Congregation Shaara Tfille presents a Musical Cabaret Concert – Richard Rodgers and “The Sound of his Music”

The entire community is welcome to join Congregation Shaara Tfille/The Jewish Community Center of Saratoga Springs as they present a Musical Cabaret Concert – Richard Rodgers’s “The Sound of his Music” featuring vocalist Rabbi/Cantor Kenneth Blatt and pianist Michael Clement. It will be held on Sunday, July 15 at 2pm in their synagogue located at 84 Weibel Avenue. This Musical Cabaret will celebrate the wonderful songs of perhaps the greatest Jewish Broadway Composer - Richard Rodgers. Throughout an incomparable 50+ year career, Rodgers wrote the music for many of the most loved musicals ever to grace the Broadway stage. The program features his collaborations with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein. The event is part of the 2018 Saratoga Jewish Cultural Festival and is sponsored and supported for marketing and promotion by a generous grant from the Jewish Federation of Northeast NY. The cost is $5 per person and includes a dessert reception following the performance. Please RSVP by July 12 to 518-584-2370 or saratogajcc@albany.twcbc.com. The body of work that Richard Rodgers created is staggering. Although his last collaboration with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein opened on Broadway almost 75 years ago, his presence has never left us. Revivals of his stage productions, as well as highly acclaimed motion picture versions of his musicals, have made Richard Rodgers’ music a permanent part of American culture. Although he wrote 11 musicals with Mr. Hammerstein -- including 9 stage productions, 1 movie musical and 1 television musical -- what made this team the most successful in the history of American theatre was the creation of 5 spectacular works: Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. This remarkable string of theatrical classics was only part of the Richard Rodgers legacy. Prior to his work with Hammerstein, he collaborated with Lorenz Hart from 1919-1943. In the era of the Jazz Age, Rodgers and Hart created 38 professional shows and films which competed for audiences with the productions of the Gershwin’s, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Their output of 500 songs includes timeless American standards such as Manhattan, Blue Moon, My Funny Valentine, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and The Lady Is a Tramp to name a few. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Richard Rodgers is the most successful composer of popular music for the theater in the 20th century. Rabbi Kenneth Stuart Blatt has been the Spiritual Leader with Congregation Shaara Tfille since January of 2010. He received his Rabbinical Ordination from The Rabbinical Academy, the Mesifta Adath Wolkowisk. He studied cantorial music with the renowned Cantor Leon Berger in Brooklyn, NY and continued his Judaic studies at the School of Sacred Music of Woodmere, NY where he received his Cantorial Ordination. Although he practiced dentistry for a decade, his interest in the performing arts led to a M.F.A. from Florida Atlantic University and a PhD in Theater from Michigan State University. As a professional entertainer, Rabbi Blatt has performed in theaters, cabarets, hotels, community centers and synagogues and acted and directed more than 30 theatrical productions. Michael Clement is an accomplished pianist and organist. He has performed with the Tucson Symphony, the Arizona Opera Company and Orange County, CA Opera. Michael is currently the Music Minister for Emmanual Baptist Church in Albany and the Pianist for the Lake George Opera Festival. He has served as Music Director at St. Peters Presbyterian Church and Music Director of Opera Excelsior and is a Vocal Coach and Accompanist at the College of Saint Rose and Skidmore College. Michael attended the Eastman School of Music, the Chautauqua Institute, University of Arizona and University of Southern California.