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December 7, 2001/Kislev 22, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 13
Cantor conducts ruach at Beth El
LEISAH NAMM
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 Cantor Marc Philippe started at Beth El Congregation in Phoenix on Nov. 12. Photo courtesy of Beth El Congregation |
He started his duties right away - planning a Hanukkah program, organizing a teenage instrumental group and directing the Talmud Torah.
The cantor, conductor and flutist moved to the Valley from Paris, France, after spending four years in Boca Raton, Fla.
He will serve as cantor for Shabbat and High Holiday services at the Conservative congregation as well as run the Talmud Torah.
"We are very excited," says Beth El Executive Director David Brook. "I think he's going to be adding an element of ruach (spirit) that we've been searching for and I know that he will fulfill that need at Beth El."
Among Philippe's plans are starting up choirs for various age groups, including HaZamir, a national Jewish high school choir sponsored by the Zamir Foundation. All choirs will be open to the community, he says.
"I like to be busy and I love to involve the congregation in song and music and prayer and I'm really looking forward to doing this," he says.
His goals include increasing attendance at the congregation's Talmud Torah "so it can become even a greater learning center" and to "turn Beth El Congregation into a center of Jewish culture."
His father was a diplomat, so Philippe was raised in several locations, including Africa, Spain and Canada.
He spent his teenage years in France, where he attended yeshiva. He graduated from Ecole Normalede Musique de Paris and the Institutions Talmudiques Yeshiva Yad Mordechai and began his career as musical director and conductor of the choir and orchestra of the Consistoire Israelite de Paris, where he learned his cantorial skills.
He studied and worked with artists such as James Galway, Robert Hˇrichˇ and Donald Peck of the Chicago Symphony and served as assistant conductor for Hugues Reiner's Orchestre Philharmonique European. He also served as chazzan for the Place des Vosges Synagogue in Paris.
Philippe has traveled extensively as a conductor, flutist and chazzan in performances throughout France, the United Kingdom, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Montreal, New York, Chicago and Florida. His recordings include a French version of "Beauty and the Beast" for Eurodisney and a new-age classical work, "Mˇditations Essˇniennes."
In Florida, Philippe was the musical director of B'nai Torah Congregation and of the Jewish Symphony. His plans include starting a symphony in Phoenix.
Philippe lives in Phoenix with his wife Valerie and their three children Ylan, 5; Noam, 3; and Itai, 1.