Lizzie Shammash:
Lullabies Around the Jewish World
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Join Cantor Lizzie Shammash and pianist David Sparr on a musical journey of lullabies and bedtime songs in Yiddish, Hebrew and Ladino. From beloved favorites such as "Rozhinkes mit Mandlen" and "Numi Numi" to lesser-known treasures, the program explores the bedtime stories told across Jewish cultures. Cantor Shammash shares the personal story of her maternal grandmother as she explores themes of tenderness and longing, trauma and resilience, memory and hope.
About the Artists
David Sparr (Nahant, MA) has had a long and varied career as a music director, soloist,
bandleader, and vocal accompanist – working with such luminaries as Sarah Caldwell (Opera
Company of Boston), Broadway stars Joel Grey and Linda Hopkins, and playwright Robert
Brustein, and many of the finest Cantors in North and South America.
He has music directed Yiddish theater in Amsterdam, Munich, and Brooklyn; and has been the director of music for the last 26 years at Temple Ohabei Shalom of Brookline, MA. Over his career he has performed in Jazz, Salsa, Reggae, Blues, and other forms of popular music ensembles, and presents lectures/concerts on different music topics at senior living communites throughout the area.
David currently lives in Nahant, MA with his inspirational wife, Jamie Leader.
The daughter of a mother with roots in Latvian Jewry and a Baghdad-born father of Babylonian Jewish tradition who emigrated to the U.S. in 1947, Cantor Lizzie Shammash feels the proud inheritance of two rich Jewish lineages. She has been serving congregations in the Philadelphia area since 2007. In addition, she works with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, mentoring rabbis and cantors in Jewish mindfulness practices.
Her work in opera has taken her to major roles with companies including New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Berkshire Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, and the Beijing Music Festival. Concert appearances have included the China National Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Mostly Mozart Festival, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony, Academy of Saint
Martin in the Fields, Los Angeles Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Boston Baroque and Early Music Vancouver.
As a recitalist and chamber musician, highlights have included performances at Tanglewood, Marlboro, Ravinia, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, and Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series.
Recent seasons have included a Yiddish Liederabend at YIVO in New York City, as well as a Hebrew Liederabend at YIVO, featuring the arts song of Israeli composers. She participated in a Leonard Bernstein 100th birthday concert at Philadelphia’s Kimmel
Center, presented jointly by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and Lyric Fest, with Jamie Bernstein as narrator.
She has recorded extensively for the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, including Yiddish stage songs of Abraham Ellstein and Joseph Rumshinsky, Yiddish art songs of Lazar Weiner and David Stock's A Little Miracle.
Cantor Shammash holds degrees from Brown University (B.A. in Italian Studies), Manhattan School of Music, Boston University Opera Institute, and the Jewish Theological Seminary. She makes her home in Philadelphia with her husband, David Reed.
"Cantor Lizzie Shammash's show exceeded all expectations, and knowing Lizzie, I had pretty high expectations! The elegance and grace with which she wove different styles of music and ideas together was impressive, and the show had intellectual and emotional depth that moved and excited my congregation. There was so much content that I would love to see it again and hope I get the opportunity. She really had something in there for everyone, and everyone’s background seemed to be represented by the wide array of music. Classy, dignified, sweet, fun, poignant - you do not want to miss this opportunity to bring something so special to your community."- Rabbi Cantor Alison Wissot