Hobokenâ€s all-women community chorus, Cantigas Womenâ€s Choir, presents its 11^th annual winter concert entitled A GIFT FOR THE SEASON: Songs from Near and Far on Saturday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Matthew Trinity Church at 57 Eighth Street (at Hudson Street) in Hoboken, N.J. The suggestion donation for the concert is $15 ($5 for seniors and students).

“Our theme ‘A Gift for the Season†was chosen well before Hurricane Sandy devastated our community,” says Joan Litman, Cantigas founder and director. “In light of all of the damage and loss Hoboken suffered, more than ever, music is truly a gift — and unites us by bringing hope and healing.”

The holiday-themed concert celebrates music from around the globe — including a Georgian wedding song “Shen Khar Venakhi,” a Spanish carol “A La Nanita Nana,” a traditional English carol “The Cherry Tree Carol,”  the Jewish folksong “Sâ€vivon,” and the canon “Be Like the Bird” written by contemporary American composer Abbie Betinis with text from French poet Victor Hugo. The program will also feature three movements from J.S. Bachâ€s “Magnificat” featuring soprano Jessica Laurel Smith and the Italian Christmas carol “Gesu Bambino” featuring soloist Michelle Whitescarver.

“For those who enjoy live music and  diverse choral artistry, you wonâ€t find it richer on this side of the Hudson River,” Litman says. “This concert features something for everyone — from sing-alongs of well-loved Christmas carols to the Cantigas debut of a little girl, Addie Mauldin, with the voice of an angel. In the season of devastation, those searching for inspiration and whose souls need to be uplifted should come and experience the transcendent beauty from the women of our own community.”

Cantigas also uses music to empower women with annual performances at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J., Hamilton Park Health Care Facility in Jersey City, N.J., and other community groups in the New York and New Jersey area. “The social justice strand of our mission is one that is at the root of who we are,” Cantigas founder Joan Litman says. This year, the group will visit the Jersey City nursing home on December 18 as well the Hoboken homeless shelter on December 20.

Cantigas Womenâ€s Choir, named after a medieval Spanish song form called a “cantiga,” is composed of 50 women of varying ages and backgrounds and brings women of the community together to explore the rich tradition of women’s singing. The group performs a broad spectrum of global music and advocates through song for those whose hearts need to be uplifted and whose voices need to be heard, performing regularly with the inmates of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J., as well as at other community events like the Cancer Survivors Support Network in Bayonne, New Jersey, and the Empty Bowls hunger relief benefit in Hoboken. Litman founded the group in September 2002.

Director Joan Isaacs Litman is a native of Los Angeles and has been a choral director in the New York metropolitan area for 30 years. She was awarded with the prestigious “Educator of the Year Award” by the Organization of American Kodaly Educators in Washington D.C., in March 2009. She also received the first “Excellence in Teaching” award from Westminster Choir College. Litman is a member of the music faculty of the United Nations International School in Manhattan and a member of the summer faculty at the Kodály Institute at Capital University. In April 2008, Litman was the guest conductor at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel, and her United Nations International School childrenâ€s chorus has performed for Pope Benedict XVIâ€s visit to New York. Additionally, Litman is the author of Song Caravan: Songs of the Middle East. She is a founder and Music Director Emerita of Mustard Seed School in Hoboken.

The post HOBOKEN CHOIR BRINGS THE GIFT OF Cantigas’ Winter Concert first appeared on River View Observer.

by Sally Deering
Once a week, gathered inside the music room of an elementary school in Hoboken, women of varying ages and walks of life harmonize together as members of the Cantigas Womenâ€s Choir. This all-girl community glee club performs the music of many nations and during the course of its 8-year history has become a “family of women” bringing harmony to its community both on and off the stage.

If youâ€ve never heard 50 women singing in harmony, you might want to check out “Sounds of Harp & Hope,” Cantigas Womenâ€s Choirâ€s ninth annual winter concert to be held on Sat, Dec. 11 at St. Matthew Trinity Church in Hoboken. This holiday concert promises to be a step above a couple of rounds of “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls.” Cantigas Womenâ€s Choir is known for its outstanding renditions of world music and the choir sings in many languages and harmonies that can move the soul and warm even Scroogeâ€s cold, cold heart. Offstage, Cantigas Womenâ€s Choir lends its voice to incarcerated women in a New Jersey correctional facility, to convalescent homes and senior centers; and often gleefully gathers after a rehearsal to sing “Happy Birthday” in four-part harmony to a group memberâ€s mom.

A mix of high school students, stay-at-home moms, career women and senior citizens from a diversity of cultures and locales, Cantigas was founded by Joan Isaacs Litman of Hoboken,
a native of Los Angeles who has been a choral director in the New York metropolitan area for 30 years . In 2009, Litman was awarded the prestigious “Educator of the Year Award” by the Organization of American Kodaly Educators in Washington D.C. and she received the first “Excellence in Teaching” award from Westminster Choir College. Sheâ€s a member of the music faculty of the United Nations International School in Manhattan and the summer faculty at the Kodály Institute at Capital University.

Cantigas Womenâ€s Choir is not just a chorus of women itâ€s a community of women. Under Litmanâ€s artistic direction, the choir brings women of the community together to explore the rich tradition of women’s singing and performs a broad spectrum of global music, both ancient and contemporary. The Cantigas Women’s Choir also advocates through song for those whose hearts need to be uplifted and whose voices need to be heard. The Choir performs at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey and at community events like the Cancer Survivors Support Network in Bayonne and the Empty Bowls hunger relief benefit in Hoboken.

“The social justice strand of our mission is one that is at the root of who we are,” Litman says.

The upcoming holiday concert will feature music from around the world sung in French, German, Russian, and English. Highlights include Benjamin Brittenâ€s “A Ceremony of Carols,” Johannes Brahms†“Four Songs,” Sergei Rachmaninoffâ€s “Angel” and “Now the Waves are Sleeping,” Claude Debussyâ€s “Noël des enfants qui nâ€ont plus de maisons,” Léo Delibes†“DômeÉpais,” Paul Siskindâ€s “Bright Morning Stars are Rising,” and Dolly Partonâ€s “Light of a Clear Blue Morning.”

Wait. Dolly Parton shares the program with Rachmaninoff?

Christopher Green, who holds a Masterâ€s Degree in Music from Temple University and serves as music director for St. Paulâ€s Lutheran church in Jersey City, has temporarily taken over the role of musical director and conductor while Litman is on sabbatical in the Middle-East (she returns to the podium in Spring 2011.) It was Greenâ€s idea to do Rachmaninoff and Parton on the same bill.

“Dollyâ€s song is a great song and a great arrangement for choir. Itâ€s quite a meditative and hopeful piece,” Green says. “The concert captures the way different cultures at different times deal with the experience of hope. And we hope the audience will leave with a sense of beauty and wonder.”

Cantigas Womenâ€s Choir takes choral singing to new heights Green says. “This particular group has a cohesion thatâ€s pretty extraordinary.”

One original member of the choir, Meera Jaffrey is Music and Movement Specialist for the Learning Community Charter School in Jersey City and sing soprano in the Choir. As a member, she has sung at Memorial Services for members†spouses who passed away and when she had to undergo surgery a while back, Jaffrey, 50, says fellow choir members brought her home-cooked meals. The group is also a “cushion of support” for members of the local community. When the group sang for the American Cancer Society in Bayonne, Jaffrey says the music was “healing” for both the audience and choir members. Jaffrey credits Litman for the way the group bonds in song and in life.
“Joan has this way of bringing the best out of us,” Jaffrey says. “Even though weâ€re not a group of polished singers, we have this very rich tone which has taken many years to develop. And the music is extremely challenging. We sing in many languages. Farci, Arabic, Russian, Romanian, Greek, French – and sometimes I practice in the car. I never thought Iâ€d be singing Russian to and from work, but I think all of us are humming the music constantly. It makes our lives so much richer. As Iâ€m learning it, I feel the genius in the music.”

Cantigas choir members raise their voices to empower women incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, where they will give a concert on Dec. 14th. Frances Marsh, 49, of Weehawken, is a stay-at-home mom and a mezzo-soprano in Cantigas and one of her favorite things about being a member, she says, is singing at the correctional facility.

“When people go to jail they get forgotten, their families write and visit, but theyâ€re sort of invisible,” Marsh says. “Itâ€s great to go in there and share music with them. Their choir sings for us and we sing for them. Itâ€s very fulfilling and Joan is always so great, Sheâ€ll ask the women questions like ‘where are you from,†and it makes a personal connection. When we come back from our concerts there, we share our experiences. Itâ€s interesting to hear everybodyâ€s reflections.”

Member Andrea Gunden, 28, joined the choir halfway through its 2008-2009 season. She holds a Bachelorâ€s Degree in Music Education from Westchester University in Pennsylvania and five years ago, she started A Sound Start music school for babies and toddlers in Jersey City.

“Cantigas is fabulous, exactly wbat Iâ€d been looking for,” Gunden says. “Iâ€m the director of this early-childhood center and most of my daily music experiences are singing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider†and ‘Old MacDonald.†I was hungry for a slightly more intellectual experience in a high-level professional ensemble. Cantigas is a serious a group and the age difference makes the community of the choir so rich. Thereâ€s a strong feeling of camaraderie and it can be a very moving group to sing with because everybody is emotionally invested. Itâ€s not because we all happen to be women. Itâ€s because all the energy and effort and soul that every member is bringing into the group makes it what it is.”

Cantigas Womenâ€s Choir
Sounds of Harp & Hope
Sat, Dec. 11, 7:30 pm
St. Matthew Trinity Church
57 Eighth Street, Hoboken
Tickets: $15; $5 for seniors and students

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Fun Day Out in the  Jersey City Heights

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy proudly posses with two Jersey City residents at the Everything Jersey City Festival which was held on Saturday May 22nd.

The annual event which ran from 11am to 6pm along 10 blocks of Central Avenue hosted over 300 + Artisits, Crafters, Festival Food Vendors, and local businesses.

The Festival also had 4 stages of free music and entertainment, and kids attractions. Sponosred by the Central Avenue S.I.D Management Corp in partnership with Mayor Healy, and the City of Jersey City Municipal Council, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and the Board of Chosen Freeholders and paid for in part by the Jersey City Urban Enterprise Zone Program.

All Smiles After the Cantigas Women’s Choir Performance at St. Matthew Trinity Church in Hoboken

 

Cantigas Womenâ€s Choirâ€s assistant director Erasmia Voukelatos, Argentine guest conductor and composer of Magnificat Leonardo San Juan, and Cantigas director Joan Litman beam with pride after the Hoboken-based choir performed the North American premiere of San Juanâ€s piece on Saturday night at St. Matthew Trinity in Hoboken. Cantigas will perform the same program on Wednesday May 26th at 7:30 p.m. in Manhattan at the Church of St. Joseph at 371 Sixth Avenue in the West Village.      PHOTO CREDIT: Angelika Fuelleman/CantigasCanco

Canco Lofts in Jersey City Gets New Market  

Jersey City Mayor Jerrimiah Healy and Jersesy City Council President Peter Brennan  cut the ribbon for the Grand Opening of the new Zeytinia Market located in the beautful Jersey City’s Canco Lofts located on 50 Dey Street off St. Paul’s Avenue in Jersey City. Once the home of the American Can Company this property was developed to include 158 lofts and 44 spectacular duplex penthouses.         CANCO LOFTS

 

Bayonne High School junior exhibited Ceramic Piece at the Clay Studio Gallery in Philadelphia

 Junior Anthony Rodriguez a Ceramic 2 student of Ms. Terri Graham will had his ceramic piece  Slab Vessel displayed at a professional art gallery in Philadelphia PA. Anthony’s piece was entered in the Clay In Mind show at Burlington County Regional High School for jurying where it was selected to be exhibited at The Clay Studio Gallery.  This show presents the best of student ceramic art throughout the State of New Jersey.  Anthony’s Slab Vessel was selected for a 2^ND place award. The exhibit ran from Friday May 7^th and run until Saturday May 14^th. 

Anthony  Rodriguez plans on a career in Architecture.  His interest in geometric spaces and building design is evident in his winning art work.

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