Winter Jewish Music Concert, an organization based in Temple Israel of Greater Miami and directed by Alan Mason, presents its first solo concert this June:
On Sunday, June 9th, at 4:00 p.m., we will for the first time present a concert featuring only one singer. The performer at this very special event will be Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, who over the past year has gained attention as the new voice of Yiddish song. He will be singing music associated with Sidor Belarsky, one of the 20th Century’s greatest singers of Jewish song.
Mr. Russell’s personal story is compelling. He is a classically-trained African-American singer who converted to Judaism. He resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his partner of five years, Rabbi Michael Rothbaum.
But just as compelling is his talent. Hailed as “The Paul Robeson of the Yiddish Song,” he has sung with various opera companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York Metro area over the past ten years. He made his professional début with the San Francisco Opera Company in the world premiere of Philip Glass’s opera Appomattox.
Mr. Russell has performed Yiddish song in New York, Boston, Toronto, and Northern California. This will be his first performance in the Southeast United States.
Mr. Russell will be accompanied by Alan Mason, the Music Director of the Winter Jewish Music Concert.
Visit their website for more information. Here is Russell in Shane Baker’s “The Big Bupkis” at JCC Manhattan: