HaZamir holding open rehearsals for Jewish teen singers

Cantor Barbara Barnett has been a Roving Troubadour singing folk ballads around the country, an award-winning author of both a dark fantasy novel and an unofficial guide to the Fox TV show “House, MD,” and executive editor of online pop culture magazine Blogcritics. But in her home in Pittsburgh, she’s the conductor of the local chapter of Jewish teen choir, HaZamir.

“I’ve always been a singer and always been a writer, and I’ve never wanted to stray far from either one,” Barnett said.

Despite her multihyphenate professional life, Judaism has been a constant source of enrichment. Though she had little Jewish education growing up, Barnett had an adult bat mitzvah and became interested in cantorial life while juggling contract nonfiction projects.

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“I was writing two books on environmental management commissioned by the National Safety Council and I wanted to read Joseph Telushkin’s work more than I wanted to read anything about that,” she remembered. She hopes to share that passion with Jewish youth through her work with HaZamir.

Barnett came to Pittsburgh from Chicago in 2022 to be closer to her children and grand-children. When Cantor Stephanie Greene, former conductor of HaZamir Pittsburgh, was relocating, Greene told Barnett she would be an ideal fit to conduct HaZamir Pittsburgh. HaZamir, which means “the songbirds,” is the brainchild of Matthew “Matti” Lazar, a trailblazing force in Jewish choral music. The choir has been performing for nearly 35 years. Barnett took the opportunity right away.

“[HaZamir Director] Vivian Lazar and I connected on what HaZamir is about — singing, musicianship, connecting kids to beautiful Jewish music — but a lot of it is teaching, teaching the text. That’s what cantors do — we don’t just sing songs, we understand the underlying texts.”

She likened it to when singers learn opera but don’t understand Italian. Barnett wants HaZamir participants to understand and connect to the words, rather than just sing the syllables.

HaZamir has 33 chapters across the United States and Israel, and each year, the chapters come together to perform communally on a professional stage. In 2026, the location will be David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, on the same stage where the New York Philharmonic performs.

This can be daunting for some teens, so the choir works to create a supportive environment where students can hone their performance skills.

“One of the best singers I had ever heard came in tears saying, ‘I’m not good enough to perform at Lincoln Center,’” Barnett said. “So it requires on my part and her colleagues’ part to bring encouragement and support.” The environment is also unified by the fact that each chapter of HaZamir, from Pittsburgh to Chicago to Tel Aviv, learns the same music, in the same order, similarly to how Jewish adults around the world all learn Torah on the same schedule.

Each rehearsal Barnett leads at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh starts with an hour of teen activities, “schmoozing time,” a brief break, then an hour of warmups and song practice. Occasionally, Barnett’s husband, who is a jazz pianist, accompanies the choir. Barnett also has four teen leaders who facilitate activities and serve as peer support for the other members of HaZamir Pittsburgh.

“I love being in HaZamir because it is an amazing opportunity and creates an incredible community of Jewish teen singers across the country and Israel,” Nera Akiva, one of the teen leaders of HaZamir Pittsburgh, said. “Not only do we get to sing with hundreds of others in theaters such as Carnegie Hall, but we also form strong bonds that I know will last a lifetime.”

There’s still time for more local youth to join HaZamir, as Barnett is holding open rehearsals through September.

Part of what makes HaZamir so accessible is that to participate, one doesn’t need to read Hebrew, read music, or be religious. All Barnett asks of prospective members is that they have a musical voice and can sing on key. Beyond that, she welcomes anyone.

“It’s an opportunity to sing and become a community, connect with people, connect with other like-minded Jewish teens, and then have a slam-bang amazing opportunity to sing with 200 of your best buds in New York at Lincoln Center.”

Barnett said that HaZamir is especially meaningful in 2025, when antisemitism is rampant and Jewish teens might not have many places to engage with their Jewish identity in a positive way.

“It is a place for Jewish kids to be safe and to be together,” she said. “It’s a positive Jewish experience. You don’t have to be a synagoguegoer or doing Shabbat every week. It doesn’t matter if your dad is Jewish and your mom is not, if you’re Reform or Conservative, none of that matters. You’re Jewish, you belong.”

HaZamir will hold open rehearsals for interested teens at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh on Sept. 14, 21 and 28, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. PJC

Emma Riva is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.