Last week, Kol Ram, the Ramaz Adult Community Choir, led by Daniel Henkin (with Cantor Josh Ehrlich, assistant director), and Kol Kaveret, the SAR High School Choir, directed by Rabbi Kenny Birnbaum, came together to perform at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale/The Bayit for the entire Riverdale community.

“The performance at HIR presented a range of choral music in a truly intergenerational setting,” said Henkin. “From Elizabethan Madrigals and Israeli classics to contemporary popular tunes, Ramaz’ Kol Ram and SAR’s Kol Kaveret choirs made the most of HIR’s lovely acoustic space. The choirs joined together on a final song, “Amen,” along with a handful of audience members who knew the arrangement. I take immense pleasure in seeing singers of all ages come together to share their love of singing with an appreciative audience.”

The SAR choir members learned a lot from this invaluable experience. “Honestly, it was pretty cool to sing with Kol Ram,” said Kol Kaveret’s Boaz Siegel. “The members of Kol Kaveret are definitely more motivated now to put in the effort, and work up towards the nuance—the phrasing, the dynamics—that we witnessed in this concert.”

Performing with their younger counterparts shed new light on Kol Ram members as well. “It was great to share the stage at HIR with a new generation of Jewish choral singers, and I enjoyed their style and musical selections, put together by R. Birnbaum,” said Celia Weintrob of Kol Ram. “My favorite part of the performance was singing “Amen” with my nephew Harrison Brooks. We are both tenors so we were standing right next to each other. It was really special.”

Henkin and Birnbaum did an excellent job of bringing the two groups together. Birnbaum shared, “I am grateful that our school was able to provide our choir members with the opportunity to showcase their talents alongside the Kol Ram choir. It was so nice to perform just for the pure enjoyment of music.”