HANC HS Boys Chorus wins yeshiva contest

The Hebrew Academy of Nassau County Boy’s Chorus took top honors and the trophy in this year’s  V’Ata Banim Shiru a cappella competition. Under the guidance of Gaby Novick, the event benefits the Koby Mandel Foundation. 

Featured teams in the March 11 competition, held at the Rambam Mesivta, included HANC, MTA, Rambam and TABC, with Frisch having to bow out at the last moment.

HANC’s group stood out with its original compositions and well-structured vocal arrangements. The first song, “Layehudim,” composed by Avraham Friedler, was a slow ballad with words from Megilat Esther. The judges remarked that there was beautiful group sound, smart arrangements and a blending of tones that was smooth. Eran Vaknin enhanced the song with a soulful solo.

During the second set, HANC performed “Kol Yisrael,” another original composition by Friedler. Soloist Dylan Homapour brought the song to a resounding crescendo with his melodious voice, while Max Baer filled in with a beat box. Judges’ reactions included that the chorus was grooving with energy. The bass line on all songs was handled perfectly by Adam Livi and Matthew Maslin. Rounding out the melodies were David Aziz, Daniel Dilamani and Jacob Mermelstein.

Chorus leader, Rabbi Aharon Friedler, felt that all the schools had remarkable performances , but in the end the judges saw that HANC’s testament to hard work and dedication made its overall awesome performance a notch above the rest.   

The performances can be viewed on you tube at http://bit.ly/1LrKjMg and http://bit.ly/1GUi16p