​Potomac School Music Teacher Honored

From Potomac School: Russell Nadel, a Middle School music teacher at The Potomac School, has been named the winner of the 2017 Ben Steinberg Young Composer’s Award, presented by the Guild of Temple Musicians and the American Conference of Cantors.

The competition is designed to encourage the composition of new Jewish music specifically for worship, says Nadel, who previously won the same award in 2010 for his piece Shabbat Cycle. Nadel was tasked with writing a choral piece to be performed at the amateur adult level. His piece, Tov L’Hodot, which translates as, “It is good to give thanks,” contains the Hebrew text of Psalm 92. “There is talk in the psalm about music-making and about instruments, which spoke to me,” Nadel says.

Nadel’s composition will be performed for the first time in June, at the 2017 American Conference of Cantors - Guild of Temple Musicians Convention in Las Vegas. Nadel, who received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, has taught at The Potomac School for this past six years.

Photo courtesy of Potomac School