On Friday, April 29, the Wise community paid tribute to the man who has helped shape the sound of our worship and learning over more than a decade, Maestro David Kates, the retiring music director for Stephen Wise Temple and Schools.
When Cantor Emma Lutz got a call about six and a half years ago from a friend and mentor, asking her to interview for a new cantorial position at Stephen Wise Temple, she was both excited and nervous.
One of the largest congregations in Southern California, Stephen Wise Temple and Schools had a long and storied musical history, much of it defined by one man: Maestro David Kates.
“I remember I got a box that filled about half of my New York apartment,” she said. “It was full of siddurim, and machzorim that had been written for Stephen Wise, and giant binders filled with music that had become minhag hamakom, that had become the holy songbook of this place, and so many of the pieces were written by David, and if they weren’t written by David, they were arranged by David.”
Cantor Emma and the rest of the Stephen Wise Temple clergy—Senior Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback, Rabbi David Woznica, Rabbi Ron Stern, Rabbi Sari Laufer, and Rabbi Josh Knobel—along with Cantorial Interns Josh Goldberg and Andrew Paskil, all helped pay tribute to Maestro Kates during a special Shabbat evening service on Friday. They shared stories, anecdotes, words of gratitude, and well wishes.
Rabbi Yoshi—who has collaborated with Maestro Kates each year to create a theme song for Wise School—picked up his guitar to strum out a prayer for redemption and freedom.
Backed by his wife, Cantor Linda Kates—who started her cantorial career at Wise—along with the High Holy Day master chorale choir, Leslie Katz on violin, and Larry Steen on bass, Maestro Kates and his keyboard were center-stage, in front of the bimah in the main sanctuary.
Maestro Kates began the service by singing (and playing) a melody sung at weekly t’filah services with Wise School students, setting the tone for a musical evening honoring his enduring legacy. Maestro Kates and Cantor Emma then moved into Hinei Ma Tov. It was indeed good and sweet for the Wise community to be together to celebrate a man who has had such a profound impact on not just worship at Stephen Wise Temple, but who has shaped the music curriculum (literally designing the music innovation lab) at Wise School.
Watch the full video of the service below:
