High Holiday Musicians 2020

​Deborah Strauss - Violin & Vocals
 
Deborah Strauss is an internationally acclaimed klezmer violinist and educator who has been active in the klezmer and Yiddish music scene for more than 25 years. She is a member of the Strauss/Warschauer Duo and was a long-time member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, one of the premiere groups of the klezmer revival. She has appeared on numerous recordings and was featured in the Emmy Award-winning film, Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler's House. Deborah has performed and taught at the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, Yiddish Summer Weimar, KlezKamp, KlezKanada, and the Jewish Music Institute/SOAS at the University of London. She is also an award-winning children’s educator and a highly regarded Yiddish dance leader.
 
Deborah studied violin at Rutgers University and ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago. She has a deep knowledge of Jewish culture that stems from her upbringing in a traditional Jewish home, and from an extensive formal education in Jewish studies, including Hebrew and Yiddish language.
 
Her recent music collaborations include Fidlroyz and Voices of Ashkenaz with the German klezmer group, Tickle in the Heart, The Kadya Project: Voices of the Yiddish Fiddle, and Figelin, three fiddles in a boundary-breaking collaboration of North German and Yiddish music.
Cantor Louise Treitman
 
Cantor Louise Treitman helped to create the Jewish Music Institute at Hebrew College in the 1980s, which subsequently became the School of Jewish Music. She has continued her connection with Hebrew College since then in various capacities – as a faculty member and former Associate Dean of the SJM, as an advisor and as a cantorial coach. She currently serves as Senior Advisor and teaches cantorial, rabbinic and education students. Cantor Treitman served Temple Beth David in Westwood, MA for 20 years and is honored to be their Cantor Emerita. She has served as High Holy Day Cantor at Beth Hillel in Rome, Italy, as well as Shir Hadash Firenze, in Florence, both members of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. With degrees from Wellesley College and the New England Conservatory of Music, she received her Certification as an Invested Cantor through HUC-JIR in New York. Cantor Treitman was the president of the Jewish Ministers Cantors Association of New England and also the founding president of the New England Board of Cantors. In addition to singing with the Zamir Chorale of Boston, she is co-founder/director of the vocal octet ‘Il Concerto di Salamone Rossi Hebreo.’ Louise lives in Lexington with her husband, Rick, and dog, Gracie Slick. She has three grown daughters and four grandchildren so far.
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​Yoel Sykes - Vocals & Guitar
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Yoel is a main prayer leader in Nava Tehila and has composed dozens of new melodies to prayers, influenced by a variety of musical cultures. Yoel is a master of improvisation and an extraordinary vocal soloist and guitar player. Yoel studied music at the Center for Eastern Music in Jerusalem and Flamenco guitar in the Fundacion de Christina Heeren school of Flamenco Arts in Seville, Spain. Yoel has just moved to Denver, Colorado to pursue rabbinical studies with ALEPH.


​Eric Johnson - ​Guitar
 
Eric Johnson, originally from the Boston area, lived in Brooklyn, NY during much of the 90’s, and now lives with his wife and two daughters on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Cape Cod. Also a classical guitarist (he earned a Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory), Eric performs in a variety of contexts throughout the New England area. He has recorded with drummer Alan Dawson, appears on Bryan Steele’s debut CD, and has released four CDs with the globally influenced Jazz sextet Crosscurrent.