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Preview by Betsy Schwarm In an increasingly contentious world, there is comfort in hearing of attempts to build bridges – not just from one side toward the other, but from both sides toward the middle.  Considering the symbology of raising one’s voices together, choral music may be an ideal medium for such a partnership.  For […]

Preview by Betsy Schwarm Raisins and almonds:  not only tasty ingredients in certain holiday breads, but also a well-known Jewish lullaby.  It is, moreover, what the Colorado Hebrew Chorale (CHC) calls its mid-winter event of music, food, and celebration.  Culturally, there is a connection to the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat, a festival honoring a […]

A preview by Betsy Schwarm Founded in 2013, Kol Nashim is an all-women’s chorus affiliated with the Colorado Hebrew Chorale.  The chorus’ name is a Hebrew phrase meaning ‘women’s voice.’  It’s a reference to the personnel, though often featured composers as well, and, in the case of the chorus’ program scheduled for the evening of […]

Preview article by Betsy Schwarm Fresh, new music – timeless hopes and dreams – a community gathered together to raise its voice in song:  surely, those are some of the best things in life.  Those directly involved may get the biggest benefit, but listeners, too, can be carried away by the fulfilling experience. The event […]

A preview by Betsy Schwarm Most of those who are emotionally invested in the performing arts can remember the day the music died.  No, not that 1959 plane crash memorialized in the 1971 Don McLean song.   In this case, it was mid-March of 2020, when a global pandemic abruptly led to the cancellation of myriad […]

A preview by Betsy Schwarm On January 27, 1945, in the closing months of World War II, the Russian Red Army reached the gates of Auschwitz, subsequently liberating the camp.  With the 75th anniversary of that occasion rapidly approaching, worldwide commemorations of the event are planned, especially as, in 2005, the UN declared January 27 […]

A preview by Betsy Schwarm In tumultuous times, music can be the ideal antidote to anxiety. The beauty of the music itself may serve as a soothing balm. Moreover, reflecting upon how that music came to be written and what its composer was seeking to express likely adds depth of meaning to the listening experience, […]

A preview by By Marc Shulgold  For Leah Peer, breaking from the Colorado Hebrew Chorale in 2013 to form a subsidiary women’s chorus was hardly an act of defiance. Instead, it was, the director of Kol Nashim, says, an act that would strengthen the mixed chorus led by Carol Kozak Ward. “We’re all just following […]

Preview by Betsy Schwarm Music has often set out to support and promote social causes.   Even before recent and current pop stars began undertaking such endeavors, Bedřich Smetana was speaking up for Czech nationalism, and it is no accident that Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro explores the divide between aristocrats and those who serve them. So […]

A preview by Marc Shulgold  It was a scene right out of a movie: In the fall of 2013, Leah Peer was strolling along a street in Jerusalem with her mother, Ruth Keusch, discussing what they could do to help those in need – specifically, the residents of Woman to Woman, the . And just […]