Nagilah! Joyful song with Hazzan Jessi Roemer
(workshop + concert)

Hazzan Jessi Roemer‘s music will touch your heart and inspire your spirit. Spiritual, rhythmic, and soulful, her work brings ancient and modern text to life, traversing continents and history. She has performed, taught workshops, and led prayer services throughout the U.S. Her original music is a 21st-century hybrid of European, Middle Eastern, Sephardic, North and South American styles. Hazzan Jessi serves as the hazzan (cantor) of Society Hill Synagogue in Philadelphia.

Communal Singing Workshop, 10:00–11:00 a.m. — In this morning workshop with Hazzan Jessi and her ensemble, we’ll explore the ancient power of Jewish communal singing. Using our voices as our primary instrument, we’ll take some time to delve into a couple of melodies, teasing out the multiple meanings present in text, context, and nigun (wordless melody), and allowing our spirits to stretch in the spaces between breath and voice, melody and harmony, sound and silence. No professional musical experience required — just a willingness to show up and sing!

Participatory Concert, 3:00 p.m. — Join Hazzan Jessi and her ensemble for a musically immersive soul journey across centuries of Jewish spiritual expression through soundscapes both ancient and contemporary. In the participatory spirit of Jewish communal song, we will raise our voices up into a blend of ancient text and modern composition: songs of praise, struggle, wonder, joy, healing, and awe.

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