DELLHEIM WEEKEND INFO

Dellheim Concert Weekend: RSVP Here

The weekend of March 17-19, Adath is fortunate to host a special weekend featuring three JTS cantorial students (Gedalia Penner-Robinson, Rachel Black, and Kelsey Bailey, who grew up at Adath) as well as the director of the program Cantor Nancy Abramson. Nancy and the students will lead us in prayer and song throughout the weekend, and will perform with Hazzan Dulkin in a special concert on Sunday afternoon featuring the Adath choir, local Cantors and musicians. Please join us for all or part of the weekend’s activities. We are excited to offer a Shabbat dinner after Friday night services (reservations only) with a panel discussion to follow. Cantor Abramson will be our Shabbat morning speaker and the students will lead the services, read Torah and Haftarah, and lead a special morning minyan on Sunday at 9:30am, followed by brunch. Sunday afternoon’s concert, called “In Hope, In Prayer” is free and open to the public, with a suggested donation of $18.

FRIDAY MARCH 17th
6:00pm Musical Shabbat Service
7:15pm Shabbat Dinner* & singing
8:15pm Informal panel discussion with our guests.
*Registration required for dinner, $24/person, $110 max per household

SHABBAT MORNING MARCH 18th
9:30am Shabbat Morning Services and Kiddush Lunch
Our guests will lead us in prayer, chant Torah and Haftarah
Shabbat Morning Speaker: Hazzan Nancy Abramson

SUNDAY MARCH 19th
9:30am Hybrid Morning Minyan & Brunch
4:00pm In Hope, In Prayer: the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Concert Series at Adath: an afternoon of soul-stirring performances featuring students, faculty and graduates of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary
$18 suggested donation to JTS.
RSVP for all events here

In Hope, In Prayer: the John Leopold and Martha Delheim Concert Series at Adath
An afternoon of soul-stirring performances featuring students, faculty and graduates of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary

Sunday, March 19th, 4:00pm
Adath Jeshurun Congregation
$18 suggested donation to go to JTS.
RSVP Here

Hazzan Nancy Abramson
Hazzan Joanna Dulkin
Cantorial students Kelsey Bailey, Rachel Black, Gedalia Penner-Robinson
Emma Hausman, Cello
Erin Mills Roe, Piano
Members of the MN Cantors Association
Adath Jeshurun Choir

CANTOR NANCY ABRAMSON, DIRECTOR JTS CANTORIAL PROGRAM

Cantor Nancy Abramson is director of H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music of The Jewish Theological Seminary. She trains future hazzanim in prayer, nusah (the sacred music of prayer), and religious leadership, and oversees their expanded development in Jewish education and teaching, pastoral care, and modern Israel. She is helping JTS shape cantorial arts and practices for the 21st century. Cantor Abramson is past president of the Cantors Assembly, the largest body of hazzanim in the world, and now serves on the board of the C.A. foundation. She previously served as two-time national convention co-chair of the the organization, and was its the first female officer.

Cantor Abramson has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and sung with the Rinat Choir in Israel under the baton of Zubin Mehta. She currently teaches the weekly Nusah Beit Shira seminar and coordinates the Mifgash. Cantor Abramson created the graduate course Leading Communities in Prayer and Song. In 2012–2013, she organized a five-concert series under the aegis of the JTS Arts Advisory Board, two with the renowned Juilliard School of Music (JTS Presents: An Evening of Juilliard Vocal and Chamber Music and JTS Presents The Juilliard Jazz Ensemble: The Jewish–African American Jazz Experience). The series also included the New York premiere of Eight Days of Chanukah by composer Abraham Kaplan at the We Are Lights: Music for Chanukah concert, and a semi-staged performance of the new opera Steal a Pencil for Me, by Cantor Gerald Cohen, JTS assistant professor of music.

A prominent figure in the cantorate, Cantor Abramson came to JTS from New York City’s Park Avenue Synagogue, where she directed all musical aspects of congregational life and developed curricula for b’nai mitzvah. She was previously cantor at Congregation Sons of Israel in Briarcliff Manor, New York, where she developed an innovative curriculum for teaching musical tropes, and for 12 years she served at West End Synagogue in Manhattan as founding cantor and organizer of the congregation’s Hebrew school. She also taught at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York, coordinating the tefilla hand bar/bat mitzvah programs. Cantor Abramson sits on the board of the Zamir Choral Foundation and the Magic Circle Opera Repertory Ensemble. She is a past board member of the Women Cantors’ Network.

​Cantor Abramson is a graduate of the Joint Program between the Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies of JTS and Columbia University, from which she earned a BHL in Jewish History and a BA in Music, respectively. She received her cantorial education at JTS, and earned a master’s degree in Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

KELSEY BAILEY, JTS CANTORIAL STUDENT

Before moving to New York City from Minnesota, Kelsey Bailey was an avid choir enthusiast in both the secular and Jewish worlds. She grew up in a community that valued the arts, and was lucky to begin classical voice training from a young age. In her early years, she sang in various select ensembles around Minnesota, competed in classical voice competitions on a regional level, and was a member of HaZamir all throughout high school. Kelsey Bailey graduated summa cum laude from The University of Minnesota Honors Program with a bachelors degree in Vocal Performance and a minor in Jewish Studies in May 2021.

While at the University she served as both the President and Vice President of Minnesota Hillel as well as the Musical Director and President of MN Chai Notes, the Jewish a cappella group on campus. She was awarded the Milgrom Award for Jewish Leadership in 2021. Additionally, Kelsey continued her commitment for Minnesota Hillel serving as the Cantorial Soloist for High Holidays in 2021. While in school, she worked as the Youth Advisor at Adath Jeshurun for three years, and was an Assistant Preschool Teacher at Gan Shelanu, for the 2021-2022 school year. Through her work at Adath, Kelsey realized that she has a passion for both Jewish education and teaching alongside her musical passions.

She hopes to delve into this love for teaching in the coming years while in school. Kelsey is currently a first year cantorial student at JTS pursuing a Masters in Sacred Music and Jewish Education.

MAX HALPERIN, JTS RABBINICAL STUDENT

A first-year rabbinical student, Max Halperin is passionate about liturgy and spirituality rooted in tradition. He is devoted to experimentation within the status quo, and is confident that rabbinical school will open him up to a universe of possibilities of new ideas and directions for the American Jewish world.

​Prior to his arriving at JTS, Max worked up and down the Conservative Jewish world, including as a teacher at Perelman Jewish Day School, at 'filah (prayer) specialist at Camp Ramah in the Poconos, and as haliach tzibur (service leader) at Conservative synagogues in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music from West Chester University

GEDALIA PENNER-ROBINSON, JTS CANTORIAL STUDENT

Gedalia Penner-Robinson, originally from Queens, NY, began his musical career as a singer and then musical director of Y-Studs A Cappella, with whom he toured the globe sharing traditional, liturgical, Israeli and pop music, and produced Jewish Holiday parodies and other music videos enjoyed by millions of viewers on YouTube. In 2019, as a resident of the Rising Song Institute, he studied song-leading with renowned song-leader Joey Weisenberg, where his eyes were opened to both the breadth of the spiritual Jewish community and his passion for leading song and prayer within it. He is currently pursuing his cantorate at the H. L. Miller Cantorial School at JTS, and as a studying cantor, strives to build a Jewish world where everyone is heard and everyone knows that their voice matters.