Sharing prayer through song

Michele Marr

Where there is music, it is said, there is prayer. And where there is

a cantor, there is music.

Temple Bat Yahm will host its Cantor’s Annual Grand Concert Sunday

evening, a program of music -- part sophisticated, classically written

Jewish music and part Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide.’

The cantor in the spotlight is Jonathan Grant. A professionally

trained singer and conductor, Grant came to Newport Beach’s Temple Bat

Yahm in 1994 immediately after his ordination.

He is a baritone with more than 20 years of professional singing

experience in cantorial music, opera, musical theater and international

art song.

“I am honored,” Grant said, “to appear [at Sunday evening’s concert]

as the featured soloist under the baton of Nick Stimple.”

Stimple is a conductor, composer, scholar of music and author. His

compositions are known worldwide and include film and television scores.

In January 1998, Stimple was appointed music director of the Los

Angeles Zimriyah Chorale, a volunteer adult chorus that formed to perform

the choral works of Jewish composers who live, or who have lived, in the

Los Angeles area.

The chorale will join their executive director and soloist, Cantor Ira

Bigeleisen, and Grant to sing Sunday’s program.

This is the seventh Cantor’s Annual Grand Concert organized and

presented by Grant to share the heritage and rich repertoire of Jewish

music with the community.

“The musical history of the Jewish people began with the reign of King

David,” explained Flory Van Beek, music director of Temple Isaiah in

Newport Beach. “He had abundant musical talent and placed great

importance on the incorporation of music in religious worship.”

The role of the cantor as a professional prayer leader grew out of an

increasing complexity of this music.

“The dominant feature of the earliest Jewish music is its Oriental

quality, which reflects the Eastern birthplace of the Jews,” Van Beek

said. “Jewish music achieves its uniqueness, however, through the

sentiments and life of the Jewish people, their spiritual attitudes and

their struggle for survival.”

According to Grant, the cantor as prayer leader has existed since the

6th century.

“As the actual prayers became more complicated,” he said, “it took

someone with real skill in music, and in improvisation particularly, to

chant these very difficult texts.”

In modern times, cantors are often much more than singers. Grant, for

example, trains bar and bat mitzvah students. He marries people and he

buries people.

“As cantors, we are involved in all facets of the life of the temple,”

Grant added. ‘We participate in all of the major life cycle events of the

people.”

The cantor assists the rabbi with the pastoral and life cycle needs of

the congregation. While the rabbi is the spiritual leader of the

congregation, the cantor’s role is to facilitate prayer and to lead the

music of the services.

“Our roles complement one another,” Grant said.

FYI

WHAT: Cantor’s Annual Grand Concert

WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: Temple Bat Yahm’s Sonenshine Family Sanctuary, 1011 Camelback

St., Newport Beach

COST: $12-$36

CALL: (949) 644-1999

WEB SITE: https://www.tby.org