Chai Folk Ensemble comes back to life

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This article was published 16/06/2022 (1496 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Sarah Sommer Chai Folk Ensemble has appointed a pair of new artistic directors: Jesse Popeski and Sarah Sommer.

Neither are strangers to the ensemble, which has been singing, playing, and dancing to Jewish and Israeli music for crowds in the city and around the world since its founding in 1964. A renowned guitarist on the local music scene, Popeski joined the Chai orchestra in 2015 and eventually became the group’s music director.

“It all started because they needed a guitarist,” says the recent graduate of the University of Manitoba’s faculty of music, who says he was the first member of his family to become a musician, let alone to join and one day lead a Jewish folk ensemble.

Not so for Sommer, a vocalist, music educator and choral director who was named for her late grandmother, Sarah Sommer, the organization’s namesake, founder, and, although she didn’t have an official title, its first artistic director.

In 1964, Sommer’s grandmother first got the group together, leading young dancers in rehearsals held in the basement of the family home in Garden City, listening to the folk tunes on a record player while going over the steps. The ensemble grew in size and reputation, performing across the country and earning rave reviews not only as a dance group, but as a choral group, accompanied by live music.

Five years after Chai — which means life in Hebrew — was founded, Sarah Sommer passed away. But the group kept performing, and continues to maintain a stake in the city, with dozens of performers and musicians keeping the original vision of sharing Jewish and Israeli culture through music intact throughout the years.

That’s a big undertaking, says Sommer, who performed with Chai for a decade and served as vocal director before taking a hiatus to focus on her career as a teacher and to continue studying voice; she recently completed her post-baccalaureate diploma at the University of Manitoba, under the tutelage of vocalist Tracy Dahl.

“It’s not something I had thought of or seen myself doing,” says Sommer, who was flattered by the opportunity. “It’s a big job. But the more I thought about it and talked about it with others, I came around to it. It’s very different. I’m no longer a performer, so (Jesse and I) get to create a vision and put it in their hands to execute.”

Over the past seven years, veteran Chai performer David Vamos has led the group as artistic director, and has been involved with the ensemble in various capacities since 2002. Popeski said he is excited to step into the role with Sommer and to build on what Vamos has established over his tenure.

The last major projects Vamos oversaw are about to see the light of day. One is the release of Chai’s latest album, A Great Light, which showcases some of Chai’s older standards plus newer contemporary numbers, Popeski says. Right as the pandemic started, the group — which consists of over 30 singers, dancers and musicians — began recording.

Two years later, the album will be released June 16 at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, the ensemble’s first live performance since before the pandemic began. Popeski says the concert will feature the album played front to back, with the dancers, singers, and musicians integrating for something “different than what we’ve done before.” Ticket information is available at www.chai.ca.

“We’ve all seen over the past two years the way arts groups had to change and evolve in order to reach audiences and survive,” says Sommer. “We’re so excited to get back to live performances and to find ways to push boundaries and connect with people.”

After the show ends, Popeski and Sommer will officially take on their new roles.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com