Contemporary rock and roll idiom will be part of the liturgy in a Jewish service for the first time, when Congregation Mishkan Israel here will present the premiere of a “Sabbath Service, Rock N’Rest,” a work by an Israeli composer. The performance will take place December 22 at regular Friday evening services.
The work, by Isaachar Miron, a former deputy director of music in the Israeli Education Ministry, calls for two choirs, two orchestral ensembles and an electronic music synthesizer. The ensembles are a group of musicians of the New Haven Symphony and the New York Rock n’ Roll Studio Combo.
Rabbi Robert E. Goldburg and cantor Arthur Yolkoff of the synagogue, and Ysipora Miron, the composer’s wife, prepared the narration and liturgical adaptations, and the English lyrics. The composer based his work, which is in 15 movements, on Jewish traditional cantorial modes, using the modern contrapuntal structures.
Leonard Farber, a real estate developer who also heads Star Record Enterprises, initiated the project after he had heard jazz liturgies in churches. He said he solved the problem of finding a composer who combined classic liturgical and pop-rock forms in Miron.
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