Congregation B'nai Tikvah - Beth Israel

Serving the Southern New Jersey Jewish Community

A Winter Concert to Warm Your Heart

with Norma & Friends

 

Join us for a very special musical evening on Zoom with CBTBI’s Norma and Josh Meyer and their amazingly talented friends!

Date: Saturday, January 23, 2021

Time: 7:30 PM

Cost: $25 per person/$50 per household

Featured performers are Norma Meyer (piano), Josh Meyer (vocalist), Emily Meyer (oboe), Dr. Joanne Erwin (cello), and Bruce Erwin (violin).

This unique Zoom event will include a pre-recorded concert and live participation by the musicians, who will introduce their performances. Afterward, they will chat and answer questions from audience members.

The concert features music by Jewish composers as well as composers with links to Jewish history, themes, and values, including Beethoven, Poulenc, Korngold, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Click here for event registration/payment information.

 

 

About the Musicians

 

Norma Meyer

Pianist-conductor Norma Meyer joined CBT synagogue (now CBTBI) more than 40 years ago and has directed the synagogue choir for a total of 20 years.

A lifelong performer, Norma is a founding member of Piano4, a four-piano quartet, and has toured with them throughout the U.S. since 2001.

She is a respected collaborative pianist. Chamber music performance venues include Verizon Hall and Carnegie Hall. She has been featured in concerto performances with Philadelphia-area orchestras, including the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Main Line Symphony.

A professional educator, Norma has taught and coached students from the earliest years through pre-professional levels. Before retiring from her post as orchestra director in the Washington Township Public Schools, Norma was active in and has conducted for the NJ Region 3 and state orchestra programs along with the New Jersey chapter of the American String Teachers Association (NJASTA).

 

Emily Meyer

Emily has an eclectic background of artistic outlets that bring a sensory experience to her oboe sound. She began her instrumental training at age three on the violin but transitioned to the oboe in 5th grade with the introduction of concert band at her hometown elementary school in Oberlin, Ohio. The oboe has taken her to many exciting stages in the U.S. and Europe, including concert halls in France, Germany, and Belgium. She completed her collegiate career at Butler University, where she studied with Malcolm W. Smith, receiving her Bachelor of Music with high honors. Now Emily enjoys making music with her husband, Ranaan, in a duo called The Rockwins, and raising their two young sons, Roderick, age 6, and Erwin, age 3, who make every day more unique than the last. 

 

Dr. Joanne Erwin

Joanne is Professor Emerita of Music Education at Oberlin Conservatory. She graduated from the University of Illinois, where she earned her bachelor’s degree (magna cum laude) and master’s degree in Music Education, and received a Ph.D. in String Pedagogy from the University of North Texas. In her semi-retirement, Joanne teaches cello at Rowan University and conducts the Rowan Youth String Orchestra. Special conducting experiences include all-states in Alaska, Georgia and Oregon, and festival orchestras at American international schools in London, Singapore, and Panama, and many regional orchestras in the U.S. and Canada.

 

Bruce Erwin

Bruce began playing the violin shortly after his father began making them.  He has played in orchestras in Fort Worth, Texas; Jalapa, Mexico; Canton, Ohio, and, most recently, southern New Jersey. Chamber music has been an important part of his musical life. Bruce attended chamber music concerts with his father and performed in the graduate string quartets of the University of Iowa and Baylor University. Currently, he is playing on a J.B. Erwin violin patterned after Guarneri Del Jesu. 

 

Joshua Meyer

Josh spent his professional career as an elementary school teacher and principal. His musical/theatre accomplishments include singing cantorial works, participating in the CBTBI choir, and writing and performing in numerous plays and musicals. During this challenging year, Josh and his extremely talented cast performed two virtual plays for the High Holidays, and are currently collaborating and preparing for a virtual performance of The Sound of the Magic Shofar, an original Purim spiel written by Josh and edited by Norma. It will be presented Saturday evening, February 27.