Cantor Joseph Ness, conductor of the Mandell JCC Hartford HaZamir Teen Choir, before the Lincoln Center concert in March.

When HaZamir, the international Jewish high school choir, marked its 13th anniversary this past March, all 17 of the group’s North American and Israel chapters took to the stage at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York for a joint performance. And Hartford, among the four newest chapters, was among them.
Formed just about a year ago, the Mandell JCC Hartford HaZamir Teen Choir was formed by Cantor Joseph Ness of Beth El Temple and Cantor Sanford Cohn of The Emanuel Synagogue, both in West Hartford, after the two caught a performance by HaZamir’s Manhattan chapter while attending the Cantors Assembly Convention at the Jewish Theological Assembly in May 2010. That September, they established a greater Hartford chapter at the Mandell JCC, aided by JCC executive director David Jacobs and Jill Ziplow, director of the Chase Family Gallery. Ness conducts the chapter.
“The performance at Lincoln Center was a breathtaking and moving experience,” says Laura Kinyon of Avon, whose son Asher is a HaZamir Hartford member. “It’s so important to give our kids exposure to this type of community.”
Said Asher: “I have to do it again next year!”