The Brattleboro Area Jewish Community (BAJC) is honored to present a concert featuring Spiritual Leader Kate Judd. A candidate for cantorial ordination in June, Kate is preparing her final recital for her degree and ordination. The recital, called “For My Teachers,” will receive its first performance here in West Brattleboro, Vermont, in the main hall of All Souls Church/ West Village Meeting House at 29 South Street on March 21st at 7:30 pm.
There is no admission charge but free-will donations will be greatly appreciated and anything beyond BAJC’s
costs will be donated to the needy. Light refreshments will be served.
Kate is taking her inspiration from Debbie Friedman’s song “For Our Teachers,” and has included in the program music from several different periods in her life as a singer, each section honoring one or more of
her teachers. She will begin with Bach, in honor of Blanche Moyse, with whom she sang in the 1980s. Songs in French by Gabriel Faure honor Kate’s former voice teacher and friend Sanford Sylvan. The remainder of the program includes songs of Kurt Weill in English and Hebrew, songs in Yiddish by Pierre Pinchik, and some traditional chazzanut (cantorial recitatives), in honor of Kate’s many wonderful teachers in the Boston area, particularly at Hebrew College in Newton, MA. Kate will be joined in three choral works by an interfaith choir that includes the choir of All Souls Church under the direction of Ede Thomas–the Kurt Weill “Kiddush,” a piece written by Kate, and the beautiful “Esa Einai” written by Cantor Charles David Osborne for Kate’s Installation at BAJC in 2013.Flautist Tom Baehr will accompany some works. The program will conclude with an audience sing-along of Debbie Friedman’s “For Our Teachers.”
Kate received an Artist Diploma in classical voice from the Longy School of Music where she studied with Sanford Sylvan. She continued her studies in Boston for several years with Donna Roll. As a recitalist, oratorio soloist, and operatic soloist she has appeared throughout the New England area. While Kate now limits her singing largely to cantorial repertoire in a synagogue setting, recent concert performances include the role of Katarzyna Mateja in the premiere of Lynn Torgove’s “Frauenstimmen: Women’s Voices at Ravensbruck”, and participation in a concert of art songs by Lazar Weiner at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York. After many years as a teacher of voice and the Alexander Technique, Kate entered the Cantor Educator Program at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts in 2007, where she currently studies voice with Cantor Lynn Torgove. She has served as BAJC’s Spiritual Leader since June, 2012, and hopes to continue to serve this community for many years to come.
Kate’s pianist for this diverse program is Osnat Netzer, originally from Haifa, Israel. After training intensively as a composer, pianist and singer-songwriter throughout her high school years, military service and undergraduate studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Osnat came to the United States in 2003 and earned her doctorate in 2011. Her compositions have been performed in Israel, France, Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands and the United States. A scene from her opera,The Wondrous Woman Within, performed to great acclaim on New York City Opera’s VOX festival in 2012, was called “riotously funny” by the New York Times. The complete opera premiers at Tel Aviv’s Cameri Theatre this year. As a pianist and performer, Osnat regularly plays and conducts new music by fellow composers, as well as her own songs and compositions. In 2013, she joined the faculty of Harvard University, where she teaches musicianship, theory and composition.
Join the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community to celebrate Kate Judd’s coming ordination with beautiful music from many traditions.
