Cantorial Student Justin Callis Fulfills Lifelong Dream, Composing His Own “Song of Jonah”

When it came time for fifth-year cantorial student Justin Callis to pick a project for his senior recital, he didn't have to look far; he just needed to look back -- to his childhood.

"When I was six years old, the rabbi at my synagogue wrote a brand-new musical on the Book of Jonah. It was presented at Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever," Callis recalls, "and they let me be in the show! It was amazing. I feel like, professionally and personally, I've sort of been spending my career chasing that feeling and that excitement and trying to find ways to recreate that."

And so, when Gordon Dale, Ph.D., Dr. Jack Gottlieb Scholar in Jewish Music Studies and Associate Professor of Jewish Musicology, said to "find something intellectually stimulating that you could connect with on a personal level," it was clear to Callis that he could "pay tribute to that childhood experience," by writing his own music based on the Book of Jonah.

The result is The Song of Jonah, Callis' newly composed cantata for soloist, choir, and orchestra. The Book of Jonah is traditionally read by Jewish communities each year on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, so Callis made the unusual choice to have his senior recital just before the high holy days this year. On September 25, at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's New York campus, Callis presented his original 30-minute piece of music, telling the story of Jonah in three languages -- Hebrew, Yiddish, and English. The recital also included existing works based on the Book of Jonah, with music by composers Giacomo Carissimi, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Samuel and Hugo Chaim Adler, Dominick Argento, Sim Glaser, and American jazz legend Louis Armstrong.

Callis was very intentional about his musical archeology. "It was important to me to honor the existing canon of compositions about the Book of Jonah, and to reflect upon my own personal journey with liturgical music," he explained. "I was able to get in touch with the estate of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and his granddaughter Diana. She gave me permission to access his files within the Library of Congress, so I was able to present -- for the first time in America -- an excerpt of his oratorio on the Book of Jonah written in both English and Italian. I was able to share that with the community, a piece of Jewish music by a preeminent composer of the 20th century that hasn't been heard since its original premiere in 1951 in Italy."

But Callis did not restrict himself to composers from abroad, and included more local artists, such as Louis Armstrong. "I was able to access the Smithsonian archives for the materials connected to Jonah and the Whale," he recalls. "They have the actual score that was used for the band, and the full charts. So I was able to transcribe it, and we had all of the correct instruments, and we were able to bring that into the space as well, which was really fun."

Another entertaining element that Callis introduced into the recital space was a jacket he bought just for the occasion, after a classmate told him he needed to perform in "something fabulous" that would make him look "like a big fish." Callis ultimately became convinced that "it should feel joyful, and we've already pulled out all the stops. I put 14 instruments on the stage, a 10-voice choir, and everything else that was going on. Why not wear something fun?"

Callis reprised his cantata on Yom Kippur afternoon at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan, where he works as their cantorial intern. "We filled the sanctuary with people who were hearing new music about the Book of Jonah," he recalls with awe, "it was incredibly fulfilling."

The two recitals of The Song of Jonah are "a powerful example of everything students and faculty at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music are working together to accomplish," said Cantor Jill Abramson, DFSSM Director. "Justin Callis has brought a breathtaking variety of musical and cultural elements together to create a work that brings joy to audiences and fellow musicians, and which is also right at home at the heart of a synagogue setting on Yom Kippur -- a remarkable accomplishment."

"I was so impressed with every aspect of what Justin accomplished in the creation of the cantata," said faculty member Cantor Gerald Cohen, Justin's composition mentor for the writing of The Song of Jonah. "The music and its orchestration are on a high level of excellence, and he approached the creation of the piece, and the organization and performance of its premiere, with a great sense of professionalism. The result is a musically powerful interpretation of the Book of Jonah."

For Callis, the events at HUC-JIR and Congregation Rodeph Sholom were a high point of his years at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, a time that has been "filled with joy and excitement and wonder." While he was leading those recitals, he says, "I just kept feeling like I am in the place I am meant to be."

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