Collaborators
Cantor Yaakov Yitzchak Rosenfeld
Yaakov Yitzchak Rosenfeld was born in 1979 in Jerusalem and comes from a great cantorial and musical family. The Rosenfeld family was renowned in Hungary before the Second World War. Rosenfeld’s great-grandfather, Moshe Yonah Schlesinger, served as cantor and head of the choir in a large Orthodox community synagogue in the town of Tshaba near the border of Romania. His maternal grandfather, Rabbi Mordechai Shalom Rochman, served as a choral soloist with Moshe Koussevitzky in Warsaw, Poland and went on to become a cantor, performing in many communities throughout Romania. Rosenfeld’s paternal grandfather, Rabbi Naftali Rosenfeld, ran the prayer services from the very young age of 13 in various Hungarian communities and continues to lead prayer services in Israel to this day.
Cantor Yaakov Rosenfeld, a tenor, studied at the University Clinic in Germany and received further training from the famous opera singer, conductor and voice teacher Richard Belson. Rosenfeld has great skills and outstanding cantor statement. He is blessed with exceptionally fast and precise coloratura and a great sense of improvisation which enable him to perform the most intricate pieces. The soulful poetry of his voice, coupled with his heartfelt performances reflect deep musical creativity and his talents have received notable praise from professionals around the world.
Current Performances
Today, Cantor Yaakov Rosenfeld serves as a cantor on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in the famous Montevideo Synagogue in the 16th district of Paris. Rosenfeld also serves as guest cantor in many communities around the world including the Der Shul in Miami Beach, Florida; the Bratislava Shul in Slovakia; the Bethal Synagogue in Brooklyn, New York; the Hampton Synagogue with Rabbi Schneier; the Bialystok Synagogue in Manhattan, NYC; and the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem, Israel.
Rosenfeld also appears regularly in concerts in the USA, Israel, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary and at various cultural centers throughout the world.
Theater and On Screen Performances
Cantor Yaakov Rosenfeld was discovered in recent years as an actor and has won significant acclaim from Israeli radio and television stations. He appeared in theaters as the rabbi in The Rabbi’s Dream and as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, performing in both Hungary and Israel. Rosenfeld also starred as a Yiddish humorist in Dzigan and Schumacher which was performed in theaters is Israel and Krakow, Poland.
Cantor, actor and performer Yaakov Rosenfeld appears at the annual Yiddish Festival near the Dead Sea in Israel and at the famous Krakow Festival in Poland. He is also well known for his remarkable ability to sing in the style of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.
The multi-talented, Cantor Yaakov Rosenfeld was born to be a star on stage, with his fascinating talent for drama, his unparalleled voice and a personality which has captured the hearts of audiences, young and old, around the world. He has appeared before the President of Germany and many other prominent individuals worldwide.
Menachem Bristowski, Pianist
Menachem Bristowski is a world renowned pianist who has accompanied many of the greatest cantors over the past 20 years.
As Israel’s foremost cantorial concert pianist, he accompanies the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yuval Choir in the largest and most prestigious concert halls in Israel.
Menachem is an integral part of the Yuval Choir, which is conducted by Dr. Mordechai Sobol. The Choir has brought cantorial music back into the mainstream of Israeli and international entertainment.
A highly talented musician, Bristowski’s has arranged music for orchestras, cantorial performances and choirs.
Menachem Bristowski is widely recognized for his virtuosity, expertise and deep understanding of the texts that he accompanies. His deep connection to the meaning of the prayers which he
accompanies have led to his tremendous success both in Israel and around the world.
During the past two years, Bristowski performed in concerts at New York’s Lincoln Center and in the prestigious Metropolitan Opera, together with Cantor Helfgot, the Yuval Choir and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
Cantor Avremi Roth
Avremi paved his way to the “hall of Jewish music” with his special charming voice that allows him a unique natural transition between Chazonus and Chassidic music.
He is currently rated at the top of these two fields, Performing for Various audiences at concerts with the greatest cantors and frequently invited to exclusive events and performances in Israel and abroad.
With his pleasant voice and Hasidic passion, Avremi captured the hearts of many people, that were far from the Jewish music repertoire, and through him got closer to the sounds and words and became a part of its Loyal fans.
Avremi performs regularly at Dinners of institutions, Yeshivot, special organized group vacations and for charity organizations.
Some of these performances were the basis for the two successful albums, ‘Zitz 1’ and ‘Zitz 2’ that can be heard in every home.
In addition, Avreimi Roth released three albums that emphasize the harmony diversity of his songs. “Malachey Hasharet” with the pleasures of its Chasidic Nigunim, “Ata Nigleta” for the Longing of Pirkei Chazonus and his latest album “Emet v’eyatsiv” produced by the great composer Yossi Green.
Cantor Boaz Davidoff
Boaz is a Cantor, recording artist and concert performer, as well as a musician, composer and choir director. He holds B.A in music Ed and M.A in musicology.
Before becoming a Cantor, Boaz performed constantly in festivals and concerts around Israel, Europe and the U.S.A. as a lyric tenor soloist. He sang Renaissance, Baroque, oratorio, early opera and world music, along with his own compositions.
Then, Boaz went through a major turn in his life – he returned to his Jewish origins and discovered the “Wonderful Light of Emunah (faith)”. As a result of that he longed to the world of Cantorial and Jewish soul music. Boaz registered to TACI (Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute) and started, passionately, to study under the direction of maestro and cantor Naphtali Herstik. After only 2 years of study – during a cantorial tour of TACI in North America – Boaz was “kidnapped” to Shaare Zion Congregation in Montreal, Canada and became a full time cantor. There, in Montreal, Boaz completed his Cantorial studies with maestro and Cantor Arye Subar.
After 6 years of a successful carrier as a cantor in Montreal, within he also produced 2 CD’s, broadcasted a program in the Montreal Jewish radio – “Radio Shalom”, took part in many concerts as a soloist and produced Charity concerts for Israel with the ”Share Zion band” (a band that he established) Boaz and his family (his wife and his 3 children) returned to their homeland – Israel.
In Israel, Boaz continues vigorously in his musical career: He gives lectures in different music topics, conducts 2 choirs, produces CD’s, sings and acts in children musical theater and performs around Israel and the world as a soloist with different ensembles and with his band “Boaz Ve’Hakotzrim” (“Boaz & the Harvests”). The band music is a combination of the cantorial classic style along with rock, Balkan and world music. The band is playing in this album.
Ya'akov (Yankele) Rotner
Born in 1955, Ya’akov Rotner is one of most prominent conductors in Israel. He is the founder and conductor of “Voices of Israel,” an ensemble that performs Jewish and cantorial music. He also conducts for cantorial choirs from Netanya, Modi’in, Kfar Saba, Rehovot and more. They perform for audiences around the world, from Dallas, Texas to London, Paris, Lithuania and Melbourne, Australia. He also leads six youth symphonies, the Ra’anana Symphony, the Israeli Chamber, Kibbutz Netanya-Hadera and more.
Rotner comes from a family of cantors who survived the Holocaust. He began his cantorial career at age 11 in New Jersey. Throughout his life, he has written hundreds of melodies and symphonies in all musical genres, including original cantorial compositions which combine elements of cantorial Jazz music, opera and musicals. Together with the choirs he leads, Rotner performs overseas each year, representing Israel as a “singer from the Holy Land.”
Rother is known for conducting over 380 of the world’s best singers in Salt Lake City. In 1993, Israeli television selected him from out of 400 singers in his community to compose the oratorio “Shirat HaYam.” His oratorio is regularly broadcast as a classic a Shabbat melody. Rotner has published three books of music for cantors and choirs. The books feature the notes for the prayers for Shabbat, holidays, and the high holy days. He most recently wrote the oratorio “Chaim;” it was performed by leading cantors and choirs at a concert in Israel.
Avraham Fried
There’s singing, and there’s inspiring. Avraham has been inspiring audiences around the world with his unique blend of Chassidic, contemporary music for over thirty five years. He has released more than twenty five CDs. From NYC’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to London’s Wembley Hall and Tel Aviv’s Heichal Hatarbut, Avraham has performed in front of sold out audiences.
Avraham’s music is colorful. From upbeat music that makes you want to dance, to inspiring, heartfelt ballads that make you want to pray and connect to something higher, it is a delightful mix served in Yiddish, Hebrew, and English.
Avraham lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and family.
Itschak Meir
Married with 3 children, living in Jerusalem.
Presently is working on his 10th album.
His best selling albums were mainly based on Jewish Holidays and Shabbat repertoire.
Itschak has his own interpretation in performing.
He is extremely popular and performs with most famous singers like:
David D’aor, Aaron & Jonathan Razel, Shuli Rand, Kobi Aflalo, Chilik Frank & Musa Berlin.
Yitzchak Meir Helfgot
Helfgot was born in Bnei Brak to a family of Gur Hassidim. His uncle is Cantor Chaim Adler. He grew up and was educated in the Gur Hasidic tradition. He moved to Ashdod after getting married.
Helfgot studied cantorial music with cantors Naftali Hershtik, Yitzhak Eshel and Shmuel Baruch Taube. Helfgot is considered a ‘classical’ style cantor. He performs pieces made famous by cantors Yosef Rosenblatt, Moshe Koussevitzky and others. He is a tenor spinto whose voice is known for its strength and wide range.
Helfgot has served as the cantor in many synagogues in Israel and was previously the Chief Cantor of the Jewish Community in Frankfurt, Germany. Today, he serves as the Cantor at the East Park synagogue in Manhattan, New York.
Helfgot performs frequently in Israel and around the world. In 2006, he performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has released several of his own albums and has also been featured as a guest cantor on other albums.
Today, Helfgot lives in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.
Yisrael Bergman
Yisrael Bergman was born in Bnei Brak in 1989. He produces music, directs a film production company, and is a creative and talented singer. In 2008, he founded the K.H.C. Choir. The choir is featured on many albums and specialized in studio performances. Among others, the K.H.C. choir performs in Martin Meir Widerker’s first album in the series The Shabbat Queen, Shabbat HaMalka.
At the same time, Yisrael established BIK Productions to manage and produce music. Over the years, he has produced or sang in hundreds of music productions.
In 2014, he founded Hyper Cinema Productions. The company is well-known for making films tailored to religious and haredi audiences. The company also produced the video clips for the Shabbat HaMalka project and the 150 songs by composer Martin Martin Widerker.
Yisrael Bergman produces all of Meir Martin Widerker’s work and is a full partner in all of his musical endeavors.
Rabbi Daniel Fabian
Rabbi Daniel Fabian was born in Ramat-Gan, Israel. He grew up in Frankfurt and later near Dusseldorf, where he attended high school. After graduation, he began a degree in biology in Aachen, which he then continued in Berlin and graduated with a diploma. In 2007 he began the rabbinical training at the Rabbinerseminar zu Berlin and in 2011 he was solemnly ordained. Rabbi Fabian leads the youth sector for the organization Lauder Yeshurun and lives with his wife Daniela and their 4 children in Berlin.
Yaakov Motzen
Cantor Yaakov Motzen is a native of Tel Aviv and the fifth generation of a family of Cantors. He attended the Kol Torah, Be’er Yaakov and Ponovezh yeshivot in Israel and studied music and vocal technique with the late Yosef Goland, the principal baritone in the Berlin opera in the late 1920’s. He also studied liturgy with the renowned Cantor Yitzchak Eshel, obm. Additionally, he served in the Israel Defense Forces.
Yaakov served as vice president of the Nachala organization from 1973-1978, which was dedicated to entertaining wounded soldiers. Cantor Motzen held the position of Chief Cantor in Givatayim, Haifa, and Ramat Gan, and sang on Kol Yisrael radio and television.
In 1978, Motzen went to Montreal to take the position of Cantor of Congregation Shomrim Laboker-Beth Yehuda-Shaarei Tefillah for nine years, and then became the Cantor of the Adath Israel Poalei Zedek Congregation for the next ten years until July, 1997. From 1997 to 2005 he served as the Cantor of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto, Canada. In November of 1987 and 1988, he joined several other outstanding cantors in a historical tour behind the Iron Curtain, organized by the American Society for the Advancement of Cantorial Arts and the Gila and Haim Wiener Foundation. Since 2005, Yaakov has been the Chazzan at The Shul of Bal Harbour, Florida. Yaakov Motzen has performed in concert in many parts of the world, and with his heartfelt davening and singing, as well as his engaging personality, has become a favorite of guests of Kosherica Cruises, TourPlus and Roga kosher vacations, and Royal Passover.
Yaakov is a father of six, and a proud saba to seventeen (ken yirbu) grandchildren. When not “on the road”, he and his wife Marsha reside in Englewood, NJ.
Cantor Chaim Gantz
Cantor Chaim Gantz, born 26 Kislev 5752, December 3rd 1991 in Bnei Berak, Israel.
From his earliest childhood Cantor Gantz felt deeply connected to the authentic nusach which he was exposed to in his father’s chassidic synagogue where he grew up.
Chaim initially studied nusach, music and chazzanut with the famous Cantor C.E Herstik, and later at the Cantorial school in Petach Tikva led by Maestro Eli Jaffe and the late Dr. Mordechai Sobol. He also studied with the rest of the faculty at the school, pianist Menachem Bristowski and Cantora Yechezkel Klang and Israel Rand. He was also an active member of the Rina VeTfilah choir conducted by Cantor Yossi Schwartz.
Positions he has filled as a Cantor:
His first three years as a Chief Cantor for the High Holydays were at the Heichal Meir Synagogue in Petach Tikva. Subsequently he was employed at the Great Synagogue in Helsinki, Finland.
Chaim is often invited to officiate as a guest cantor at the Great Synagogues in Jerusalem, Ramat-Gan and Petach Tikva in addition to invitations from many synagogues around the world. In addition, Cantor Gantz has performed numerous times in concerts and other special events.
Cantor Gantz is known for his authentic cantorial style and by his beautiful voice with its warm and velvety tones.
יצחק מאיר
מוזיקאי, זמר ומורה למחשבת החסידות.
הוציא עד היום 10 אלבומים הנעים סביב שירי השבת ומעגל-השנה היהודית
מאיר הוא בנו של הרב אליאב מאיר, אמו זיוה מאיר היא בתם של הרב שלמה ויהודית קוק. גדל במושב גמזו. אחיו הוא העיתונאי ואיש התקשורת ידידיה מאיר וגיסתו היא כתבת חברת החדשות של ערוץ 2, העיתונאית סיון רהב-מאיר. יצחק נשוי לתמר והתגורר בעבר בשכונת רחביה בירושלים, כיום גר בפרדס חנה.
ב-2005 התגייס לצה”ל כלוחם בחטיבת הנח”ל ולחם במלחמת לבנון השנייה.
אחר שיחרורו מצה”ל למד בבית המדרש “בית מורשה” בירושלים ובאוניברסיטה הפתוחה לתואר B.A במדעי החברה והרוח. בשנת 2008 החל להעביר שיעורים וסדנאות ב’מרכז שורשים’, ‘רשימו’, ב’מנורה 8′ בירושלים, ב”המקום” בתל אביב, “פנימה” ברמת גן ובמסגרות לא פורמליות נוספת ללימודי היהדות ברחבי הארץ.
יצחק מאיר משלב בהופעותיו תוכן חסידי וערכי, עם מוזיקה ושירים מחצרות חסידים. בהופעות אלו שיתף יצחק פעולה עם מגוון אמנים מרחבי הקשת הישראלת: קובי אפללו, מוסא ברלין, חיליק פרנק, ג’קי לוי, יהונתן רזאל, עידן עמדי, חזקי סופר, ישי לפידות ועוד.
אלבומים
ב-2010 הוציא לאור את האלבום “נשמות חדשות” זמירות שבת קודש מחצרות חסידים. אלבום שזכה לתהודה רבה (עד היום נמכרו ממנו למעלה מ־11,000 עותקים) בו הוא ביצע בהגייה ספרדית, את הפיוט “יה אכסוף” של רבי אהרון הגדול מקרלין. באלבום מארח יצחק את אהרון רזאל, יוסף קרדונר והכנר דניאל אהביאל.
ב-2011 הוציא אלבום כפול “עתיקא קדישא” זמירות שבת קודש מחצרות חסידים. בפרויקט זה אירח מאיר לשירה את השדרן יוסי גיל, את הזמר אבי בניון ואת הכנר אייל שילוח.
בראשית 2013 הוציא אלבום שלישי ונוסף בסדרת שירי שבת בשם “זעיר אנפין” ובכך חתם את סדרת שירי השבת. בדיסק עוסק יצחק מאיר בקבלת שבת בנוסח קרליבך ובמזמורי סעודה שלישית. באלבום השתתפו הזמר דוד דאור, הרב מיכי יוספי, שלמה כץ מקהלת פרחי עציון והכנר אורן צור.
בסוף 2013 הוציא לאור אלבום רביעי “המדריך למתארח” ובו לחנים חדשים של יצחק מאיר למילים מהמקורות, מתורת הבעש”ט ומבעל התניא. באלבום השתתפו אהרון רזאל והלל פלאי בלחן חדש למילותיו האחרונות של הרב משה צבי נריה.
לקראת סוף שנת תשע”ד (סוף 2014) הוא החל לגייס תמיכות באתר גיוס הכספים Headstart להוצאת אלבום חמישי בשם “שרים בתפילה” של ניגוני הימים הנוראים. האלבום יצא לקראת הימים הנוראים של תשע”ה והוא מכיל שיתופי פעולה עם אומנים רבים כישי ריבו, אודי דוידי, אברימי רוט ועוד.
בראשית שנת 2015 הוא הוציא מארז בן ארבעה דיסקים המכיל את שלושת אלבומי השבת שלו (‘נשמות חדשות’, ‘עתיקא קדישא’ (כפול), ו’זעיר אנפין’) בשם “שרים לשבת”. לכבוד הוצאת המארז הוא הקליט סינגל של השיר “יה אכסוף” יחד עם מקהלת ‘מלכות’ החסידית, בו הם שרים כל בית מארבעת בתי השיר בלחן שונה (- הבית הראשון בלחן של הרב יוסף צבי ברייער, מחסידות בעלזא. הבית השני בלחן של הזמר יהודה גרין. הבית השלישי בלחן של אלי ביר והבית האחרון בלחן של המלחין פינקי וובר).
באוגוסט 2015 (שלהי שנת ה’תשע”ה) הוציא יצחק מאיר אלבום נוסף בשם “מלווה מלכה” ובו שירי מוצאי שבת. גם אלבום זה מכיל שיתופי פעולה עם מיטב הזמרים ובהם יונתן רזאל, ליפא שמלצר, אבי מורי, חכם דוד מנחם ומקהלת מלכות אשר ביצעה יחד איתו את הפיוט הידוע “י-ה אכסוף” בגרסה המאוחדת.
בספטמבר 2017 (שלהי שנת ה’תשע”ז) הוציא יצחק מאיר את אלבומו העשירי בשם “ליקוטי תפילות”, שירים לימי תפילה ורחמים. הרבה לחנים חדשים שלו, שיר אחד של קרליבך (הרי אי אפשר בלעדיו), תפילה מרבי נתן מברסלב, לצד מנגינות עתיקות מתפילות “הימים הנוראים”, ואפילו שיר אחד עם מילים מקוריות (יצחק מאיר: “לא מאמין שהרשיתי לעצמי לעשות את זה. “מה אני ביאליק?!”|). גם אלבום זה מומן באמצעות אתר Headstart.
