Enid Bootzin Berkovits, Artistic Director and founding member of the Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale, began voice lessons at age 14 at the Wisconsin College of Music. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music therapy from Alverno College, where she also studied choral conducting. In post-graduate study at Northwestern University and De Paul University, she studied choral conducting and arranging, opera theater, and voice performance.
Enid’s coloratura voice has been heard in performances with Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre and the Milwaukee Opera Company. She has performed in recital and performance venues throughout the greater Milwaukee area.
Since 1974, Enid has been directing church, synagogue, interfaith and community choirs. She served as choir director and soloist for Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue since 1989 and is currently serving Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid in the same capacity. She also directed combined synagogue choirs for Milwaukee Zimriah. Enid has directed the Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale in Israel, New York, Chicago, Madison and Milwaukee. She is honored to have worked with Jewish music legends Max Janowski and Matthew Lazar, among others.
Samantha Haake, Assistant Artistic Director and Co-President of the Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale, joined the Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale in 2016. She began her studies in voice when she was 12 with Benita Wandel. She holds her BA from Augustana College of Music in music education as well as her Master of Music in flute performance and Performance Certificate in chamber music from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During her studies in flute she remained passionate about vocal music, finding opportunities to perform as a vocalist whenever possible.
As a vocalist Samantha has, in addition to the Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale, performed with the following ensembles: the Augustana Collegiate Chorale, the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Chorale, and the Highland Park High School Choir. With these groups she performed master works including Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, and excerpts from Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
Hazzan Michele Rozansky, Co-President, as a child, Mimi always knew what she wanted to become: a musician and a healer. Over the years, she has accomplished both her goals.
Hazzan Mimi received a B.S. degree in Physical Therapy at UW- Madison. She recently became semi-retired and continues to work in her private practice in Mequon since 1995. She specializes in working with children and adults who live with chronic pain and/or post-traumatic stress.
She is a co-founder of Congregation Shir Hadash, the first Reconstructionist synagogue in Milwaukee, where she served as Cantorial Soloist for twenty-six years.
In 2014, Hazzan Mimi returned to school at Aleph Cantorial Seminary to achieve her second goal. Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, based in Philadelphia spans all denominations of Judaism, embracing the joy of Hasidism, the innovations of Havurah, and the collective wisdom of centuries that inform Jewish Renewal.
Her most significant training with Aleph was the two-year Davenning Leadership Training Institute, where Rabbis and Cantors study and learn the artistry of designing meaningful, experiential prayer services. In 2020, Hazzan Mimi received her Smicha (ordination) at Aleph.
Mimi considers her greatest strength to be her creativity in working with other musicians, including ensembles, bringing together music and prayer, and blending genres such as Folk, Traditional, Choral, Kirtan, and Renewal.
Hazzan Mimi works part time at Congregation Shalom and Ovation Communities in Milwaukee.
Kai-I Tien, Accompanist, is a is a native of Taiwan where she served as Adjunct assistant professor in several universities in Tainan city from 2006 to 2012. Kai-I has been active as a collaborative pianist throughout the area since her move to Milwaukee in 2014. When she is not busy with piano, she works as a Mandarin-English medical interpreter. She is delighted to be part of Milwaukee Jewish Community Chorale.