Dr. Elaine "Lainee" Broad Ginsberg received her collegiate degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin College, Ball State University, and a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Lainee has been teaching at Keene State College since 2005 and has taught numerous courses in the Music Department, including Western Music History, History of Jewish Music, and Music Theory and Aural Skills. She was the Choral Director at Hampshire College in Massachusetts from 2001-2017. Previously, she taught at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan from 1991-1999, where she conducted the Chamber Singers and coordinated the Theory and Composition program.

 

Lainee presently serves as the conductor of Mak'hela, the Jewish Chorus of Western MA, and is a published composer of choral music, as well as an award-winning composer and arranger of music for numerous types of instrumental ensembles. Her most well-known work is an arrangement of the Hebrew song by Nurit Hirsh entitled "Oseh Shalom" which has sold over 6000 copies of sheet music to date.  It is featured on Chicago a cappella's recording "Days of Awe and Rejoicing: Radiant Gems of Jewish Choral Music,”  and the piece can also be found on YouTube sung by many different choirs across the US. Dr. Ginsberg's music has received many performances in colleges, high schools, community choirs, and synagogues, as well at several notable music festivals, including the American Choral Directors Association and the International Tuba and Euphonium Association. She has been the recipient of numerous awards for her compositions, including the Guild of Synagogue Musicians and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She has also been commissioned to write many pieces for synagogue and community choirs, including the Five College Choral Festival (Mass.), and was also commissioned to write a piece for the International Clarinet Society.

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Mak'hela performs many of Lainee Ginsberg's compositions and arrangements, including:

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• Eleh Chamda Libi

• Yismechu HaShamayim

• Shnirele Perele

• Oseh Shalom

• L'chi Lach (arrangement of Debbie Friedman's melody)

• Festival of Light

• Psalm 150 (based on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah")

• Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu (arrangement of the song by Sheva)

• Chiri Bim

• O, Ir Kleyne Likhtelekh

• Mitzvah Gedola (with instrumental ensemble)

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Lainee lives in Keene, NH, surrounded by the love of her daughter, three adult stepchildren, nine grandchildren, devoted husband Roye (chief “roadie”), and furry friends.  Her daughter Maya pursues a successful career in Biotech sales.