New Web Site Launched

Welcome to the new Web site for Congregation Kol Ami.

We've included all the information from the old site in an easier-to-use format. In addition, there are new interactive features. Staff will be able to provide updates to the site, and you'll see them live the minute they do. Rabbi Eger can add new thoughts any time of the day or night. There's also a new interactive calendar that you can submit events for possible inclusion. You can even listen to some of the music by Cantor Mark Saltzman. And don't miss the online giving by credit card.

Enjoy the new features, and look for more to be added shortly!

Bach's Circle - Musical Explorations at Kol Ami

Congregation Kol Ami, West Hollywood’s Reform Synagogue embarks on the second season of it’s highly acclaimed musical series Kol Hashamayim, The Voice of Heaven, a series of concerts featuring eclectic repertoire and outstanding artists in an intimate setting. The series opens on Sunday, January 18, 2004, 2:00 p.m., at Congregation Kol Ami, 1200 North La Brea Avenue, West Hollywood with a concert of chamber music featuring BACH’s CIRCLE. The virtuoso ensemble features members of the L.A. Chamber Orchestra including Alan Vogel, oboe, Janice Tipton, flute, Patricia Mabee, harpsichord, Jules Feves, bassoon and guest vocalist Cantor Mark Saltzman, tenor.

The concert will include music by Bach, his contemporaries and the rarely performed Blake Songs for solo oboe and solo voice by Vaughn Williams. The complete program is: Trio Sonata in E Minor by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier; William Blake Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams; Piece de Clavecin en Concerts #5 by Jean-Phillipe Rameau; Two Arias and Trio Sonata in G Major by Johann Sebastian Bach.

BACH’S CIRCLE Baroque Ensemble serves the music of Johann Sebastian, his sons and contemporaries, so as to give audiences further opportunity to be enriched by some of the world’s greatest music. (Three hundred years ago, Bach’s circle of family, friends, students and colleagues created the glory that is Baroque music.) Since its 1998/99 debut season, the group has given performances at the Los Angeles Bach Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Oregon Bach Festival, The South Bay Chamber Music Society, Occidental College, California Institute of the Arts and the Sedona Chamber Music Society.

The Kol Hashamayim series continues on Sunday, April 25, 2004 with presentation of the twenty-one women chorus, Vox Femina Los Angeles, under the artistic direction of Dr. Iris S. Levine. Since their inaugural season in 1997, Vox Femina Los Angeles has been invited to sing at many prestigious events including the International Association of Women in Music International Conference, the Annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration, and the American Choral Directors Association's Western Division Convention. This concert will examine Jewish themes of femininity and highlight the choral music of women composers.

The final concert on Sunday, June 13, 2004 brings the premier of “Operatica Judaica” to Congregation Kol Ami. This semi-staged program explores the relationship of Jewish themes in the world of Opera, as well as Jewish composers that have contributed to this grandest of musical forms. The extraordinary performers for this event are drawn from the finest vocal talent on the West Coast including members of the Los Angeles Opera.
Congregation Kol Ami and the Cantor’s Discretionary Fund sponsor the Kol Hashamayim music series.

Chanukah Toy Drive Completed

Thank you to all who contributed to the annual Chanukah Toy Drive for Jewish children who have emigrated here from the former Soviet Union. Many great toys (more than 300!) were collected and there were many happy and grateful children at the Los Angeles Russian Community Center.