EYAL BITTON CANTOR COMPOSER LYRICIST SPEAKER
BIO
Eyal Bitton is a composer and lyricist who has penned several musicals and oratorios. He is Cantor of Portland’s Congregation Neveh Shalom and is a member of the Cantors Assembly.
As a cantor, he combines traditional Ashkenazi & Moroccan melodies along with his own pieces and is known to incorporate many popular melodies into services as well. His choral compositions and arrangements have been performed in Canada, the US, the UK, France, and Israel.
He was the musical director and host of the Toronto Zimriyah, the Toronto Jewish children’s choral festival, from 2008-2017. Eyal served as Cantor of Hamilton’s Beth Jacob Synagogue (2009-2017), and as Musical Director and/or choir director for Toronto’s Beth Tikvah Synagogue Choir, The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue (Canada’s first congregation), Adath Israel Poale Zedek, Jewish Peoples and Peretz Schools, La Chorale Kinor of the Communauté Sépharade Unifiée du Québec, and others. He has given many creative lectures on music and was a regular lecturer at Toronto Jewish Music Week.
Also a composer of Jewish music for the synagogue and community, he has composed over 100 liturgical pieces. Eyal released a CD entitled HIGH HOLIDAY MEMORIES: Timeless Moroccan & Sephardi Classics in 2008 and appears on KOL NIDRE: New Visions (2018), recorded live in Paris, France.
Eyal taught prayer and Jewish studies at Beth Jacob Hebrew School where he served for three years as the school’s administrator. He has taught English at Ecole Maimonide and at College Francais in Montreal, and music and t’filah at Montessori Jewish Day School in Toronto.
As a composer for the stage, Eyal wrote the book, music, and lyrics for MISS PERSIA The Musical (Toronto 2008), KING DAVID The Musical (Winter Garden Theatre 2005, Monument-National 2003, Oscar Peterson Concert Hall May 2003, Saidye Bronfman Centre 2002), MOSES The Musical (Saidye Bronfman Centre 2004), Freedom: The Moses & Martin Luther King, Jr. Musical Tribute (Oscar Peterson Concert Hall 1999), The Child (Monument-National 1997, featuring a choir of 60, a cast of 16, and a 25-piece orchestra), and the Jerusalem 3000 oratorio Journey to Jerusalem (Beth Jacob Hamilton, 2011, Beth Tikvah Toronto, 2006; Montreal 1996). His musical theatre works have been booked and/or licensed by groups around the globe, including the US, Canada, Kenya, and China (click here for a full list). He has written several children’s plays: The Magical Map, Eureka World, and Welcome to my Bar Mitzvah! He wrote additional lyrics for the musical of Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (SBC 1997). His musical direction and vocal arrangement credits for theatre include Les Mers Rouges (Toronto Fringe Festival 2005), No More Raisins No More Almonds (SBC 2003), and Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (SBC 1997) directed by Bryna Wasserman.