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Boys Choir Thrills Audiences in Three Cites
and at Gracie
Mansion
It was the Chanukah of 2003 that M-Generation Boys Choir
debuted on stage in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach,
in Berlin and in Düsseldorf. The group of seven with
ages ranging from 6 to 12 was an instant hit and made
its musical mark in the performance world and among Jewish audiences.
The M in M-Generation stands for Moshiach and
the group was organized and is sponsored by FREE as an educational service
for Russian youth. The goal of the choir has been to help
Jewish kids feel the joy of Jewish music and become
part of the Jewish people and its cultural life.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced M-Generation
at a special performance at Gracie Mansion on May 6th, calling
the boys “all immigrants from Russia and real treat.” Brooklyn
Borough President Marty Markowitz on September 14th presented
the group with a citation of artistic excellence at a special
concert honoring Rosh Hashana at Brooklyn’s Borough
Hall Plaza.
M-Generation was founded only two years ago but it has since
won recognition and a number of prizes, among them First
Place in the Performing Arts and Music, awarded by the World
Congress of Russian Jewry (WCRJ), which is headquartered
in Moscow.
That took place when the group performed last
year in the “International Competition Golden Chanukiah,” a
grand carnival organized by WCRJ, which is headed by Russia’s
Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar.
Awards Wherever They Sing
Another first-place prize for the group was won in
Berlin and earlier in Düsseldorf, Germany, for
its performances of songs of devaikus (devotion) and rhythmic
Chassidic tunes. Working with them from the beginning has
been the group’s conductor and director, Mr. Boris
Rukiter, a multi-talented young man who composes, conducts,
writes and does graphics as well. See and hear the joyous,
smiling boys sing the songs of their repertoire in Russian,
English, Hebrew and Yiddish at www.mgstars.com
In Dusseldorf, the group got a big ovation. In the Berlin
concert, the group won an award plus a check for 1,000
eu’s. Chabad representatives Rabbi Barkahan of Düsseldorf
and Rabbi Yehuda Teichtel, the shliach in Berlin, are credited
with the arrangements for the concerts and for
kosher food. Mr. Yuri Shtern, Member of Israel’s Knesset,
addressed the crowd in the Berlin concert.
Just one day after the choir members came back from Germany,
they performed in the FREE Center of Brighton Beach and at
FREE’s Grand Chanukah Dinner. They also sang with the
world famous chassidic singer Avraham Fried at the Millenium
Theatre in Brighton Beach.
Finally, M-Generation teamed up with the Moscow Synagogue
Choir last year at the FREE Center of Brighton
Beach. The concert was timed to coincide with Yud Alef Nissan,
the 102nd birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem
M. Schneerson, who founded FREE to provide physical
and spiritual services for the Russian-Jewish immigrants
who were about to burst out of the Soviet Union and emigrate
to the United States.
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