Dellheim Cantorial Senior Recital 1/30

Date: Jan 30, 2017

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Sponsor: H. L. Miller Cantorial School

Location: New York City

Category: Public Lectures & Events

Cantorial Students Perform at Park Avenue Synagogue

H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music of The Jewish Theological Seminary presents the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Senior Recitals. This is the second of two senior recitals, featuring graduating seniors Malachi Kanfer, Jen Rolnick, and Steve Zeidenberg. The first senior recital is January 26.

Monday, January 30, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.

Park Avenue Synagogue
50 E. 87th Street
New York City

About the Program

Join Malachi Kanfer, Jen Rolnick, and Steve Zeidenberg for an exciting evening of music and spirit as they share their talents and their vision for the 21st century cantorate. The recital will feature a wide range of great Jewish music—hazzanut, art songs, Israeli selections, musical theater, and original compositions—in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. Joyce Rosenzweig, adjunct instructor at JTS, is the pianist for this concert.

About the Performers

Malachi Kanfer, baritone, is the Cantor at Congregation B’nai Jacob in New Haven, Connecticut, a position he has held since 2013. He is particularly proud of his pastoral work in the community, as well as his educational work for both children and adults. Malachi also directs choirs and instrumental ensembles, and officiates at life-cycle events. In Fall 2015, he organized and headlined the “Cantor’s Concert,” the primary synagogue fundraiser of the year. In Fall 2016, B’nai Jacob released “The Music of Congregation B’nai Jacob with Cantor Malachi Kanfer,” a professionally recorded album with a large distribution.

Previously, Malachi served as the High Holidays Hazzan at Congregation Agudas Achim in Columbus, Ohio from 2010 – 2013. He will graduate from the H.L. Miller Cantorial School in May, 2017, and has received numerous awards from the school, including the Cantor’s Assembly Alumni Award, the Rose S. Rovine Prize in Liturgical Music, and the A.J. Weisgal Award. Malachi graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2012, where he performed many operatic roles in both Oberlin and in Italy. He lives in New Haven, CT with his beloved dog, James.

Jen Rolnick grew up in Sugar Land, Texas and was inspired by the music she learned from her cantor in the synagogue youth choir.  She studied voice and piano from childhood through college, and is currently pursuing her Masters degrees in Sacred Music and Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary. During the course of her studies, Jen lived in Israel for a year where she fell in love with the land and people.  In addition to her studies at JTS, she prayed with Women of the Wall, sang with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus, and studied Yiddish in the Yiddish Summer Institute at Tel Aviv University.  

Jen served four years as High Holiday Hazzan at Congregation Shaar HaShalom in Houston, Texas, and two years as student cantor for Congregation Beth El in New London, Connecticut. She is currently the cantorial intern at Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York, New York. Jen is thankful for the gifts of joy and music, and grateful to her friends and family for their constant love and support.

Steve Zeidenberg is thrilled to be bringing great Jewish music to life for his Senior Recital alongside Malachi, Jen, Sarah, Isaac and Summer. The past four years of study at JTS have been years of enormous growth for Steve, allowing him an opportunity to nurture his spiritual, musical and intellectual identities. For the past two years, Steve has served as Cantorial Intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (CBST), receiving invaluable mentorship in religious leadership from Senior Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and exceptional musical mentorship from Joyce Rosenzweig (Music Director).

Steve is originally from Toronto, Canada, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology before working in Special Education for the Toronto Public School system. He is fortunate to be studying voice currently with Marc Schnaible and received phenomenal vocal coaching from Sharon Rostorf-Zamir during his semester in Israel last year. Steve is grateful for the opportunity to share his passion for a broad range of Jewish music, including Hazzanut, Israeli art-song, Yiddish music and musical theater. Steve is grateful to Joyce Rosenzweig, Cantor Gerald Cohen and Cantor Nancy Abramson for all their assistance in preparing him and his classmates for the Senior Recital. Steve is also grateful to his family (including his 102 year-old Bubbi) for their unflinching support through the journey toward becoming a Cantor.

Joyce Rosenzweig is an internationally recognized pianist, conductor, master class presenter, lecturer, coach, arranger, and authority on Jewish art and synagogue music. She has performed in concerts throughout the US, Europe, Canada, and Israel, and is a dedicated educator of cantors and synagogue musicians, having served for over twenty-five years on the faculty of Hebrew Union College–Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, where she holds the title of Artist-in-Residence. She has been a faculty member at The Jewish Theological Seminary’s H. L. Miller Cantorial School since 2004, and has served as Music Director of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Manhattan since 1994.

Save the Date

The first senior recital is January 26