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Sunday, March 11, 8 p.m.
Three young cantors, all rising stars in the world's Jewish music scene, come together in Amsterdam's revered 17th century Portuguese Synagogue for a concert of Jewish sacred and secular music arranged for orchestra and choir. The New York Cantors are comprised of Brooklyn-born Yaakov (Yanky) Lemmer, Israel-native Azi Schwartz and Israeli-born Netanel Hershtik. Yanky is a cantor of the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City, Schwartz is a cantor at New York's Park Avenue Synagogue and Hershtik is a cantor at The Hampton Synagogue, Westhampton Beach, New York. The New York Cantors premieres on Sunday, March 11 at 8 p.m. on WHRO.
Some of the most beautiful songs in Jewish musical history are prayers sung by cantors during Shabbat services. In this concert, these ancient songs are transformed with new arrangements by the accomplished Dutch composer-arranger Bob Zimmerman. The program also includes favorite secular songs which chronicle Jewish tradition and its rich musical culture, as well as music with a nod to Broadway.
Recorded under 1,000 glowing candles in one of the most architecturally significant synagogues in the world, Maestro Jules van Hessen and his 33-piece orchestra and eight-voice male choir provide support to the cantors.
The New York Cantors concert is a follow-up to Cantors, A Faith in Song, an earlier PBS project. That groundbreaking special, also recorded in Amsterdam's Portuguese Synagogue, became a popular offering for Jewish holidays for years following its 2003 premiere. One of the cantors in that earlier concert was Naftali Hershtik, father of The New York Cantors' very own Netanel Hershtik. Daniel Hart produced both Cantors, a Faith in Song and its reprise, The New York Cantors, for PBS.
