Founded in 1969, the Zamir Chorale of Boston is a musical and educational organization with a mission to raise awareness of the breadth and beauty of Jewish culture through performances, recordings, symposia, publications, and musical commissions. Artistic Director and it´s founder is Joshua Jacobson

Led by Founder and Artistic Director Dr. Joshua Jacobson, the sixty-member chorus performs music spanning hundreds of years, four continents, and nearly every musical style. Zamir’s repertoire includes Jewish liturgical pieces, major classical works, music of the Holocaust, new compositions, as well as Israeli, Yiddish, and Ladino folksongs. Concerts are designed to entertain, educate and inspire, which is why people of all ages, religions and ethnic backgrounds enjoy Zamir’s music.

In celebration of its 50th season, Zamir has created a first-ever international Jewish virtual choir based on Louis Lewandowski’s “Hallelujah” (psalm 150). With 150 participants from seven countries, the production inspires and exposes countless music lovers to Jewish synagogue music in general and, to the great Lewandowski.

Zamir also has published a website, JewishChoralMusic . com, a comprehensive resource center for anyone looking for music from a wide variety of Jewish traditions and experiences. Choral conductors, singers, and musical leaders from around the world now have access to music representing a wide spectrum of styles, eras, voicings, nationalities, languages, and levels. Visitors to the site can read articles, books, and blogs; review programming suggestions; buy sheet music; listen to podcasts and recordings, and more.

Joshua Jacobson, founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Harvard College, a Masters in Choral Conducting from the New England Conservatory, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati, and a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from Hebrew College. He served 45 years as Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University, including nine years as Music Department Chairman and six years as the Bernard Stotsky Professor in Jewish Historical and Cultural Studies. He is also Visiting Professor and Senior Consultant in the School of Jewish Music at Boston’s Hebrew College.

Prof. Jacobson has guest conducted a number of ensembles, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Symphony and Chorus, the New England Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Lyric Opera Company. He has guest-lectured and taught workshops for schools, synagogues, festivals and conventions throughout North America and in Israel, Germany and Australia. He has also written articles on various aspects of choral music. Prof. Jacobson’s many musical arrangements and compositions are performed worldwide.

His book, Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation (Jewish Publication Society, 2002), is considered the definitive source in the field. In 1989, he spent four weeks in Yugoslavia as a Distinguished Professor under the auspices of the Fulbright program. In 1994, Hebrew College awarded him the Benjamin Shevach Award for Distinguished Achievement in Jewish Educational Leadership; in 2004, the Cantors Assembly presented him with its prestigious Kavod Award, in 2016, Choral Arts New England presented him the Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2018 Chorus America presented him the Distinguished Service Award.

Website: www.zamir.org
www.jewishchoralmusic.com/