I met Adrienne Cooper in a masterclass at the Paramount KlezKamp back in 1995. She was supportive, insightful and knew exactly how to nurture deeper commitment and understanding in a performance. The first time we sang together was a multilingual version of Brother Can You spare a Dime/ Brider Gib Mir Khotsh ayn Daym at a Workmen's Circle concert titled "An evening of Yiddish Divas" at Lincoln Center's Damrosch park in NY city in 2001. What a revelation it was for both of us to have that much fun singing together and in the taxi uptown we talked like two excited little girls about looking for more oppourtunities to do the same. It wasn't until Ashkenaz 2004 when Mitch Smolkin asked us to perform the first ever Three Yiddish Diva's concert adding Joanne Borts as the third DIVA that our dream came true. The rest as they say is herstory. The Yiddish Divas joyfully sang in San Francisco, Houston Texas, Warsaw Poland, Vienna Austria, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver and all over New York and Long Island... We spent the next 7 years rehearsing new arrangements, styling our wardrobes and photo shoots, creating concerts and even theatrical pieces. Adrienne was the heart of the Three Yiddish Divas. Each of the divas have different skills we brought to the table but besides being a brilliant singer Adrienne was our social consciousness, our political barometer and even at times our final harbinger of taste. She was a deal maker... She suggested us for gigs around the world. She made a shidekh and we went... like when we spent a week at circle lodge performing for the adult campers in order to buy us the time to rehearse a new show for Poland. She embraced life and projects with the intelligence and artistry of a shining star. She distilled approaches to songs as she did approaches to problems... always with a positive attitude, grace and humility. The last time we were to sing together at Klezkanada 2011 she was already fighting her courageous battle. Her vision and plans for a future CD project has made her untimely death all the more unbelievable. Adrienne was so strong and a fighter.. She deserved to have the gift of time to finish her work.
She loved her daughter and her friends in such a complete way... I am at a loss as to how to make sense of any of this.
I met Adrienne Cooper in a masterclass at the Paramount KlezKamp back in 1995. She was supportive, insightful and knew exactly how to nurture deeper commitment and understanding in a performance. The first time we sang together was a multilingual version of Brother Can You spare a Dime/ Brider Gib Mir Khotsh ayn Daym at a Workmen's Circle concert titled "An evening of Yiddish Divas" at Lincoln Center's Damrosch park in NY city in 2001. What a revelation it was for both of us to have that much fun singing together and in the taxi uptown we talked like two excited little girls about looking for more oppourtunities to do the same. It wasn't until Ashkenaz 2004 when Mitch Smolkin asked us to perform the first ever Three Yiddish Diva's concert adding Joanne Borts as the third DIVA that our dream came true. The rest as they say is herstory. The Yiddish Divas joyfully sang in San Francisco, Houston Texas, Warsaw Poland, Vienna Austria, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver and all over New York and Long Island... We spent the next 7 years rehearsing new arrangements, styling our wardrobes and photo shoots, creating concerts and even theatrical pieces. Adrienne was the heart of the Three Yiddish Divas. Each of the divas have different skills we brought to the table but besides being a brilliant singer Adrienne was our social consciousness, our political barometer and even at times our final harbinger of taste. She was a deal maker... She suggested us for gigs around the world. She made a shidekh and we went... like when we spent a week at circle lodge performing for the adult campers in order to buy us the time to rehearse a new show for Poland. She embraced life and projects with the intelligence and artistry of a shining star. She distilled approaches to songs as she did approaches to problems... always with a positive attitude, grace and humility. The last time we were to sing together at Klezkanada 2011 she was already fighting her courageous battle. Her vision and plans for a future CD project has made her untimely death all the more unbelievable. Adrienne was so strong and a fighter.. She deserved to have the gift of time to finish her work.
She loved her daughter and her friends in such a complete way... I am at a loss as to how to make sense of any of this.
With respect and deep sadness.
Theresa Tova one of the lucky ones