Dr. Kevin Mack is our soloist on Friday Nights and for Bar/Bat/Brit Mitzvah services. Kevin also teaches music to our religious school students on Wednesdays.
For over forty years, Kevin has served Connecticut’s musical community as a conductor, singer, and player of historical keyboard and woodwind instruments. A fourth-generation native San Franciscan, Kevin earned undergraduate degrees in Vocal Performance and English-Philosophy from University of the Pacific, a Master’s in Music Theory from Yale University and Conducting from the Juilliard School, and a Doctorate in Conducting from the Hartt School. He was a pupil of Robert Shaw, Roger Wagner, Arthur Weisberg, Allen Forte, Claude Palisca, and David Diamond.
To increase his teaching effectiveness, Kevin completed a certification program in music education given by the Connecticut Department of Education at Wesleyan University.
Music for worship is deeply important to Kevin. Besides leading services for Whitney Center’s Jewish residents in Hamden, Kevin was Music Director at Hamden’s Congregation Mishkan Israel and New Haven’s Beth El-Keser Israel as well as singer, accompanist, or conductor at other synagogues in the state. He is also a church musician of almost five decades’ experience, and currently serves as Minister of Music at Middletown’s South Congregational Church.
Kevin presently conducts the Connecticut Restoration Orchestra, an ensemble of period instruments. Additionally, he is Music Director of the Pratt & Whitney United Chorus, Connecticut Z’mirah Chorale, and leads the chorus at Tower One/Tower East in New Haven.
In addition to his repertory of well-known and obscure choral and orchestral works, Kevin has conducted compositions for contemporary composers, including Martin Bresnick, Thea Musgrave, David Diamond, Jacob Druckman, Fenno Heath, Vincent Persichetti, Otto Luening, Daniel Pinkham, and Jeff Talman. Kevin has served as Music Director of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, Concert Choir of Northeastern Connecticut, Torrington Civic Symphony, and Hartford Philharmonia Society. Conducting engagements have included concerts with the Connecticut Chamber Orchestra, Gregg Smith Singers, the Rottenberg (Hebrew Arts School) Chorale, the Westport Madrigal Singers, and the Hartt Masterworks Chorale. As conductor and singer with the Connecticut Hebrew Chorale, he has toured Israel.
Teaching and administrative positions in Connecticut include a stint as Music Department chairman and Director of Choral Activities at University of Bridgeport, Director of Choral Activities at Southern Connecticut State University, and Director of Fairfield County’s Regional Center for the Arts.
For several years, Kevin taught chorus and assorted music classes at six area colleges and at two high schools in New Haven. In his spare time, Kevin serves as board member and past-President of the Association of Connecticut Choruses. Positions with other musical organizations have included Community Chorus chairperson of the American Choral Directors Association and sub-Dean of the American Guild of Organists, New Haven Chapter. Kevin is listed in International Who’s Who in Music.
Laura Weinstein has been playing, singing, and performing music of many different genres since early childhood. Originally from upstate New York, Laura moved to Glastonbury in 2004, and has served as accompanist for services at Congregation Kol Haverim for almost 20 years. She is director of, and also creates vocal arrangements for, the Kol Haverim choir, and sings and plays with the synagogue band.
Laura has performed in several singing groups and choruses, including the Rochester Oratorio Society in upstate New York, and various performing groups throughout Connecticut. Her love of music extends to composing songs for Shabbat services and other occasions, and playing her original compositions on piano, flute and guitar.
Find out more about the CKH Choir here.
