The History of Shir HarmonyShir Harmony was formed as an outlet for Jewish adults in the Atlanta area to sing a cappella music after college, and thereby continue to pursue their love of singing and performing in this rather specialized genre. (A cappella means without instrumental accompaniment.) The original group was formed in the summer of 2000 as a mixture of four men and four women:
Brian Baron, Rob Baron, Zaron Frumin, Corey Iken, Bernice Isaac, Mindy Margolis, Cheri Mullen, and Adina Rudisch.
By the spring of 2001, Kim London and Alex Satinsky joined the group. Featured performances of this mixed group included a Bar Mitzvah, YAD's Night Out, and several YAD Shabbat Extravaganza Friday Night Services.
Rob Baron Brian Baron Adina Rudisch Kim
BrillAlex Satinsky Corey Iken Zaron Frumin Mindy Margolis Early Photos | Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3 |
About two years later, some of the group's men began to leave to pursue other interests, and the remaining members decided to change the focus of Shir Harmony to an all-female ensemble. In the summer of 2002, the group auditioned for 3 new members, Tracy Britan, Heather Low and Marian Schiff, and in January 2003, Lauren Grossman joined the group.
By early 2003 the all-new seven-woman Shir Harmony was ready to go make their mark on Atlanta. The members of the time included:
Tracy Britan, Lauren Grossman, Kim Brill, Heather Low, Mindy Margolis, Adina Rudisch and Marian Schiff.
These members recorded the group's first commercial CD album that was later released in December of 2006 with 21 tracks of the group's favorite songs.
Also in the summer of 2006, Shir Harmony held auditions and Laura Ferguson, Lisa Kopkin and Lisa Staimez joined as the group's newest members. In 2007, Melissa Black and Ariela Paschal joined the group.
Today the group continues to evolve and reshape itself with its current group of members: Melissa Black, Tracy Britan, Kim Brill, Heather Low, Mindy Margolis, Adina Rudisch and Lisa Staimez.
When Shir Harmony began in 2000, all of the members were single ladies. Over the years, several members have gotten married and have changed their maiden names to take on their new married names. You may recognize some of them by the following names:
Adina Marks became Adina Rudisch
Marian Gilbert became Marian Schiff
Tracy Warner became Tracy Britan
Heather Gottlieb became Heather Low
Lisa Levy became Lisa Staimez
Mindy Ellis became Mindy Margolis
Kim London became Kim Brill