“There’s just something about music,” says Michele Yanow, that puts people in touch with their roots. Yanow, a lifelong choral singer, successful entrepreneur, and busy mother of two is the founder of the Seattle Jewish Chorale, a young organization that strives to harness the power of Jewish choral music to promote Jewish values, understanding, and the richness of Jewish song.
Currently comprised of 33 singers, the Seattle Jewish Chorale includes members of all ages across all denominations. The group seeks to promote Jewish values and to bond Jews of all stripes with the cultural and historical power of Jewish music. It further strives to educate both the Jewish community and the community at large by speaking the universal language of music, thereby building tolerance and respect between people and cultures. The choir represents the spectrum of Jewish choral tradition, from reinterpreted liturgical pieces to the music of Israeli halutzim (pioneers).
Yanow —with her husband, musician Adam Shapiro, and a small group of friends — started the Seattle Jewish Chorale in fall 2008 under the conductorship of Cantor Marina Belenky. Congregation Beth Shalom granted the new group practice space and served as its fiscal sponsor for the first year. The choir sought — and continues to seek — members that represent the diversity of Jewish life, from the unaffiliated to the deeply involved. According to Yanow, even secular Jews with no affiliation to the Jewish world otherwise find an emotional connection through music that “connects them to am Yisrael.” The choir even welcomes non-Jews involved in Jewish life or interested in Jewish music.
The group first performed a Hanukkah concert at the Bellevue Square Mall in 2008 after just six weeks of rehearsals.
“It wasn’t bad!” Yanow said.
Performances have since followed at The Summit at First Hill, University Village, Crossroads Mall, the Seattle Jewish Film Festival, Seattle City Hall (as part of the Seattle Celebrates Bernstein Festival), and, most recently, as part of the Big Jewish Show at the Northwest Folklife Festival on Memorial Day weekend. Yanow is excited for its upcoming second annual performance at Town Hall— one of Seattle’s most acoustically and visually lauded performance spots — on June 13.
At this point, the Seattle Jewish Chorale survives almost entirely on volunteer effort, with members paying dues and making donations to cover the salaries of the conductor and accompanist as well as expenses like purchasing music. However, Yanow and the SJC board have initiated fundraising efforts in hopes of expanding beyond basic operating costs to be able to purchase such items as risers and uniforms.
The chorale also has bigger dreams. Yanow imagines the choir becoming “something transcendent,” with a presence in the Seattle cultural scene for Jews and non-Jews alike. With much of the Jewish choral music scene taking place on the East Coast, Yanow imagines hosting Jewish music festivals as well as collaborative performances with non-Jewish music groups on the West Coast. She also dreams of creating a HaZamir chapter in Seattle.
HaZamir brings Jewish teens across the U.S. and in Israel together to perform Jewish choral music in local chapters, retreats and annual festivals.
SJC also hopes to become sustainable enough to perform for other non-profits and charitable organizations for free and to be able to subsidize performers’ trips to the yearly North American Jewish Choral Festival.
“I’m really excited with the growth we’ve had,” Yanow says.
Under the direction of its new conductor, Mary Pat Graham, the choir has increased its talent, reach, and income. The chorale’s first “Friends and Family” fundraising appeal raised 96 percent of its goal. Already they have 100 donors on the books, and they hope to develop more outside of the family and friends of chorale members.
The choir’s season finale concert will represent its diverse repertoire with selections such as the 15th-century liturgical poem “Yigdal,” a Sephardic tune from France, Ladino romanzas, Yiddish folksongs, interpretive arrangements of psalms, rare Leonard Bernstein Jewish selections, and contemporary liturgy settings. Local radio personality and JTNews writer Gigi Yellen will narrate the program, and Cantor David Serkin-Poole of Temple B’nai Torah will be featured as a tenor soloist.
The Seattle Jewish Chorale recently gained non-profit status through Shunpike, a 501(c)3 organization that teams up with arts groups to help them develop business skills. Tax-deductible donations can be made to the Seattle Jewish Chorale through Shunpike.
The Seattle Jewish Chorale is also expanding and will holding auditions over the summer. Auditions will be scheduled for June 15-17 and August 16-18. Until the chorale finds a volunteer Webmaster, information about upcoming performances, auditions, and involvement are available on its Facebook page, under Seattle Jewish Chorale.
Dedicated to the music
