Elena Tal made her debut at the Victoria International Festival in British Columbia, where she studied voice with her first teacher, Gaelyne Gabora. She studied opera with Carol Mastrodomenico at Tufts University, and has performed both nationally and internationally, at venues including the Italian International Music Festival Centro Studi Italiani, aboard England’s QE2, and as a soloist with the Stamford Young Artists Philharmonic Orchestra and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. She has performed on tour throughout the United States in solo recitals at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center (AL), the Marcus JCC (TN), the Paramount Theater (TN), the Annapolis Music Festival (MD), and the Heifetz International Music Institute (NH). Her opera roles include Pamina in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Juliette in Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette,” Fraulein Silberklang in Mozart’s “Impresario,” and Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance.” She was the “Voice of Space” in The Voyager Spacecraft Documentary for A&E Television Networks, and made her movie debut in a Hollywood film, with award-winning movie star Patrick Swayze, in which she plays a young opera student. Now exclusively sharing her gift of voice with women around the world through concerts, recitals and lectures, and with a master’s degree in Vocal Performance with Carmen Balthrop from the University of Maryland College Park School of Music, Elena Tal heads the Tal Voice Studio of Baltimore, open to all voice types. She regularly gives Voice master classes and workshops at Shira Girls Talent Camp, Tizmoret Shoshana, and ATARA Association for Torah and the Arts. She is also on the faculty of Bais Yaakov of Baltimore, where she teaches Voice classes. Elena Tal resides in Baltimore with her husband and four children. For more information, please visit Mrs. Tal’s website.

Rivki Silver began studying piano at the age of seven and clarinet at ten. She received her Bachelor’s in Music Performance from Truman State University in 2003, where she was principle clarinet of the Orchestra and Wind Symphony, and also studied flute, jazz, and composition. She is very grateful to have had opportunities over the years to play in a variety of different settings, from orchestras to rock bands to accompanying high school productions and siddur plays. She was a member of the Cleveland woman’s band In Harmony for over three years, where she wrote and arranged music, and played flute, clarinet and saxophone. When she briefly lived in Baltimore she was a member of the Chesapeake Concert Band and, later, the Baltimore Women’s Orchestra. After returning to Cleveland, she was a fellow in the 2016 Cleveland Jewish Arts and Culture Lab where she created a stop-motion video that she also wrote and recorded the soundtrack for. She is currently principle clarinet of the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra. In addition to performing and composing, she enjoys teaching piano and, occasionally, clarinet. Rivki lives in Cleveland with her husband and four children.

After taking private voice lessons for 2 years, Abby attended Montgomery College as a Classical Vocal major. Two years later, she attended the University of Miami and switched her major to Jazz Vocal. On a summer break from school, Abby auditioned as a singer to perform on a cruise ship. Her summer job ended up lasting almost two years, taking her from Mexico to Alaska, from Australia to Brazil, and many places in between. It was during her time on the high seas that Abby started becoming interested in Yiddishkeit. Ironically, the first Halacha she learned about was Kol Isha. After speaking with Rabbi Kalman Winter, ZT’L, Abby was not to be deterred and continued her learning while working on the cruise ships. After two years, she decided it was time to go to Israel and studied at Neve Yerushalayim. While learning in Israel, Abby worked in a recording studio and made a couple of tapes. She performed with an all female group in Israel, Tofa’ah, as well as performing with Kineret and Julia Bloom in New York.

Classically trained, Shoshana Michel started playing piano at the age of seven and professionally at seventeen. She has a musical repertoire that spans a variety of genres and has performed at venues including Knott’s Berry Farm, The Olde Town Mall and The Galleria at South Bay in Southern California. The positive responses of listeners, moved by her soulful renditions of Chabad Nigunim, encouraged her to record her debut piano solo album, Soul Whispers in 2015, which earned nominations for Best Solo Piano Album by SoloPiano.com and Best Debut Artist by Enlightened Piano Radio. She debuted as a composer when she recorded her second album, Dancing on the Wind, in 2016. Dancing on the Wind has earned nominations in 2016 for Whisperings Piano Solo Album of the Year, SoloPiano.com Piano Solo Album of the Year and has qualified for a nomination for Piano Solo Album of the Year by Zone Music Reporter. Described as a “Jewish Yiruma,” Shoshana’s playing soothes, inspires, delights and touches the soul. Her music can be heard on Pandora, The Spa Channel, Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, SoloPiano.com, Enlightened Piano Radio, One World Music Radio, Sleep Radio, AccuRadio, Spotify and many other online stations. Shoshana is currently working on her next album of her own compositions to be released, Iy”H, this September. She can be contacted at her website.

Fraidel Leah Kletter Until age 16 Fraidel Leah was fully self-taught in piano and composition. She gave her first public performance at the age of 14, performing the first movement of the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Livingston High School Orchestra. At Rutgers University, Fraidel Leah studied with the late Jan Gorbaty and gave many performances. Although she pursued a law degree, piano study has always been an integral part of Fraidel Leah’s life. Her teachers have included the late Pong Hi Park (a student of Leon Fleischer) and the concert pianist Rita Shklar. Going to Israel, Fraidel Leah pursued an alternative legal career of researching and writing for Westlaw, which provided her with the time to pursue serious music studies. Upon her return from Israel, Fraidel Leah spent a year and a summer in intensive study of Dalcroze Eurhythmics, a method of teaching music and expression through movement. She then completed the 2-year Professional Piano Pedagogy Certificate Program at Westminster Choir College. At the suggestion of professors and colleagues, Fraidel Leah successfully auditioned for a Masters in Music in Piano Performance in New York City and is planning to commence studies in the fall.

Miri Gottlieb was raised in a musical home and began studying piano at the age of five. She began her music career as a music counselor and a choir director at a summer camp for girls between her years of high school. While studying in Israel during a gap year, Miri organized and led a choir for the women on her program. She earned a BA in Music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, and throughout her eight years in New York, Miri taught music to children ages two through high school in several schools in Queens and on Long Island. The highlight of this experience was arranging and directing musical performances and productions. Since moving back to Silver Spring in 1997, Miri has taught music at many of the local Jewish day schools and preschools, most notably at the Torah School of Greater Washington, where she is now in her twentieth year.

Rebbetzin Chavi Epstein is the Co-Director for Chabad Lubavitch of South Carolina. She is also a renowned lecturer, musician, and founder of the Niggun Workshop Seminar. In South Carolina, she works as the director of Columbia’s Jewish women’s circle programs, as a local community counselor, and as the community “Mikvah lady.”