Cantor Beny Maissner: My Cantorial Summer Residence
Geiger College: Berlin, June 2019
Cantor Beny Maissner: My Cantorial Summer Residence
I was privileged and honoured to be invited to join the faculty of the Rabbinical / Cantorial for this last Summer semester. What a great and rewarding experience it was to share, teach, mentor, and guide a new generation of promising Cantors.
I met some fabulous serious students who are seeking in-depth Judaic Hebraic and cantorial tradition from Est and west Europe. My task was not easy for the priorities and needs of the slowly awakening Jewish communities in Europe are so different from our style and practice. The heavy load of the hours and material to cover was enormous but all the students were seriously engaged and eager to learn in-depth.
The Focus was Yom Kippur repertoire and its delivery.
I met eight students of various levels and coached them individually, as well as in the master Classes I conducted. The aim was to prepare the students for a closing summer recital of what they absorbed in the short time I spent with them.
The results were rewarding and satisfactory to the teaching faculty and I was so proud of all the students.
I waved the FLAG OF HOLY BLOSSOM TEMPLE and exposed them to what our musical tradition has risen to over the years.
The most important achievement was my personal bonding with the students and guiding them onto the right path of Modernity mixed with the rich European tradition going back to Medieval times.
Both the administration and the faculty were so kind and appreciative. I was happy to meet and spend time with my new friend, Cantor Isidoro Abramowitz, a graduate of the college, now the dean of the Cantorial program. Isidoro is a talented and magnificent Singer and Cantor serving a very unique musical congregation, which only and elusively sing and pray the great musical tradition of Louis Lewandowski the celebrated German Jewish composer.
The Geiger college is a recognized part of the prestigious Potsdam university. In fact, the college will be residing in Potsdam within a year or so.
I have already been invited back in the not too long future and am extremely proud of it.
It was an amazing experience for me to share with others what is so passionate and close to my heart.
