• September 2 at 7:30 PM

Why is congregational singing so attractive? And where do these melodies come from? We will examine the phenomenon of group singing and trace the origins of many familiar liturgical melodies from the Shabbat and High Holy Day services. You may be surprised; many of our treasured “ancient” tunes are actually of fairly recent vintage.

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• September 23 at 7:30 PM

For many Jews, the melody of Kol Nidre is the most recognizable and most stirring liturgical music. Where does this liturgy come from? And how did such a cold text come to be associated with such a warm melody? We will investigate its origins and listen to both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi (Oriental) versions. We will analyze the well known music and see how fragments of it appear in other parts of the Yom Kippur service. And we will listen to excerpts of two magnificent orchestral works that were inspired by Kol Nidre.

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