Join Cantor Elizabeth Shammash and pianist David Sparr as they take us on a journey around the Jewish world in the form of lullabies and bedtime songs in Yiddish, Hebrew and Ladino. The program includes well-known favorites such as “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen” and “Numi Numi” and takes us into new territory as well. Come to listen and learn more about the spirituality of bedtime in various Jewish cultures. Inspired by the bedtime songs of Shammash’s Nana Sarah, who immigrated to the US from Riga, this program explores the love that is shared between parent and child at this most vulnerable time of day.

This event is made possible by the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and The Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts at Hillel at UCLA.

David Sparr (Nahant, MA) has had a long and varied career as a music director, soloist, bandleader, and vocal accompanist – working with such luminaries as Sarah Caldwell (Opera Company of Boston), Broadway stars Joel Grey and Linda Hopkins, and playwright Robert Brustein, and many of the finest Cantors in North and South America. He has music directed Yiddish theater in Amsterdam, Munich, and Brooklyn; and has been the director of music for the last 25 years at Temple Ohabei Shalom of Brookline. Over his career he has performed in Jazz, Salsa, Reggae, Blues, and other forms of popular music ensembles. He is thrilled to be reunited with Elizabeth Shammash to collaborate on her latest project!