With Jewish Music Week in Toronto: From Bible to Broadway, June 3th-10th fast approaching, we are pleased to feature this profile by Jared Miller, originally published in Temple Sinai's Ei-ru’im bulletin Jan.2012.

A little while ago, I visited Toronto and it made me think of my first trip to Toronto in May of 2008, when I got to play at Temple Sinai as part of the Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award winner’s recital.

As I walked around downtown, I reflected on the many exciting educational and professional opportunities I’d been given since winning the Steinberg Award. These include debuts as a pianist at New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, a commission from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to write an orchestral piece for the 2010 Olympics, numerous other scholarships and awards including second place in the SOCAN National Composition Competition and admission to the Juilliard School, where I am starting the final year of my masters degree under the tutelage of Samuel Adler.

When I consider the stream of significant milestones I’ve achieved in the past three years, I think back on how my win of the Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award kick-started it! Besides the very generous cash prize from Temple Sinai, the opportunity to perform in a different city (let alone province!) was a first for me. After that, I was able to proudly say that I’d performed in different cities throughout Canada, which, no doubt, made me a more attractive applicant for scholarships, commissioning projects and grad schools. Most importantly though, I got to share my passion for music with your wonderful and very accommodating congregation, and that is something that I will never forget!

For all of these things, I would like to extend my most gracious thanks, to Ben Steinberg and to everyone at Temple Sinai! Without the amazing opportunities provided to me by the Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award, I would not be where I am today. I have attached a picture of me making my Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Hall this past March as an example of the musical legacy I hope to continue to create.

Best Regards,
Jared Abraham Miller
Vancouver, BC

The 2012 Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award winner’s recital will take place at Temple Sinai on May 16th, 2012.  Admission is free. Click here for a profile of this year's winner, Lily Chapnik.

Click here for information about the Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award and other scholarship opportunities in Canada, the U.S. and Israel.