RESUME
HAZZAN IRA S. BIGELEISEN Cell: (818) 620-2534
3299 Cambridge Ave. Apt. 8C email: bigeleisenira@gmail.com
Riverdale, Bronx, NY 10463
EXPERIENCE:
· Hazzan, Adat Ari El (Conservative), Valley Village (Los Angeles), CA 1993 - 2015
· Other congregations served: Park Avenue Synagogue, NY (Conservative),
Clifton Jewish Center, NJ (Traditional),
Temple Beth Emeth of Flatbush, NY (Reform)
DUTIES:
· Senior Cantor
· Prepare and conduct worship services
· Supervise and prepare B’nai Mitzvah
· Train Lay Torah Readers
· Conduct choirs of all ages
· Compose and arrange music
· Teach classes for all ages and backgrounds
· Organize and produce community-wide events
· Pastoral counseling
· Identify constituencies and create appropriate programming
· Cultivate donors for immediate fundraising needs and long-term endowments
· Formulate and supervise budgets
ENDOWMENTS/GIFTS:
· Nita and Jack Corinblit Endowment for the Arts
· Boris and Gita Adler Endowment for Ritual Objects
· Rose and Edward Engel Music Endowments
· Shapero Family Annual Gift in Memory of Rae Shapero
· Cantorial Scholarships to the H.L. Miller Cantorial School (J.T.S.)
· The Alan Michelson Baal Tefillah Institute (A.J.U. Dept. of Continuing Education)
GRANTS:
Wrote and received grants from the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, the Jewish Federation, the Milken Foundation, and private sources to:
· Organize community-wide Jewish cultural events
· Create experimental worship services
· Produce recordings of Jewish music
· Establish a Jewish community chorus
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS (EXAMPLES):
· Created and taught a curriculum for Rabbinical students to learn the entire traditional liturgy (Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies)
· Developed 13 Mitzvot, a family education curriculum based on the three pillars of Judaism: Torah, Avodah, v’G’milut Chasadim
· Established One Shabbat Morning, a pilot program for innovative Jewish worship with Craig Taubman and Rabbi Moshe J. Rothblum
· Founded Sheer Fun! – a Jewish Choir for children aged 4-6
· Organized Sounds of Healing, an international program of reconciliation between the Jewish communities of Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, Toronto and the city of Nuremberg, Germany
PRIZES:
First Place Awards, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism:
· National:
- Worship and Ritual Category, for Innovative Worship Services:
Gold Solomon Schechter Award
· Pacific Southwest Region:
- Worship and Ritual Category, for Innovative Worship Services:
for creation of One Shabbat Morning
- Family Education Category, for Creation of 13 Mitzvot
SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
· Kantor, Re-dedication of the Rykestrasse Synagogue, Berlin, Germany
· Soloist, Milken Archive of American Jewish Music
· First Hazzan-in-Residence, USCJ Convention
· Founder, Executive Director, Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale
· Contributing Editor, Journal of Synagogue Music
· Presenter, Cantors Assembly National and Regional Conventions
· Appearances on national TV and radio programs, cinema
RECORDINGS:
· Producer/soloist, seven CD recordings:
Adat Ari El (4), One Shabbat Morning, Milken Archive of Jewish Music (2)
CONCERTS:
· Soloist, concerts of Hazzanut and Jewish music at international festivals of Jewish music in America, Israel, England, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the Netherlands
EDUCATION:
· Cantorial Ordination/Diploma, Yeshiva University
· The Juilliard School, American Opera Center
· B.A., Emerson College, major in Communications Disorders, minor in Music
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:
· Cantors Assembly
· Cantorial Council of America