By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — MAGEVET, Yale University’s A Cappella Jewish Choir, gave a wonderful concert last Wednesday evening at the Lawrence Family JCC’s Garfield Theatre. Even though the shell was not utilized, the fourteen unamplified voices projected with poignant sweetness. Unaccompanied, they created beautiful harmonies and well-graded dynamics, singing an hour and a half program without intermission.
The Yale students, young men and women ranging from freshmen to seniors, came from all areas of the country. As Leah Salovey, of La Jolla, explained, they usually sing only in New England on weekends, but venture farther during summer and winter breaks. They try to perform wherever their members come from.
Although they each introduced themselves, telling us where they were from, what year in school, and what their majors were, it would have been nice to have had printed programs with their names listed, the titles of the songs, and the names of the arrangers. We were told that the arrangements were by various members of the choir.
Most of the songs were in Hebrew. One song, La Rosa Enfloresa, was in Ladino and there were two unusual songs, one in a combination of Ugandi and Hebrew and the other, part Hindi and part Hebrew.
The selections ranged from liturgical L’Cha Dodi, Shalom Aleichem, Al Naharot B’vel by Saloman Rossi of the Italian Renaissance period, to well-known Israeli songs such as Yerushalayim Shel Zahav and Erev Shel Shoshanim. There were also some contemporary Israel pop songs. Although there was no “shtick,” as some choirs are inclined to do these days, they swayed naturally to the music, and their pure, unforced voices captivated with their expressive clarity.
They explained their unusual name, which means “towel,” in Hebrew. Apparently, they were founded by four male students who were singing in a sauna, and the first thing the students saw in that venue, was a towel, which they chose as the name of their group.
Although MAGEVET seems a strange name for such a choir, I am reminded of the quote, “a rose by any other name, would smell the same.”
Thank you, San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, for bringing Yale’s Jewish A Cappella Choir MAGEVET to our community for a delightful evening of a cappella music.
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Wingard is a freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com