HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir performs its bar mitzvah year concert.

Local youth can join international Jewish choir

By Deborah Moon

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Local teens now have the opportunity to perform challenging music at a national festival in March thanks to the formation of a Portland chapter of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir.

HaZamir Portland meets every Sunday at 12:15 p.m. in the Portland Jewish Academy chapel, 6651 SW Capitol Hwy., Portland. 

The choir is open to all Jewish students in grades eight to 12 who love to sing.  There are no auditions; all interested teens are invited to join to sing this challenging Jewish music.

“This is not the simple music kids learned in Sunday school,” said Neveh Shalom Cantor Linda Shivers, who is organizing the local chapter. “This is four-part music—sometimes more. When you’ve learned this, you feel you’ve accomplished something. This is a way to get Jewish kids turned on to what Jewish music really is.”

Shivers said that since so much of Judaism focuses on the intellectual, having a challenging teen choir “is a place where somebody with other talents can shine and feel part of the community.”

Becky Thompson, who conducts Congregation Neveh Shalom’s adult choir, is conducting the community-wide teen choir. Thompson has been the choir director at Wilson High School and the Arts and Communications High School in Beaverton.

Portland HaZamir is the 19th choir for the HaZamir organization, now in its 15th year. All the choirs learn the same music and then come together in March for a giant festival where everyone sings together in a concert.

This year the festival will be in Baltimore, Md. Two weeks later, there will be an opportunity for those who wish to join in a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. 

“It’s neat that all the kids are learning the same music so when they get together for the festival they can sing together and feel part of something bigger,” said Shivers.

In addition to talking to synagogue high school programs, Shivers said she also hopes to recruit singers from area high schools.

“With choirs being cut back in so many schools, this is an opportunity for us to reach students who want to sing and who may be unconnected to the Jewish community,” she said.

In addition to recruiting teens to sing in the choir, Shivers said she also wants to find places for the choir to perform locally. She is also fund-raising to help pay for singers who cannot afford to attend the national festival in March.

For further information, contact Cantor Linda Shivers at cantor@nevehshalom.org or 503-246-8831 ext. 116.