TBZ-program by buffalojewishfederation

A Spotlight of Spirit, Art, and Community

The Stained Glass Concert Series is more than a stage for extraordinary music—it’s where Buffalo gathers, connects, and feels renewed. Framed by the radiant stained glasswork in the Temple Beth Zion Sanctuary, these concerts—produced by Temple Beth Zion and spanning genres from classical to Broadway—bring together the diverse voices that make our city shine. Through music, we uplift spirits, strengthen community, and celebrate the harmony that unites us.

2026 Spring Season Concerts

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5, 7:30 pm

Jay Dref with Cantor Susan Lewis-Friedman

LET’S DUET: Broadway meets Buffalo as world renowned crossover artist Jay Dref and Cantor Susan Lewis-Friedman sing some of our most beloved duets featuring Phantom’s All I Ask of You, The Prayer and more.

SUNDAY MARCH 29, 3:00 pm

The Valley of Silence: Search for Six Million

WORLD PREMIERE A Holocaust Cantata by poet-composer Gloria Tetewsky, arranged by Moshe Shulman, and performed by BPO musicians and Cantors Mark Horowitz and Susan Lewis-Friedman. Special guest appearance by Cantor Steven Stoehr and his unique Holocaust-era violin of hope.

SUNDAY MAY 17, 3:00 pm

Sweet Singers of Buffalo

Join us for an evening of songs that make you feel great, performed by some of Buffalo’s finest singers and cantors including Cantor Mark Horowitz, Cantor Mark Spindler, Aaron Pieri, Cantorial Soloist Zahava Fried, and more!

Your help sustains this treasured tradition.

Your generous support makes a difference and allows the Stained Glass Series to remain accessible to all community members. All contributions have a lasting impact on our public programming, helping us to celebrate our heritage through our space and our music.

tbz.org/stainedglass

The Sanctuary of Temple Beth Zion

Founded in 1850 as Buffalo’s first Reform congregation, Temple Beth Zion carries a legacy of faith, resilience, and creativity. After the original temple was lost to fire in 1961, the current sanctuary was designed by renowned architect Max Abramovitz, and completed in 1966. The space reflects both history and hope, welcoming worshippers, musicians, and visitors alike.

Every element of the sanctuary is rich with symbolism and light. Ten scalloped panels line each side wall, evoking the Ten Commandments, while the soaring oval walls rise like arms lifted in prayer. Openings left from the original concrete forms suggest that creation—and humanity’s work within it—remains unfinished, while also contributing to the sanctuary’s warm, resonant acoustics that make it a treasured concert venue.

Internationally acclaimed artist Ben Shahn shaped many of the sanctuary’s most striking features, including the Menorah, stained glass windows, and the monumental Ten Commandments tablets that frame the Ark. Between these pillars rest the Torah scrolls, illuminated by the Eternal Light above. The stained glass windows—one inspired by creation, the other by the musical call of Psalm 150—bathe the space in color and meaning, inviting all who enter to reflect, listen, and be uplifted by spirit, sound, and community.

February 5: Let’s Duet

Jay Dref

World-renowned singer Jay Dref captivates listeners with his passionate and transcendent voice, delivering unique interpretations of classic and contemporary music to worldwide audiences. Musically fluent in five languages, Jay’s artistry creates uplifting and beautiful musical experiences.

A Buffalo native, Jay is a graduate of The Juilliard School. He has toured internationally, appeared in concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and others, and sung the National Anthem at a Bills game. Since 2021, Jay has collaborated with world-renowned soprano Sarah Brightman for a number of concert tours, including, in 2025, “A Starlight Symphony”, and “A Winter Symphony” which toured 18 cities in the US and Canada.

Jay’s recordings reach over 200,000 Spotify listeners across 157 countries. His releases, including L’Amore è un Attimo (“Love is a Moment”) and Taxi in the Rain, resonate with a world-wide audience.

Cantor Susan Lewis-Friedman serves as Cantor of Temple Beth Zion and previously served as Cantor for congregations in suburban Chicago.

Cantor Susie has appeared in the Broadway national tour of “Cats,” in regional opera, and regional theater, and has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra twice since her arrival in Buffalo. She is frequently invited to sing and collaborate in concerts at various synagogues throughout the U.S., and many other venues. Her original compositions are often used in worship and have been heard on Jewish Rock Radio.

Susie is a proud member of the Cantor’s Assembly, the American Conference of Cantors and Actors Equity Association. She is married to the love of her life, Ross Friedman. Her absolute greatest achievements are her family, particularly her two children, Abigail and Zev. They are both living examples of her answered prayers.

Cantor Susan Lewis-Friedman

A member of the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame and one time organist for the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Blue Jays, Ken Kaufman is best known throughout Western New York and Canada as the “genius jingle writer”. In a career spanning more than forty-five years he’s written hundreds of jingles for radio and television.

Ken says his most well know piece is the “Tops Never Stops” jingle that the grocery chain hasn’t used in thirteen years but everyone seems to remember. His latest hits include jingles for Hamburg Overhead Door and West-Herr Automotive. But his most famous jingle may be the one he wrote for attorneys Cellino & Barnes. The piece even appeared in a sketch on Saturday Night Live.

Ken Kaufman continues writing the jingles that Western New Yorkers know and sing with his company AdSongs.

Ken Kaufman

March 29: The Valley of Silence: Search for

Six Million

Gloria Tetewsky

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Gloria Pamas moved to Buffalo, NY to marry Hyman Tetewsky, MD. An artist, poet, and song writer, Gloria has composed three cantatas on Jewish themes (“Valley of Silence,” “You Can’t Study Torah on Just One Foot,” and “The Eight Steps of Charity”) and many Jewish songs. She is a published poet, (“It’s Better in Verse” and “One Good Verse Deserves Another”) and her poems have also been published in the Buffalo News, and in Covenant of Justice, Prayers, Poems and Meditations from Women of Reform Judaism. The Tetewskys lived in the Buffalo area since 1959. They were members of Temple Beth El, Temple Shaarey Zedek, Havurah Kehilat Shalom, Temple Sinai and, most recently, Congregation Shir Shalom. Gloria is a lifetime member of Ada Miller Group of Hadassah and chaired its Education Committee for many years.

Moshe Shulman

Russian-born Israeli/American composer, violinist, violist, and bandoneon player, Moshe Shulman has received numerous composition awards, including a 2015 Fromm Music Foundation Commission from Harvard University, The American Prize Award in Composition in 2018, and 3rd place at the International Jurgenson Competition for Young Composers in Moscow in 2009. More recently, he has composed a children’s ballet, Six Songs in Ukrainian, and a collaborative dance piece spanning different cultures and genres.

Moshe’s music has been heard in Israel, Canada, the United States, Russia, Brazil and Hungary, and has been performed by such ensembles as the Brasilia National Symphony, Norrbotten NEO (Sweden), Juventas New Music Ensemble (Boston), Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Montreal), Meridian Arts Ensemble (New York City), Slee Sinfonietta (Buffalo), International Contemporary Ensemble (New York City) and the Arditti Quartet (London). Currently, Moshe teaches orchestral music at the Williamsville School District.

Cantor Mark Horowitz

Most of Mark Horowitz’s career has been centered on early childhood Jewish education. His roots are in classrooms filled with two-year-olds, where he thrived as a teacher for many years, and he was previously the founding Executive Director of the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI). He is currently the Chief Operations Officer at the JCC of Greater Buffalo and was previously the senior vice president for program and talent at JCC Association of North America.

Mark is an ordained cantor from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and was Cantor and Educational Director at Temple Beth Am in Williamsville. He was Director of the JCC’s Children’s Theater Musical Workshop for a decade and one of the original Spinning Instructors in the Fitness Center. Mark’s children and grandchildren were products of Camps Centerland, Lakeland, and the JCC Early Childhood Center.

Cantor Steven Stoehr

Cantor Steven Stoehr graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and serves Congregation Beth Shalom of Northbrook, IL. He is a past president of the Cantors Assembly of America, and in 2019, traveled with the CA to Uganda to visit and study with the Abayudaya Jewish community.

Steven is the primary author of “Minyan of Comfort” a guidebook for leaders of Shiva minyanim, which has been translated into Spanish and French. He has helped produce multimedia concerts for Violins of Hope in Chicago, and has authored a novel, two children’s books, and a musical drama titled “The Lost Supper,” while also recording three albums.

In Chicagoland, Cantor Stoehr has established several Chevre Kaddisha; a community choir for adults with special needs (Selah); and HUGS (Healthy, Understanding, Growing Spaces), attending to ritual experiences for those with special needs within the Jewish community. He is blessed by his wife Susan, and children Jacob (Ilana), Talia (David), Alana (Peri) and grandchildren Liv and Shai.

Violin of Hope

Cantor Stoehr received his Violin of Hope from Gerald Godla Mar, a descendant of Romani victims of the Holocaust. Here are excerpts from Mr. Godla Mar’s essay: This violin was passed down from a distant relative to my grandfather Louis Godla, in the mid 1940’s. Romani and Jewish villages had been decimated, and any act of decency was an act of defiance, and faith. In rescuing and sharing this instrument, my Romani ancestors spread their message of empathy to their Jewish neighbors, who had similarly been expelled from their contented lives.

During World War 2, several family ancestors abandoned their homeland in Slovakia to seek refuge in the United States. Many of the Romani, including my grandfather, came with only the clothing on their backs and their instruments. With no other trade, playing music was the only way to survive.

This violin was given to my grandfather nearly 75 plus years ago, by a leader of Romani violinists named Benjamin Harry Ballog. It has since been cherished by my grandfather’s offspring.

The transfer of its ownership from Christian Romani to Jewish Clergy, each a descendant of Holocaust Era Europe, is a statement of great magnitude. Sharing it with someone whose family’s history included a parallel line of survival to that of my own Romani family history, hopefully brings closure, or healing, to some who share similar heartbreaking memories and saga.