Jayda Richter ’27 was honored to represent her school and her Jewish heritage while enjoying the rare opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall earlier this month. Jayda sang with HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir in a concert at Carnegie Hall on April 7.
HaZamir is a musical youth movement that welcomes Jewishly identified and musically talented teens from all denominations as well as those with no affiliation. HaZamir offers high school teens in chapters across the US and Israel the opportunity to learn and sing Jewish choral music at the highest musical standard and on the world’s greatest stages.
“It was really awesome. I walked out and it was an incredible feeling to be on that stage and to know how many people have performed there in the past,” Jayda said.
For Jayda, the concert also represented an opportunity to connect with people from her community to share powerful music. Mrs. Sharon Byrne, W+H Performing Arts Department Chair, attended the concert and was deeply moved by the emotional impact of the performance, which featured a selection of songs that were prayers transformed into choir music.
Jayda and the International Jewish Teen Choir sang Shalom Rav and L’Ma’an Tziyon during the concert, which also included the HaZamir Alumni Choir, Chamber Choir, Seniors and HaZamir Israel. All choirs later combined to perform Acheinu, Am Yisrael Chai and T’Filah (LiShlom Medinar Yisrael) at the end of the show.
“It was very emotional,” Jayda said. “It was really cool to connect with people from my community, and being there with Israelis who shared what they’ve been going through was really powerful. Having that experience to connect with them was really meaningful.”