CULTURAL CELEBRATION
As a singer, composer, producer, and cultural organizer, I follow in my family lineage. My parents were life-long explorers and lovers of the arts. My immigrant grand-parents were cultural workers who kept Yiddishkeit alive and created contexts (summer camp, classes, publications) that taught children the values of being a good human being (a mensch). They valued and acted on behalf of workers’ rights and human rights in the world. As do I.

Raised in a Yiddish-speaking secular home with a love of music, justice, and nature, my personal spiritual journey has been organic: intuitive, deeply connected with beauty, and filled with gratitude and amazement to be alive and part of the infinite fabric of Life.

Serving Jewish and Inter-Faith communities as a cantorial soloist is one of the great honors and joys of my musical life. The Creator means many things to each of us. In the sacred songs and liturgical settings I compose, I seek a universal approach, aiming to give people of all spiritual identities entry points into greater resonance and meaning.

As an artist-in-residence for nearly 18 years at the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, I co-wrote more than 80 songs with Jewish elders and their families. Rabbi Sheldon Marder and I co-founded the “Psalms, Songs and Stories” Project. Elders, average age 88, co-composed more than 18 songs based upon the Psalms, in diverse translations and interpretations. We also wrote songs on other Jewish and general topics including holidays, love, family, and, of course, food.

I’ve had the honor of bringing collaborative song composition workshops to congregations in Atlanta, GA and Greensboro, NC ad to students and community elders at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College with Rabbi Dayle Friedman.

I’m now able to offer these workshops online and to travel to communities across North America.

Do you have a vision of creating music that you’d like to explore? Sacred or secular, Jewish or general, solo or in community?