Music filled the the Feinberg Auditorium all Sunday long at the Jewish Theological Seminary , for the 17th annual Jewish Collegiate Festival of the Performing Arts.
The performances were split into two shows including 18 a capella and Israeli-dance troupes from across the United States.
Students, friends, family and schoolmates came out to support their friends. “I came to see lots of my friends,” said NYU freshman and spectator Andrew Van Bochove. “I know lots of people from Nativ [year-in-Israel program] and we all ended up at different schools this year; they’re all good singers and many are in a capella groups.”
NYU’s co-ed Jewish a capella group Ani V’Ata arrived on-stage to the announcement from event co-chairs and JTS students Rachel Hilker and Justin Rosen that they had arrived “all the way from the west village.”
Sophmore Barry Gutman told CampusJ, “I’m in Ani V’Ata just because I love to sing [and] I love to hear harmonies together.” Although NYU has many a capella groups, he joined the Jewish one because Ani V’Ata “mixes it up with modern Jewish music, traditional Jewish music and secular music.”
Wearing dressy black shirts and blue jeans, the thirteen students range in everything from their voice pitch to their academic major. Kicking off their performance with “Hinei Ma Tov,” women in the front and men in the back swayed side-to-side with the beat, smiling at each other.
After a quick break for water, junior Joshua Borenstein stepped forward alongside beat-boxing senior Jason Ingerman at the microphones. With eyes closed, Borenstein led the group’s rendition of “Machar Babayit,” a song of a soldier writing to his loved one about returning home soon.
Ani V’Ata’s final ong, “Believer,” was an original arranged and conducted by NYU freshman, Yossi Hoffman. “It was my first time ever conducting,” Hoffman told CampusJ after the performance. “I just learned how to [conduct] this semester, [which] I have to [do] because I’m a music major.”
Pumped after their performance, they rushed off the stage to the hallway where they were interviewed by ShalomTV.
“It was so exciting,” said Jeremy Schonzeit, sophomore, when asked how he felt on stage. He acted as either conductor or beat-boxer for most of their show. “And probably the best I’ve ever heard the group sound,” he added.
“My heart was pounding,” said Jackie Solomont, junior, holding her chest just after the performance. “Whenever I perform it puts me on a high because I love it, I’m shaky but that’s how I get always.”
They had less than an hour to relax and travel to UJA’s Super Sunday Phone-a-thon where they performed for the volunteer callers. Ani V’Ata plans to continue performing throughout the semester and promoting their new CD, Jamba Jews.