"...a great antidote for the current state of the world."
— Midwest Record
LISTEN
"Chernick’s vocals are pure in expression and unencumbered…
A wonderful collection of meaningful tunes that will leave your heart longing for more. La Serena, the central piece on the album, is a stunning heartfelt tune that seduces with its pure vocal expression."
— Ivana Popova, Wholenote Magazine
Stream, Download, and buy
CDs / Vinyl of all of Aviva's music:
Nominated for the 2021
Canadian Folk Music Awards
(World Music Album of the Year)
News
ABOUT AViva
As an award-winning singer, and teacher of voice and meditation, Aviva Chernick brings movement, song, and story to each and every offering. Aviva sings in Hebrew, Ladino, and English, and her soulful, soaring vocal sound arises from a training and aesthetic that desires to be unencumbered by any particular style. She was the first Canadian to be awarded a Virginia Folk Life apprenticeship to continue study with ‘American National Treasure’ and Sephardic musician Flory Jagoda whose music she celebrates in La Serena. As a founding member and lead singer of the Canadian World Music group Jaffa Road, and while leading her own ensembles, Aviva has toured across Canada, the United States, Israel, Brazil, and most recently, as a guest of the Canadian Ambassador to the UAE at Expo in Dubai. Aviva is also trained in the Cantorial Arts and as a meditation teacher through the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She leads the meditation and singing community in Toronto called neySHEV.
Aviva’s solo and collaborative recordings have garnered nominations and awards including Canadian Folk Music Award (CFMA) nominations for her albums La Serena (2020) and When I Arrived You Were Already There (2012), JUNO nominations for both of Jaffa Road’s albums Where The Light Gets In (2012) and Sun Place (2010), a CFMA Award for Where The Light Gets In and a CFMA nomination for The Huppah Project’s Under the Canopy (2009). Aviva and her co-writers from Jaffa Road won the John Lennon International Songwriting Contest Grand Prize for their rendition of “Lo Yisa Goy”, a prayer for peace. She was co-writer for “Ana El Na” which received an industry nod from OCFF (Ontario Council of Folk Festivals), winning the prestigious “Songs From the Heart” award.
Aviva Chernick
and the La Serena Quartet
La Serena is brought to life in concert by Aviva on vocals, accompanied by singing partner Maryem Tollar (vocals, riq), Demetri Petsalakis (oud, guitar, keys), Naghmeh Farahmand (daf and darbuka), and Waleed Abdulhamid (bass).
This is Nona Flory.
Studying the Balkan Ladino tradition with Flory Jagoda was one of the major inspirations for this album. Flory passed away on January 29, 2021.
Read Aviva's tribute to her dear mentor:
LIVE SHOWS
Soundstreams: Invocations
Thursday, December 5, 2024 • 7:30PM
Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts
27 Front St E,
Toronto, ON
M5E 1B4
Invocations are calls for help, but they can also be appeals for inspiration and spiritual guidance. Violin virtuoso Lara St. John, soulful singer Aviva Chernick and other guests, join the celebrated Gryphon Trio in a rich musical offering that will resonate with each of us during those vulnerable moments when we, too, seek to invoke something beyond ourselves. One such invocation is the “nign”, a wordless and originally improvised prayer stemming from Hasidic Judaism in the 18th century, and is the inspiration for several works in the program: Avner Dorman’s Nigunim, recipient of The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music; a world premiere by James Rolfe, Narrow Bridge; and Aaron Copland’s classic Vitebsk. The program opens with Vivian Fung’s impassioned Prayer, inspired by Hildegard von Bingen, paired with Amy Beach’s spiritual plea Invocation. It closes with Robert Schumann’s epic and soul-searching Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op. 44.
ARTISTS
Lara St. John, violin • Aviva Chernick, vocals • Noa Sarid, violin • Sheila Jaffe, viola
GRYPHON TRIO:
Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin • Roman Borys, cello • Jamie Parker, piano
"There is drama and mystery in the awakening and unwinding of each melody."
— Paul Corby, Roots Music Canada
VIDEOS
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