Image:
As Musical Director for the 2026 URJ Biennial, Elana Arian will curate and lead the event’s musical elements — from large-scale prayer and song sessions to collaborative performances showcasing the diversity and vitality of Jewish musical expression. Her leadership is expected to deepen the Biennial’s role as a place of spiritual renewal, creative exploration, and joyful connection. Elana's vision for music as a bridge between tradition and contemporary life signals an inspiring chapter ahead for the URJ Biennial and the broader Jewish artistic community.
About Elana
A composer, multi-instrumentalist, and prayer leader, Elana Arian is one of the most important voices in contemporary Jewish music. A nationally touring artist serving 30-40 distinct communities each year, Elana's music is an important part of Jewish life across the globe. She has released five albums of original music to date: If We Loved Like That (2025), The Other Side of Fear (2021), A Spark of Light (2017), How to Stand in the Rain (2007), and Foreword (2004), and she is the subject of a dedicated composer's anthology published by Transcontinental Music Publications in 2025. Elana has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, and perhaps most memorably, five separate appearances at the (Obama) White House.
Before becoming a star in the Jewish music world, Elana spent a decade (2006-2016) as a touring artist in the folk/indie scene, opening regularly for Girlyman, David Wilcox, Catie Curtis, and many more. She played some of the most iconic listening rooms in the country, including Club Passim (Boston), Wolftrap (DC), the Living Room (NYC), the World Cafe Live (Philadelphia), and many more. She has appeared on NPR's Soundcheck, as well as on PBS' Finding Your Roots.
A sought-after studio musician for nearly two decades, Elana maintains a busy recording schedule, working with such varied artists as Peter Yarrow, the Dirty Projectors, and Catie Curtis. On Broadway, she held the guitar chair on both the smash revival of Sweet Charity starring Tony award-winner, Sutton Foster, and on Kristin Chenoweth's acclaimed For the Girls, and has worked on multiple instruments in the pit orchestras of Broadway shows. Raised on equal parts Mozart, Mingus, and Mitchell, Elana studied conducting and violin, jazz guitar, and songwriting at Yale.
Related Posts
Image:
Register Now for Hava Nashira 2021
Whether you are looking for ways to innovate worship and music in your community or just love Jewish singing, join us for Hava Nashira 2021, the official Jewish worship and music conference of the Reform Movement.
Image:
The Shalom Collaboration: How Performing at the URJ Biennial Changed Our Career Trajectory
We are two longtime comedians (and even more longtime Jews!) who co-founded The Shalom Collaboration. We create customized, collaborative, virtual, Jewish-inspired improv comedy shows in the middle of a pandemic.
Image:
"What Will You Do at Such a Time as This?"
Editor's note: The text that follows was presented before a live audience at the 2019 URJ Biennial. Only a few short years after the founding of the United States of America, George Washington expressed in an exchange of letters with the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., the oldest synagogue in