'Prince of Kosher Gospel,' Joshua Nelson, To Kick Off Mitzvah Weekend

The 'Prince of Kosher Gospel,' Joshua Nelson, at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Manhattan

The 'Prince of Kosher Gospel,' Joshua Nelson, will perform during the 6p.m. Shabbat Services, Friday, October 17, 2008 at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Manhattan. Cantor Rebecca Garfein, Senior Cantor of Congregation Rodeph Sholom along with Assistant Cantor, Shayna Peavey and the Rodeph Sholom Children's Choir, will join Joshua Nelson in soulful song to kick off Rodeph Sholom's annual Mitzvah Marathon Weekend.

In the 17 years since Joshua Nelson first sang along with a Mahalia Jackson album he discovered in his grandparents' home when he was eight-years-old, he has spread the sheer joy of spiritual music to audiences from New Jersey to Jerusalem and throughout the world. Joshua, whose voice bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the late Ms. Jackson, has performed in concert halls, synagogues, churches, and at various outdoor venues, both solo and with such musical luminaries as Wynton Marsalis, Billy Preston, Aretha Franklin, and Stephanie Mills; Gospel greats Albertina Walker, the Barret Sisters, Hezekiah Walker, Kirk Franklin, Dottie Peoples, Dorothy Norwood, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Reverend Timothy Wright, and Bobby Jones & New Life, the greatest Jewish Klezmer band in the world, The Klezmatics, and late jazz greats Cab Calloway and Dizzy Gillespie, among others. In 2004, Mr. Nelson appeared on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show", alongside Jamie Fox. Mr. Nelson was named by Oprah as "The Next Big Thing," performing "How I Got Over" and "Elijah Rock." Oprah remarked, "I have never heard a voice like his, he literally brought the house down."

Cantor Rebecca Garfein is the Senior Cantor of Congregation Rodeph Sholom and is the first female Cantor to hold this position in the history of the congregation.

Cantor Garfein has appeared in numerous recitals throughout the United States, Israel, and Europe and has two solo CD recordings, a live recording from the 1997 Jewish Festival in Berlin entitled, "Sacred Chants of the Contemporary Synagogue" and her first studio recording, "Golden Chants in America...Commemorating 350 years of Jewish Music, 1654-2004," the first U.S. recording to feature Jewish music spanning 350 years of life in America.

Cantor Garfein graduated cum laude from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music with a degree in vocal performance and opera. In 1993, she received her Master's Degree in Sacred Music and Cantorial Investiture from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR).

Cantor Shayna Peavey is the Assistant Cantor of Congregation Rodeph Sholom since 2007, having been invested by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion that same year. Cantor Peavey grew up in Springfield, MO and graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in Music Education.

Cantor Peavey wrote her master's thesis about the music of the Ethiopian Jews as a result of her interest in world Jewry and her time spent in Israel during her Cantorial studies. While living in Jerusalem, she spent time researching the Ethiopian community and completed her thesis and subsequent recital, "I am Black and Beautiful, O Daughters of Jerusalem: The Development of the Music of the Ethiopian Jews here in New York."

The entire community is invited to join us. Congregation Rodeph Sholom is located at 7 W. 83rd Street off of Central Park West. For more information, please call 646-454-3030. For more information about our Mitzvah Marathon Weekend, please see our website www.rodephsholom.org.

The 18th Interfaith Concert of Remembrance in NYC

The 18th Interfaith Concert of Remembrance will be held at
the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
112th Street and Amsterdan Ave.

Saturday, October 25, 2008, 8 p.m.

Celebrating 60 years of Israel’s Birth &
Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht
Admission is Free
Program... P R O G R A M

BROOKLYN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
ARKADY LEYTUSH, Conductor
Canticum Novum Singers/University at Buffalo Choirs,
Members of the Westchester Chorale, Harold Rosenbaum, Director
MAURICE EDWARDS, Master of Ceremonies

PRELUDE & FUGUE IN C MINOR J.S. BACH/LEYTUSH

“GABRIEL” (US Premiere) BENJAMIN YUSUPOV

SERENADE & ALLEGRO GIOJOSO FELIX MENDELSSOHN
for Piano & Orchestra
George Li, Piano
Celebrating Israel’s 60th Anniversary, selections by KLEZSHOP
Gilad Harel, Clarinets - Jonathan Keren, Violin/Viola - Gilad Cohen, Bass/Vocals

“YIZKOR” (US Premiere) JOSEF MALKIN
Cantata for Soprano, Choir & Orchestra
Channa Malkin, Soprano

“VA PENSIERO” from NABUCCO GIUSEPPE VERDI

We are honored to feature poems by award winning Dutch Holocaust survivor Ida Vos in our U.S. premiere of “Yizkor.” As a child survivor, I feel that the Holocaust was the darkest event of the last century. The lives lost must not have been sacrificed in vain. That is why the Interfaith Committee of Remembrance (ICOR) continues through music and art to go beyond language to the soul of man to mark this horrific event, so that it will never be forgotten.

As always, the Concert is free – all the more reason why advance contributions are needed. Contact:
Tel: 212-629-6060
Fax: 212-967-2216
Email: icor@holocaust-concerts.org