among the contemporary musicians, contributing to the international resurgence of Eastern European Jewish musical culture.

6:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
7:00 p.m. — Concert begins

Event organizational partners: Jewish Arts Collaborative (JArts), Base Boston, and Temple Beth Israel in Waltham.

Tickets

Purchase tickets here.

Thank you to our Series Underwriters

The Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Family Foundation
Kavod Boston and the Kavod Jews of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Caucus (JOCISM)
Suzanne Priebatsch
Susan and James Snider
The William Davidson Foundation and The Wexner Foundation

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Our Musicians

A multi-instrumentalist, composer, and ethnomusicologist, Hankus Netsky is co-chair of New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Musical Arts Department and founder and director of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, an internationally renowned Yiddish music ensemble. He has composed extensively for film, theater, and television, collaborated closely with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, Robin Williams, Joel Grey, Theodore Bikel, and Robert Brustein, and produced numerous recordings, including 10 by the Klezmer Conservatory Band. He has also recorded with Ran Blake, Marty Ehrlich, Rosalie Gerut, Linda J. Chase, Theodore Bikel, Margot Leverett, and Cantor Jeff Warschauer. He received the Yosl Mlotek Award and a “Forward Fifty” award for his role in the resurgence of traditional Eastern European Jewish ethnic musical culture. He was also awarded a New England Conservatory Outstanding Alumni award, along with the school’s Louis Krasner and Lawrence Lesser awards for Excellence in Teaching.

Listen to our Speaking Torah podcast episode featuring Hankus here!

Jessica Kate Meyer `14, Hebrew College Rosh Tefillah & Artist-in-Residence, is a prayer leader, storyteller, vocalist, and rabbi, who served as rabbi-hazzan at Romemu in NYC, and most recently, at The Kitchen in San Francisco. She has studied sacred Jewish music with masters from Ashkenazi and Mizrahi traditions and has performed as a vocalist with ensembles in the United States and Israel. In a previous life, Jessica appeared in film, theater, and television projects in Europe and the United States: most notably, as a principal role in the Oscar-winning film, The Pianist.

Itay Dayan is an Israeli clarinetist currently based in Boston, Massachusetts. Itay played with various ensembles spanning different musical worlds, such as the Klezmer Conservatory band, Meitar Ensemble and the Israel Klezmer Orchestra. His most recent endeavor, Hoffman’s Farewell, is a new and unique klezmer album drawing inspiration from traditional and contemporary sources. Currently pursuing his Master’s degree at the New England Conservatory, Itay won scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Ronen Foundation, Ima Foundation, and the Zvi and Ofra Meitar Family Foundation. Itay is also a recipient of the Siday Fellowship for Musical Creativity by the Jerusalem Institute of Contemporary Music.

Save these Dates!

Spring Soul Sounds Concerts

April 18, 2024: Until Love Pleases: Piyutim of Shir HaShirim and Pesah with Kedma
Featuring Yoni Battat, Anat Halevy Hochberg, and Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer
6:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
7:00 p.m. — Concert begins

“I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem!
If you meet my beloved, tell him this:
That I am sick with love.”

A night of piyyutim (liturgical poetry) inspired by the Song of Songs (Shir HaShirim) and Pesah.

>> Learn more & purchase tickets

May 5: Catalan Mahzor Suite
Featuring Ira Klein (Composer, Guitar), Rachel Linsky (Choreographer, Dance) and Beth Bahia Cohen (Violin, Yayli Tanbur)
6:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
7:00 p.m. — Concert begins

Inspired by The Catalan Mahzor, a micrographical anthology of psalms and medieval Judeo-Spanish poetry, this one-of-a kind music, dance, and art experience fuses influences from Judeo-Spanish and Middle-Eastern music with the contemporary sounds of jazz and folk music.

(This concert is also in commemoration of Yom HaShoah.)

>> Learn more & purchase tickets

June 6: The Rabbi’s Family Band
Featuring multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Lisa Mayer, Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and Zachary Mayer
7:30 p.m. — Doors open. Light refreshments available
8:00 p.m. — Concert begins

Steeped in tradition but with a fully modern and inclusive sense of Yiddishkeit, the trio has performed their beautiful and authentic nigunim (wordless melodies) all over the world. 

>> Learn more & purchase tickets

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