Charles Osborne (b. 1949)
studied composition with Miriam Gideon and Hugo Weisgall. He has composed four oratorios; a symphony; concertos for flute, guitar, viola and harp; and more than two hundred choral works.
He has made numerous recital, concert, and opera appearances throughout the world and has taught at Hartt College of Music, Northeastern University, Hebrew College, and the Jewish Theological Seminary.
The Zamir Chorale of Boston has premiered many of his works, including “A Sephardic Havdalah,” “Psalm 20” and the oratorios Souls on Fire, Kings and Fishermen, and Like Wildflowers Suddenly.
Nick Page (b. 1952) is a Boston-based composer, conductor, author, and song leader. He has had over one hundred choral works published with Boosey & Hawkes, Hal Leonard, Transcontinental Music, and World Music Press.
He is the author of Music as a Way of Knowing (Stenhouse Publishers), Sing and Shine On! An Innovative Guide to Leading Multicultural Song (World Music Press), and The Nick Page Sing with Us Songbook (Hal Leonard).
In the 1980s, he was a conductor with the Emmy Award-winning Chicago Children’s Choir. Beginning in 1990, he led Boston’s Mystic Chorale and has guest conducted around the world, including at three of the four Carnegie Halls (Pittsburgh, New York, and Scotland).
His choral works have been premiered everywhere from Lincoln Center to humble school cafeterias. From within the Zamir Chorale of Boston, Sarah and I were privileged to sing the premiere of his “Anu Shirim (We Sing)”.
Robbie Solomon (b. ) is internationally known as a composer of choral works and synagogue repertoire, with many published and recorded works. He received conservatory training at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, Berklee College of Music, and New England Conservatory.
He is also well known as a performer and songwriter with the popular Jewish music group SAFAM. His stirring anthem Leaving Mother Russia, written in 1979, became the rallying cry of the Soviet Jewry movement and established him as a musical interpreter of Jewish conscience.
In addition to over ten original CD’s with SAFAM, his choral works have been performed and recorded by numerous choirs and cantors throughout the world. They include Zimrat Shalom, a Friday night service written for Congregation Neveh Shalom, Portland, OR in1989; a Havdalah service, for Temple Emanuel, Worcester, MA in 1993; a Torah Service, for Temple Beth-El, Northbrook, IL; and a Choral Series published by Transcontinental Music Publications.
In 1999, I was privileged to sing on the CD of his full-length musical, The Orphan Queen.
Daniel Gil (b. ) is a composer, ethnomusicologist, producer, orchestrator, and performer. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and holds an MFA in composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
His music has been described as “poignant and majestic” (Boston Globe), “beautiful and original” (Jerusalem Post).
He is also doing primary ethnomusicological research into the renowned Kisselhof archive, and has lectured on the history and nature of Jewish Folk Music at the New England Conservatory, Dartmouth College, Tufts University, and various speaking engagements around the world.