Nusach San Diego with Jeremy Gimbel

June 18 @ 7:30 pm | Congregation Beth Israel

What does San Diego sound like? Nusach San Diego is cabaret review blending Broadway melodies, popular music, Jewish prayer, and rich storytelling into one unforgettable evening. Through witty banter, surprising musical connections, and stunning performances, Rabbi/Cantor Jeremy Gimbel and an all-star ensemble of San Diego musicians trace the evolution of Jewish sacred music—from ancient melodies and modern chazzanut to the unique sounds that shape our region today. Along the way, audiences will travel through Kumeyaay Bird Songs, Baja-inspired rhythms, folk traditions, and laid-back surfer grooves that feel unmistakably San Diego.

Featuring Heidi Gantwerk, Becca & Danny Myers, Tasha Koontz, Billy Tiep, and a remarkable ensemble of local artists, Nusach San Diego is part performance and part cultural journey. Funny, heartfelt, and deeply uplifting, the evening reveals how the music of synagogue, stage, and everyday life can unexpectedly echo one another.

Featuring:

Directed by Raphael Stigliano

Soloists: Jeremy Gimbel · Heidi Gantwerk · Billy Tiep · Tasha Koontz · Becca Myers · Danny Myers

Instrumentalists: Andy Mayer (piano) · Tommy Collins (electric guitar) · Bill Greenwald (drums) · Cory Briggs (bass) · Jeff Myers (cello) · Myla Wingard (violin) · Laura Givon (French horn)

Choral Singers: Laura Givon · Lisa Kalal · Christine Nievergelt · Kathryn Adelstein · Herb Hein · Josh Wallach · Todd Kemp · Russ Gold

A Note From Becca Myers, Adapter of Nusach San Diego

“When I first read Rabbi Jeremy Gimbel's thesis on Nusach San Diego, I didn't expect it to send me down a wild rabbit hole of surf rock, Hawaiian falsetto, and corridos from across the border. But the further I went into my own research, the clearer it became: the music we already know and love is built on the same bones as Jewish prayer music. The same impulse to take the sounds of a place and make something that moves people.

My research has kept going down new paths because I kept finding connections to my own Judaism in unexpected places--and especially in the secular music that I grew up with.

Nusach San Diego is a concert built around those discoveries. The show traces Jewish prayer music from its ancient roots through centuries of diaspora and reinvention, before finally landing here.”