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ELIOT ALDERMAN MA, MSci (Cantab); MA (RAM), DipRAM; BMus (GSMD); FRSA Training Chazan Alderman studied
the cantorial arts at the Tel-Aviv Cantorial Institute, training with Chazan Naftali Herstik of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue,
with Raymond Goldstein and with Chaim Feifel. He continued his training in England with Chazan Moshe Haschel of St. John's
Wood Synagogue. He gained his MA in Opera Studies from the Royal Academy
of Music, and he was also awarded the prestigious DipRAM, the Academy's highest award for Postgraduate study. He achieved
his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, taking conducting as an
additional study. He also holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Natural
Sciences from Cambridge University. Experience / Positions
Since 2015: Choirmaster of Hendon United Synagogue, Mill Hill United Synagogue
and Edgware United Synagogue. 2013 - 2016: Hazan of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews' Congregation, London. Duties included leading all services
and special events, reading Torah, officiating at all life-cycle events including weddings, funerals and shivas, teaching
Barmitzvah boys.
2009 - 2013: Director of Music of the Spanish
& Portuguese Jews’ Congregation, London. Duties included rehearsing and conducting choirs at Lauderdale Road Synagogue
and Bevis Marks Synagogue.
Since 2012 Chazan Alderman has acted as Musical Director to the Sephardic Choir
of Gibraltar, regularly making visits to that territory to rehearse and conduct the choir in various performances for both
the Jewish community and the wider community of Gibraltar, as well as curating and arranging the community's unique heritage
of liturgical melodies.
In September 2011 Chazan Alderman produced
and conducted the first-ever Sephardi Choral Selichot service, a collaboration between the Spanish & Portuguese and several
other Sephardi communities London-wide. This event was followed up in September 2015 by a Selichot service in Hendon involving
even more communities from across the Sephardi spectrum.
In 2014 Chazan Alderman was appointed Choirmaster and Teacher of Singing at Hasmonean
(Jewish) High School, Hendon, London.
In 2011 Chazan Alderman was
awarded a scholarship to undertake research into the musical history of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews of England since
c1657. This research will culminate in the publication of a complete edition of the Spanish & Portuguese musical-liturgical
cycle, including sound recordings and notated music. He has lectured widely on this topic for various institutions
including Gresham College, the Manchester Jewish Museum and a paper given at the 2015 "Magnified & Sanctified"
conference at Leeds University.
Since 2005, Chazan Alderman has run his own professional Jewish
vocal group, The Rinah Ensmble. Activities have included performances at synagogue services, weddings, Barmitzvahs
and other special occasions, including several choral midnight Selichot services and a number of concerts.
Chazan Alderman has
acted as Cantor for synagogue services at many different synagogues across the UK and beyond. Venues include St John's
Wood Synagogue, Mill Hill Synagogue, New West End Synagogue, Western Marble Arch, the West End Great Synagogue, Birmingham
Hebrew Congregation (Singers Hill), Woodside Park, Southgate, Muswell Hill, Portsmouth, Palmers Green, Kingston-upon-Thames,
Cardiff, Norwich, Staines and Hounslow, amongst others. In 2007 he was guest cantor for a special 150th anniversary
service at Congregation Talmud Torah Adereth-El, Manhattan, the oldest functioning synagogue in the USA.
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