Brooklyn, NY – Following two successful competitions that featured almost two hundred contestants and over 300,000 votes cast by viewers, the third annual A Jewish Star, a talent competition for male Jewish singers worldwide, is now officially underway.
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Adults and children ages eight through fourteen are invited to submit auditions up to four minutes in length to www.ajewishstar.com until midnight December19th, EST and viewers are invited to vote for their favorites at the website through the tentative ending date, January 5, 2012. The top seven vote getters in the adult category and the top three vote getters in the children’s category will appear live onstage at an exciting concert on February 5th 2012, where celebrity judges will pick a winner in each category.
There is much that is new this year, according to Yossi Soffer, one of the executive producers of A Jewish Star.
“Our returning judges, Avraham Fried, Mendy Pellin and Eli Gerstner, will be joined this year by a fourth judge, Yossi Green, one of the centerpieces of Jewish music,” Soffer told VIN News. “Additionally, this year’s concert finale will be held on the stage at Brooklyn College Center for Performing Arts, a place where the biggest names in Jewish music perform and many aspiring singers only dream of being able to perform there.”
A new single being composed for this year’s contest by Eli Gerstner will be sung by the winner at the concert finale, who will also record the single immediately after the February 5th contest.
“We want to get the word out there that this contest is for all of Klal Yisroel,” said Gerstner. “Come in, show your talent and spread the wealth. This is a great opportunity for everyone and you never know what can happen.”
Soffer was quick to add that contestants should not feel pressured to record a professional audition and encouraged aspiring singers to grab their iPhone and shoot a video of themselves singing a song that they connect with.
“All you need is a good voice and a video camera,” said Soffer. “This is a vehicle for people to express themselves and gives people who don’t have a connection to the music business or who don’t live in the New York area the ability to shine and show their talent to the world.”
This year’s contest features contestants from not only across the United States but all over the globe including France, Mexico and Israel. The winner of this year’s junior division will receive a seven night trip to Israel for two while the adult winner will receive either a two year car lease or $5,000 cash. A Jewish Star is executive produced by Yossi and Mica Soffer of COLlive.com and Unique Image Advertising together with Chezky Kaufthiel of Milvado and Charlie Harary.
“This year we hope to infuse an element of ruchniyus into A Jewish Star,” said Kaufthiel. “Music is literally an opening straight to the neshama and we hope that by promoting Jewish music we can continue to elevate as many people as possible through the beauty and purity of Jewish music.”
Once again, The Jewish Star concert will be produced by Yochi Briskman. The winners of last year’s winners were Yisroel Amar of Florida in the junior division and Mendy Piamenta of Israel in the adult division. Several Jewish Star finalists also found their music careers received a welcome boost following the two previous competitions.
“Nothing is better than to win first place in A Jewish Star,” said Piamenta, who won last year’s adult division at age sixteen. “I can tell you that it gave me something I wouldn’t get so easily. The competition is about so much more than a car or money. It is a big push for success in life.”
Why do they not have a separate competition for female entertainers. There is a growing body of frum music by women singers who appear at women-only events and whose CDs are being purchases by girls and women for listening on their iphones and MP3 players while working around on the house or traveling to school.
We need to make our women entertainers feel they can be successful and yet still be within the limits of halacha.
Yeah…”for all of Klal Yisroel” — but nothing for girls? They aren’t part of Klal Yisroel? “All you need is a good voice and a video camera” — plus a kappel and tzitzis. Male chauvinists…
i really feel that it is unfair to allow children of entertainers to compete in this. they have a chance for themselves just by their fathers who are connected. Mendy Piamenta is the son of one of the Piamentas & if he really wanted to he could launch his career just on that name alone. One of the contestants of the junior division is the son of Moshe & Shaindle Antelis. As Mr Soffer says in the article:
“This is a vehicle for people to express themselves and gives people who don’t have a connection to the music business or who don’t live in the New York area the ability to shine and show their talent to the world.”