Sunday, Dec. 14, 4 pm
A concert of Jewish music will take place in Congregation Beth El’s sanctuary next month. During this special fund-raising event, three nationally renowned cantors will perform a wide variety of traditional and contemporary Jewish music.
Alex Pomerantz, Beth El vice president, heard all of the cantors at last year’s Federation of Jewish Men’s Club National Convention and says, “This was the high point of the conference for me. The whole room came alive with the melodies of our rich Jewish spirit. I knew then that I had to bring these talented cantors to our community to inspire our local community, too.”
The three cantors are:
Cantor Alisa Pomerantz-Boro grew up on Mercer Island, Wash. in a rabbinic home. The assistant cantor at New York’s prestigious Park Avenue Synagogue while she was in the Cantors Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Pomerantz-Boro has been featured in a nationally televised ABC special, At Evening I Seek You, on a Showtime documentary, An American Tapestry, and with the San Diego Symphony in a concert of Jewish Musical Heritage. Cantor Pomerantz-Boro is known for her moving renditions of liturgical music and enjoys concertizing throughout the country. Her recordings include Modim, We Give Thanks; an eclectic collection of songs of praise and thanksgiving, and Together As One; duets of praise and inspiration with her friend and colleague, Hazzan David Propis. She is currently the Hazzan at Congregation Beth El in Voorhees, N. J.
Cantor Randy Herman is descended from performing vaudevillian grandparents on one side and Eastern European orthodox Jews on the other.
After attending the University of Michigan, working briefly as a musician in Paris and as an actor on the East Coast, Herman settled in Chicago. As a pianist, singer and songwriter, he has performed throughout the U.S. and abroad in nightclubs and festivals, at private events and on live radio. He has produced his own CDs, which have been heard on college and commercial radio and reviewed in major publications. Herman spent a year of study at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem and he received cantorial investiture and a master’s of sacred music from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2008. He has been a guest cantor throughout the U.S., has led Shabbat services at the famed Chor Shul (Choral Synagogue) in Vilnius, Lithuania, and at the Great Synagogue of Stockholm. He currently serves as the cantor of Bet Torah in northern Westchester County (Mt. Kisco), N.Y.
Cantor Zachary Matthew Mondrow is a native of West Boomfield, Mich. He is a graduate of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. Mondrow also received a bachelor of arts in music from Kalamazzoo College in Michigan. He has received many awards from the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and has performed as a featured soloist with the Detroit Zamir Chorale.
Mondrow has performed in many U.S. cities and has also appeared as a featured soloist at Berlin’s National Concert Hall and Munich’s Herkulessaal (Hercules Hall) during the 2012 Cantor’s Assembly Mission to Germany and on the 2009 Cantors Assembly Mission to Poland, the Yiddish Theatre Concert at the National Yiddish Theatre of Warsaw. Mondrow currently serves as cantor of Temple Torah of West Boynton Beach in Boynton Beach, Fla.
Reserve tickets by calling the Beth El office at 757-625-7821. Tickets are: Seniors (60+)/ students, $18; Adults, $36. Babysitting will be available free of charge. Special sponsorships are also available.