Canadian Jewish News Article - August 28, 2008
Renanim Youth Singers Launch Second CD
The Renanim Youth Singers, conducted by Susan Michaels is celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary and inaugurating the start of its tenth year with the launch of its second CD –Israel at 60 - Despair to Triumph. Wide ranging repertoire on this inspiringly beautiful CD includes songs commemorating the horrors of the Holocaust to music expressing the pure joy of Israel and her accomplishments. The launch is September 2nd at The Beth David B’nai Israel Synagogue.
This award winning Jewish community children’s choir has much to be proud of in its short history. In June, The Renanim Youth Singers won a North American wide publishing contest by TransContinental Music with the song, Adon Olam, by Toronto’s prolific composer, Ben Steinberg. The choir’s recording of this piece will be put on a master CD with other winners and distributed throughout North America and beyond.
Documentary film maker Donald Grey is using the choir’s recorded Holocaust repertoire in a film about Eva Olssen, a survivor who has received The Order of Ontario. The film’s opening will be at gala fundraiser at Deerhurst Resort in September and then it will be shown again during Holocaust Education Week in November.
As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, the choir will be travelling to Detroit this December to sing with other Jewish youth choirs in a Chanukah Music Festival. The choristers are also looking forward to a fun retreat at Green Acres Camp this September in preparation for the trip and a hectic fall performance schedule.
The Renanim Youth Singers has accomplished much as it begins its second decade.The choir has won several Gold Medals at The Kiwanis Music Festival and completed a successful performing tour through Israel immediately after the second war with Lebanon. The choir’s secret to success is musical professionalism combined with fun.
Musical mission builds bridges between Israel and Toronto
By Daniel Horowitz, UJA FederationJanuary 24, 2007
Toronto's award-winning Renanim Youth Singers recently took part in a two-week mission in Israel where they performed throughout the country. Here, the choir performs in Jerusalem for the clients of Shalva, an organization which assists mentally and physically challenged children and their families in Israel.
Thanks to the generosity and vision of a donor to The Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto the endowment arm of UJA Federation - thirty Toronto youngsters aged nine to nineteen recently shared the gift of song with their Israeli counterparts.
The Renanim Youth Singers, an award-winning, mixed pluralistic group of singers from around the Greater Toronto Area, made their way, along with many of their parents, to Israel aboard the Bridge of Song With Israel youth mission. Although the purpose of the two-week mission was to perform community service, it exceeded that mandate by enriching children from both communities simultaneously.
Led by musical director Susan Michaels, the Renanim Youth Choir performed for a number of groups throughout Israel including disabled children at Shalva and the elderly at Yad LaKashish in Jerusalem as well as 200 wounded soldiers and their families at Beit Halochem in Tel Aviv. The group of talented youngsters also made their way to Yosephtal Hospital in Eilat, UJA Federations partnership region. The choir also visited cities in northern Israel where they performed for residents affected by this summers devastating war with Lebanon.
Perhaps the highlight of the mission was an impromptu song session with a group of Israeli youth atop Massada at sunrise. "There were so many highlights top this musical, spiritual adventure," enthuses Michaels. "After scaling Masada, hearing and seeing the history retold, we met up with birthright Israel. Hearing that we were a choir, they insisted that we sing. We performed a beautiful a capella version of an Israel song for peace, Amen. The acoustics atop Massada were miraculously beautiful and our sound rang out and resonated from the top of the mountain, out through the hills and beyond."
For Toronto's Jordan Freedman who celebrated his fourteenth birthday on the trip, it was an experience he'll not soon forget. "I'd always wanted to go to Israel, and finally, thanks to this trip, I was able to go," says Freedman, who auditioned for Michaels when he heard about the Israel opportunity. "It was incredible to see all these Israelis - old and young - who were so energetic and happy to see us there. I felt so good inside when we had the chance to perform, especially for the disabled kids of Shalva. It made me feel like I did something really worthwhile; like a mitzvah. And then, they performed for us. It was an amazing experience and I really want to go back to Israel again soon."
Seeing the kids of Shalva enjoying our children gave every parent such nachas, and filled our hearts with so much pride, says Jordans mother, Janice. Seeing our children perform in Israel, surrounded by so much history and spirituality brought a tear to our eyes. As a result of this musical mission, bridges were built between the Torontonians and groups of people throughout Israel. Choirs from the Golan are now planning to come visit their new friends in Toronto where they will be put up by Renanim families. As a result of the mission, Yad La Kashish also plans to come to Toronto for a fundraiser and has asked Renanim to sing at the event.
"The Renanim youth choir trip to Israel was a really unique opportunity," says Lorne Klemensberg, Director, Israel Programs, Canada Israel Experience (CIE). "Not only were these talented youngsters able to visit Israel, many for the first time, but they were also to bring joy and light into the lives of hundreds of people through the beautiful music and concerts that were coordinated for them through CIE."
Renanim Youth Singers, vocal groups captivate audience
By Atara Beck, Tribune CorrespondentMarch 29, 2006
The award-winning Renanim Youth Singers, led by conductor Susan Michaels and accompanied by pianist Mark Andrews, were one of a number of vocal groups who treated the Toronto community to a delightful pre-Passover concert last week at Leah Posluns Theatre.
Titled From Generation to Generation, the evening included performances by U of T's Varsity Jews (conducted by Robbie Burko), York's Kol Neshama (conducted by Etta Abramson), and the Miles Nadal JCC Community Choir (conducted by Harriet WItchin), as well as the Miles Nadal JCC Youth Singers (conducted by Susan Michaels).
The singers ranged in age from 8 to 80, and the enjoyable musical features varied from the very traditional to the modern. The beauty of the music was enhanced in a few of the pieces by flutest Shawna Basiuk, whose playing was mesmerizing.
Many were pleasantly surprised by the remarkable musical talent in this community. The program was also unique in that it represented the diversity of this city's Jewish population united in song.
For the fifth consecutive year, the talented Renanim Youth Singers are the winners of the Kiwanis Music Festival's First Class Honour Award. Susan Michaels, its gifted director, is an award-winning music educator. The group is scheduled to visit Israel during the 2006 winter vacation, and last Tuesday's concert was a fundraiser to help achieve that goal. Arrangements are being made for Renanim to entertain, among others, new immigrants and low-income families who otherwise might not have the opportunity to attend a concert of this calibre. They are also hoping to visit Yad Vashem, the Children's Holocaust Museum and Shalva, an association for mentally and physically challenged children, and to meet with the Moran Chamber Ensemble at Moshav Beit Yitzhak.
Nava Baltman, a parent volunteer, introduced the concert as a "celebration of our freedom here. We pray that others not as fortunate will be redeemed soon."
See original Jewish Tribune online article.