Musician-in-Residence: Alicia Jo Rabins

About Alicia

We Are Pleased to Present: Alicia Jo Rabins, the JCC’s Musician-in-Residence!

From October 20-25, Alicia will be regaling different parts of our JCC community with music and more thanks to the “Making Music Happen” grant from the JCC Association. We are thrilled and honored to host Alicia, an award-winning performer, composer, musician, Torah teacher, poet, author and filmmaker. 

Alicia has many writing credits to her name. She is the author of two poetry books. Fruit Geode was a New York Times Book Review New & Notable selection and a finalist for the Jewish Book Award. Divinity School won the APR/Honickman First Book Prize and was one of Poets & Writers’ top poetry debuts of 2015. She is the recipient of fellowships from Bread Loaf Writers Conference and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Matt Clark Poetry Prize from New Delta Review, and the Sarah Verdone Award for Writers from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She is a 2020 Oregon Literary Fellow in poetry.

Alicia’s personal essays appear in the Forward, Huffington Post, Tablet, Jewish Journal, and Kveller and her book Even G-d Has Bad Parenting Days was recently published to great acclaim. 

Alicia is a master violinist. Her playing includes traditional fiddle music and songwriting in genres ranging from indie-folk to rock opera. In addition to releasing five albums of original music, she has composed and recorded music for video installations, plays, and television shows; performed Appalachian music across Central America and Kuwait as a US State Department cultural ambassador; and was the violinist in NYC’s acclaimed klezmer-punk band Golem for eight years.

She is well known as the creator and performer of Girls in Trouble, an original song cycle about the complicated lives of women in Torah.

A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff, originally a one-woman chamber-rock opera about the intersection of mysticism and finance, has since been made into an award-winning film that premiered at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater and has since been shown at independent film venues across the country. 

Alicia holds a MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College and a MA in Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

We hope you will join us at one or more of her appearances around the JCC! Questions: email adultprog@jccgb.org.

Performances

Waves of Music Shabbat Friday, October 20 | 9:30–11am
PJ Library Shabbat Playgroup, parents & caregivers with children 0–5 yrs
Register here!

Join us for a captivating journey of musical exploration centered around the theme of water. Alicia will weave together interactive songs about water that are perfect for kids to engage with. Immerse yourself in the melodies and blessings of Shabbat, transformed into a delightful blend of bluegrass rhythms. And fear not – we’ll also relish our cherished traditions of open-ended play, story readings, and beloved tunes. Alicia’s melodic waves of music will carry you into a unique experience that you won’t want to miss.‎‎

‎‎

Teen Community Solidarity Shabbat, Friday, October 20 | 6:30–8pm
JCC Family Wing Common Room & Creative Studio
Register here!

Join the JCC to stand with your friends and community in support of Israel. We are lucky to have Artist-in-Residence, Alicia Jo Rabins, to lead us into Shabbat as we think and pray for those impacted by the war in Israel.

Sacred Text, Poetry & Song: An Interdisciplinary Exploration, Tuesday, October 24 | 8–9pm
Lehrhaus, 425 Washington St., Somerville
Sold out. Join Waitlist!

Join writer, musician, ritualist and Torah teacher Alicia Jo Rabins as she breaks down traditional barriers between the arts and Jewish text with poetry and live music with a special focus on Jewish women.‎‎

—

**In addition to events open to the public, Alicia Jo will be entertaining our preschoolers, as well as our neighbors at Coleman House. She will also be Exploring the Value of Hineini through Art and Music with our Discovery Club After School kids.

This Making Music Happen Community Grant Initiative is made possible by a generous grant from the Pertzik Fund for Arts and Culture at JCC Association of North America.