The 16-year-old prodigy who loves to sing

JULIE LEIBOWITZ

Ezra Altschuler, who himself descends from seven generations of cantors, heard Brill’s beautiful singing and took him under his wing, teaching him the basics.

Six months later, they started working together, doing musical Shabbats, chuppas, and other performances. From 2015 to 2017, while he was still just a ‘tween’, Brill was the chazzan of Sunny Road Shul.

“He was a phenomenal talent, and now he is an unbelievable singer,” Altschuler says of the young 16-year-old prodigy. Brill is making a name for himself as a liturgical singer and performer in the Jewish community and elsewhere, in spite of the fact that his voice is still breaking.

Brill has performed almost 30 chuppahs, and has even been flown to Cape Town and as far as London to sing. In 2017, he accompanied Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein to sing Oseh Shalom in front of 70 000 people at a National Day of Prayer at the FNB Stadium in Soweto.

Astonishingly, he started lessons with a voice coach only a few months ago. This was partly intentional, says his mentor, Altschuler. “While his voice was changing, we wanted to let his voice be as natural as possible. We needed to find a teacher who would take his natural ability, and not try to change it.”

Brill came to live in South Africa from Israel just six years ago. He arrived with no spoken or written English. One of a family of seven children – who are all musical – he was born in Netanya, and lived in Ra’anana, Bnei Brak, and Modi’in Ilit before the family relocated to South Africa when he was 10.

“Most of my family – my grandparents, aunts, uncle, and cousins – were living in South Africa,” Brill says of the family’s relocation.

He “didn’t understand anything anyone said at first”, and had to catch up with an extra teacher in his English class at Maharsha Boys School in Johannesburg. Now in Grade 11 at Hirsh Lyons, Brill speaks English fluently, without the trace of an accent. But, fluent Hebrew has served him well, helping him to understand every word he sings, giving extra meaning and fluency to his performances.

Brill comes from a musical family on both sides. He counts at least two keyboardists, many accomplished singers, two guitarists, and a composer amongst his immediate family.

His brother Shlomo taught himself to play keyboard, and is also “an exceptionally rare talent” Altschuler says. The talent goes back generations. His grandmother “used to sing on the radio”, and his late grandfather sang in the Sydenham Shul choir, recognised as one of the leading Orthodox male Jewish choirs in the world. The brothers often perform together.

Altschuler does not mince his words when he describes Brill as a yeled pele (prodigy). “I haven’t heard another talent like this,” he says. But it’s not just his musical ability but his personal qualities that make him world-class.

“First,” he says, “Shmuli has an instrument with an exceptional range. And, his harmonic ability and musicality are unparalleled.”

Other qualities that make him star material include a humility which endears him to others, a passion to do what he does, and the ability to perform. “I’ve seen people with very good voices who are unable to perform,” Altschuler says. “Shmuli is calm. He manages to contain his excitement, and use his energy. The chazzan is the link between the congregation and G-d. Shmuli takes the audience places spiritually. He has the ability to inspire the world.”

Certainly, Brill is disarmingly grounded when he talks about performing, saying that he considers whether he has an exam scheduled for the next day when signing to do a chuppa. At the FNB Stadium, he took along his maths books to study for an exam.

His modesty is also apparent when he talks about his family. His mother, he says, has a “gorgeous voice”, so does his older brother Shlomo, who often sings and plays keyboards with him. “Honestly, I would say that I perform the most in my family, but I’m happy to take advice from anyone.”

Brill says his first love is liturgical and “slower songs”, though he enjoys being an all-rounder and doing concerts, saying it’s fun to sing with a band. He loves to keep changing the songs for the chuppa, but leaves it up to the bride and groom to choose the songs. Usually, he meets them and practices once before performing. He warms up about 15 to 20 minutes before by doing vocal exercises.

“I’m not usually nervous,” he says. “I do get a bit nervous if I’m singing a new tune, or if I’m under pressure, for example, if I am being flown to Cape Town to perform. But, singing makes me happy. It puts me in a good mood – even during exams. I’m very passionate about it.

Of his year as chazzan at Sunny Road Shul, he says, “I wouldn’t call it labour, I’d call it fun.”

“Sometimes, I go into another world. I close my eyes, and then I realise that I’m performing,” he says.

His dream is to get hold of a manager/agent after matric, and to sing internationally. Judging by his success so far, this dream is likely to be realised.