Here is the latest concert from the talented Cantigas Women’s Choir in Hoboken. Their performances are always interesting in terms of repertoire and well executed. This is another example of a high quality cultural event that is reasonably prices that makes living in The Mile Square worthwhile.

HOBOKEN CHOIR PERFORMS DIVERSE REPERTOIRE 

DRAWING INFLUENCES FROM AUSTRIA TO INDIA

 Indian dancer joins Cantigas for Women Who Sing, Women Who Dance on May 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Hoboken’s Cantigas Women’s Choir presents its eleventh annual spring concert titled WOMEN WHO SING, WOMEN WHO DANCE on Saturday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church (707 Washington Street at 7th Street) in Hoboken, N.J. The suggested donation for the concert is $15 ($5 for seniors and students).

The concert will feature the groundbreaking piece “All I Was Doing Was Breathing” from Ecstatic Songs by David L. Brunner, with original dancing performed by sixteen-year-old Aditi Sundaram, whose dance was choreographed by her teacher, Rhada, in India.

“One of the hallmarks of Cantigas is its bold and varied multicultural programming,” says Cantigas member and “All I Was Doing Was Breathing” soloist Jessica Smith. “With its driving rhythms and emotional Indian modal melodies, ‘All I Was Doing Was Breathing’ is a great fit for this passionate group of singers.”

Cantigas will also perform the melodic “Pslam 23” by Austrian Franz Schubert, the spirited Choral Hymns from the Rig-Vega by Englishman Gustav Holst, and the new-age “Adiemus” by Welsh Karl Jenkins, as well as pieces from Iran, Scotland, Cyprus, and Greece.

“Audiences should come to this concert to experience as wide an array of repertoire as could be fit into a single concert, from Schubert to Sweet Honey in the Rock,” Cantigas member Ann Evans says. “We dare you to leave unmoved.”

Cantigas Women’s Choir, named after a medieval Spanish song form called a “cantiga,” is composed of 40 women of varying ages and backgrounds and brings women of the community together to explore the rich tradition of women’s singing. The group performs a broad spectrum of global music and advocates through song for those whose hearts need to be uplifted and whose voices need to be heard, performing regularly with the inmates of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, N.J., as well as at other community events like the Cancer Survivors Support Network in Bayonne, New Jersey, and the Empty Bowls hunger relief benefit in Hoboken.

Joan Isaacs Litman is the founding Artistic Director of Cantigas Women’s Choir. She is a native of Los Angeles and has taught students and teachers in the New York City area for 33 years. Ms. Litman is a member of the music faculty of the United Nations International School in Manhattan where she directs the UNIS Mothers’ Chorus and a children’s choir. She is a founder and former music teacher at Mustard Seed School and also taught at The Hudson School in Hoboken. With a longing to stimulate curiosity, trust and enjoyment of often-misunderstood cultures, Ms. Litman has focused her musical research on the Middle East, which she shares with teachers in cultural context. Ms. Litman is the author of Song Caravan: Songs of the Middle East. Ms. Litman has enjoyed teaching (and learning from!) both students and teachers throughout the United States and abroad, most recently in Spain, Syria, Lebanon, Japan and Hong Kong.

Assistant director Erasmia Voukelatos is a Canadian of Greek descent and has been active as a chamber musician and solo pianist, teacher, music director, and concert series presenter. Concerto appearances include Mozart Concerto in A Major and Haydn Concerto in D Major with the Canadian ensemble Mercredi Musique and Bach’s keyboard Concerto in D Minor, which was released on The Best of Brooklyn CD. She currently teaches piano and elementary and is on the music faculty at the Far Brook School in Short Hills, NJ. She enjoys collaborating with her husband, violinist Ashley Horne, and together they founded My Music Garden, a music enrichment program for schools. Voukelatos has been with Cantigas since its formation.

Cantigas Official Web Site: www.cantigas.net