Kfar Saba Founded A Cappella Troupe Quinta and a Half

The tenor, soprano, bass and alto sounds of a Kfar Saba-founded troupe find fans around the land

h/t The Times of Israel

This shifting troupe of singers has done for the last ten years, since it was first founded within the music track of Kfar Saba’s Katznelson high school (where singer Idan Raichel also attended).

Fossfeld, Ben-Ami and Cohen were all part of the original troupe; Fossfeld and Cohen were students at the time, and Ben-Ami had recently returned as a kind of school counselor. He now works at Katznelson, teaching history as well as directing other choirs and troupes in his spare time.

A cappella is a familiar concept in the post-“Glee” era, and in Israel harmonizing groups have been singing together for the last 30 years, said Ben-Ami. Yet this particular group of singers, many originally hailing from Kfar Saba, has been able to take it beyond the school and university stage.

All five members — named Quinta and a Half because they are more than the sum of their parts, as tenor Oz Weiss likes to tell audiences — are singers with at least a decade of experience, and some have taken to the professional stage as well. (There are occasional shifts in singers, and Galit Mor, currently featured in many of the videos and photos, is not singing with the group any longer.)

Director Ben-Ami, 32, teaches history and music at Katznelson, his alma mater; Ayala Fossfeld, 25, is completing a degree at the Rimon Music School after singing in the IDF Navy band for her army service. Long-timer Oz Weiss 29, works at Britannica Knowledge Systems, Yarden Cohen, 26, works in a high-tech company, and newest member, American immigrant Micah Hendler, 26, founded and directs the YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus, an Arab-Jewish choir of high schoolers.

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