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Choral Music

Choral Music Groups and Organizations

**NEW LISTING**Colorado Hebrew Chorale
"The Colorado Hebrew Chorale was organized in September 1993 by its Music Director, Carol Kozak Ward, to preserve, promote, perform and celebrate the richness of Hebrew choral music throughout the Rocky mountain region. Since its inception, this highly dedicated volunteer chorus, whose membership draws from all areas within greater Denver, has literally given voice to the legacy and culture of the Jewish experience through song. Now entering its fourteenth season, the Colorado Hebrew Chorale retains its commitment to communal service as its raison d être." Their website has very nice pictures, lists of concerts, program offerings, a calendar and contact information.
http://www.coloradohebrewchorale.org/index.html

Adash Women's Choir
A women's choir located in Republic of Czech that sings exclusively Jewish music. Website has samples of music and discography. Two of their CDs are devoted to Hebrew songs, but they sing liturgical pieces and Yiddish and Russian lanugage songs on their other two CDs which include many solos for folk music as well as choral work.
http://www1.osu.cz/adash/index-eng.php

Ani V'Ata
New York University Jewish a cappella group found in 1996. They have one CD named for the group. Clips and photos on the website.
http://www.anivata.com/

Arbel: Philadelphia Young Adult Jewish Choir
Arbel is an acronym for Ohavei Rinah Bo-u Lashir. It is the website of the Jewish Choir in Philadelphia which provides information on concerts and connections to other Jewish choirs around the country.
http://home2.icdc.com/~arbel/

Amsterdams Synagogaal Koor (ASK)
**New Website.** Amsterdam Synagogue Choir in the Portuguese Esnoga (Synagogue) in Amsterdam, Netherlands under the direction of Barry Mehler. Includes a history of the organization and selected excerpts of music with information about obtaining sound recordings.
http://www.ask-choir.org/

Ashkenazim
Russian a cappella quartet led by Polina Shepherd of Brighton, England. Their "repertoire mostly consists of their original compositions for Yiddish poems, as well as of rare and popular Jewish songs, folk songs in Yiddish, klezmer music, niggunim (tunes)." http://www.ashkenazim.ru/static_pages/eng_ashkenazim/

Basel Synagogue Choir
The Basel Synagogue Choir, one of the rare synagogue choirs in continuous, uninterrupted existence in Europe from before the Holocaust, has recorded several CDs, and now has a new website at www.synagogenchorbasel.ch. The Basel Jewish community founded in 1805 Einheitsgemeinde ( United Community ) has also maintained a professional chazzan. Sound clips on the website feature the beautiful voice of Issachar Helman, a native of Israel. He and the all male Choir sing at The Great Synagogue in Basel located at Leimenstrasse 24, every week. http://www.synagogenchorbasel.ch

Collegium Tel-Aviv
Israeli ensemble established in 1997 as a professional group performing music from classical and sacred traditions. Collegium Tel-Aviv is led by Prof. Avner Itai, who is the head of the Choral activities department at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel Aviv University. The group held a successful debut in the Musica Sacra Festival in Nazareth, in an all a-capella program. "The Collegium Tel-Aviv regularly modifies their programs and sings both with soloists from within the choir and invitees from Israel and abroad. The repertoire spans liturgical music, as well as secular; Christian as well as Jewish music, and music of the different ethnicities. The Collegium Tel-Aviv has performed in important vocal festivals across Israel, including Abu Gosh, Liturgica, Musica Sacra, and others. The Choir also performed the premiere of Lidarti's oratoria "Esther" in the Israel Festival, Jerusalem. During 1999 and 2000, the Collegium Tel-Aviv performed in both years' Liturgica Festivals, as well as in Germany and Austria in special "Music for Peace" program with the "Ud el Nad" choir from Nazareth, singer Timna Brauer and the Brauer-Meiri Ensemble during the Millennium celebrations in Vienna and Dusseldorf. In June 2001, the Collegium Tel-Aviv took part in a multimedia production of Handel's "The Fairy Queen" with the Israel Chamber Orchestra under Mo. Nicolas Kramer. During the course of the seasons, the Collegium has been invited to perform with many different chamber ensembles (Melzer Consort, the Jerusalem Consort) and different Chamber Orchestras (the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, the Ramat Gan Chamber Orchestra, the Jerusalem Ensemble, the Israel Chamber Orchestra Soloists, the Ashdod Chamber orchestra, and others). The Collegium has also performed numerous works of Israeli composers, such as Y. Braun, M. Zur, P. Ben-Haim, B. Orgad, and others." Their website is now part of the ArtPro Artist Management website.
http://www.artpro.co.il/index.html

Halevi Choral Society
The Halevi Choral Society is a professional Jewish choir located in Chicago, IL under the direcction of Judith Karzen. Founded as a community chorus in 1926 by Harry Coopersmith and Hyman Reznick, the choral group, devotes its entire repertoire to Jewish music. Styles include liturgical, Israeli, Yiddish, Ladino and secular Jewish music. The Choral group presents many new works and commissions compositions. The website includes contact information, a history, a mission statement and a concert schedule.
http://www.vjc.org/halevi/

Hazamir Choir of Helsinki --Judiska Sangforeningen rf
A history of this Finnish Jewish choir online.
http://www.helsinki.fi/~aschulma/srk/choirhist.htm

The Israel Choral Organization
Hallel (ISCO) is a union of conductors and choirs in Israel. ICO was founded in June 1998 in order "to support and advance choral singing in Israel." It promotes workshops, seminars, gatherings, pedagogy, activities, including international activities, publishes a quarterly bulletin and supports a website. The website is very out of date in terms of concert listings, but is maintained in Hebrew and English. Nevertheless contact information in provided.
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Studio/5379/

The Jerusalem Cantors Choir
The Jerusalem Cantors Choir of Jerusalem, Israel, has a new website giving information about the group and its performances.
http://www.jcc.org.il/

THE JEWISH PEOPLE'S PHILHARMONIC CHORUS
Binyumen Schaechter, Musical Director

The Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus, the longest-continually-performing Jewish chorus in the world, is celebrating itıs 80th anniversary with three concerts this Spring (details below).

For 80 years, The Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus has inspired its listeners with an astonishing musical spectrum of Yiddish song. Centuries of hope, determination, humor, loss and renewal are bound up in each note they sing. The voices of sweatshop workers, immigrants, mothers, soldiers, tumlers, and lovers speak through their music. Founded in 1923 on New York's Lower East Side, the Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus (known then as the "Freiheit Gezang Farein") was a vocal part of the burgeoning labor movement. When the Chorus performed Jacob Schaefer's oratorio "Tsvey Brider" in 1926, they were the first Jewish chorus in America to perform with an orchestra.

The Chorus has through its history thrilled audiences at major halls such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Town Hall and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In the last two years alone, they have performed in locations as diverse as New Yorkıs Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center), the North American Jewish Choral Festival in the Catskill Mountains, and at Ground Zero. During its many years as part of the nationwide, 30-chorus Jewish Workers Music Alliance, the Chorus was conducted by such legendary composers as Lazar Weiner, Jacob Schaefer, Max Helfman and Maurice Rauch, as well as by Leo Kopf, Madeline Simon and Peter Schlosser. Their concerts have featured special guests such as Mina Bern, Ben Bonus, Michael Michalovitch, Howard da Silva and Elly Stone.

The Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus now boasts an active intergenerational membership of 35 men and women from various professions, as well as students and retirees. The Chorus is a nonsectarian organization, and invites people of all creeds to celebrate the unifying message of peace and brotherhood through music.

Contact: Binyumen Schaechter at bschaechter@nyc.rr.com

Kaskeset
The SUNY Binghamton a capella group, made up of very enthusiastic college students who love to sing Jewish music. Their website includes discography, news, reviews and links. It looks like they're having a lot of fun out there.
http://www.hillelatbinghamton.org/kaskeset/index.html

Kol B'yachad
Brown University a capella singing group.
http://www.brown.edu/Students/Jewish_Student_Union/Committees/
Kol_bYachad/pages/home.html

Kol Rina
Jewish a cappella choral grop performing in the UK. Begun in Cambridge, England in 1996, the group has performed many orgininal compositions written by members of the group, especially Miki Grahame and Alicia Ambrose. They sing mostly Hebrew language, and have created a CD Ashira.
http://www.kolrina.org/

LA-SHIR Choir
LA-SHIR CHOIR, (The Los Angeles Hebrew Choir), is a choir "dedicated to the preservation, propagation and enjoyment of Hebrew songs, new and old." The repertoire consists mainly of modern secular songs of Israel, with occasional selections of traditional Jewish songs, including Yiddish and ancient Judeo-Spanish (Ladino). The website is out of date but has contact information.
http://www.lashir.com

Ladinostalgia
Ladinostalgia, an 18-voiced choir based in Jerusalem, Israel, is part of the Hora Jerusalem Folklore non-profit Association. They sing a special repertoire of Ladino songs arranged for choir, as well as Hebrew and other multi-cultural songs from Israel. They often represent the City of Jerusalem at cultural events.
http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/7140/turnov.htm

London Jewish Male Choir
London group founded in 1926 and continuing to perform regularly throughout the UK. The choir has performed in the USA, Germany, Ireland, South Africa and Poland as well as Israel. There is a photo gallery and member bios. The group has a CD called "For All These Things". The website includes an incredibly helpful list of scores the group has used. They have a database which lists the composer,name of piece, arranger, category of use, and their latest performance pieces. Unfortunately, in order to view the scores, you must load a capella software into your computer.
http://www.ljmc.org.uk/

Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale
"The Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale was founded in 1997 by Cantor Ira Bigeleisen and Rand Harris. LAZC has been invited to perform in venues throughout the world and continues its mission of bringing Jewish music, particularly music written by Southern California Jewish composers, to audiences in America and abroad." The website includes a history of the group, a list of performances, a calendar, and a listing of recording projects. The Chorale is available for performances and travels world wide. Nick Strimple, the music director, is also a composer, scholar and author on choral music.
http://www.lazc.org/

The Melbourne Jewish Male Voice Choir
The Melbourne (Australia) Jewish Male Voice Choir has been in existence for over a year, has performed with the Johannesburg Jewish Male Choir at the Melbourne Concert Hall in June '99, and had it's own concert in December '99 at St. Kilda Synagogue. The Choir's conductor is Brett Kaye, a young South African who moved to Australia. The Choir's resident soloist is Rabbi Heilbrunn. Jack Sweetman is Secretary and may be contacted by email.
jaswe@optusnet.com.au

Mizmor Shir
Harvard University's Jewish music a cappella group made up of about a dozen undergrads. They have released a CD, "Six Days Working," dedicated to the arts of singing and resting.
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~mizmo/mm.php

Nashir Choral Ensemble--University of Judaism
As part of the University of Judaism campus, the Nashir Choral ensemble performs Jewish and non-Jewish works. The Jewish music portion is primarily arrangements of Israeli tunes, liturgical works and compositions by Jewish composers.
http://www.uj.edu/studentlife/media1.html

Nashira: The Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia
Nashira "is the only auditioned, community-based chorale in the Greater Philadelphia area that performs exclusively Jewish and Jewish-themed music. This unique addition to Philadelphia's cultural scene performs the broadest possible range of Jewish repertoire." Harold Evans is the current artistic director.
http://www.nashirah.org

PHIL-RON-CHOR Zurich
The Phil-Ron-Chor is the only mixed Jewish choir in Switzerland. It has members from the 4 Jewish communities in Zurich., i.e. religious, Orthodox, Liberal and Reform. The Choir gives concerts in synagogues, concert halls and churches. For more information, contact:
Edy Pluznik
c/o Lunetta AG
Hohlstrasse 612, CH-8038 Zurich /switzerland
E-Mail: pluznik@lunetta.ch

The Pripetshik Singers
Daneel & Reyna Schaechter, Meena-Lifshe, Arele & Malke-Leye Viswanath, Shifre & Leye Whiteman under the musical direction of Binyumen (Ben) Schaechter. New York City based Yiddish singing group. Contact by email:

Sharim v'Sharot
'People of Song,' the select Jewish choir of Central New Jersey, meets in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and sings both Ashkenazi and Sephardi repertoire. The music director is Elayne Robinson Grossman, who served for years as New York's director of the Rottenberg Chorale. Website has a list of venues performed, a brochure, clips, a list of repertoire and news reviews.
http://www.sharimvsharot.org

The Shira Center of London All Girls' Choirs
The Shira Center attracts girls from all over NorthWest London. Formed just two years ago, the center responds to the growing London interest from religious women and girls in choral training and singing. It has provided Jewish musical opportunities and entertainment for girls and women from all over London. The center is made up of five different choirs, and classes for singers of all ages and abilities. They have released a CD called "Silver Lining" which is gaining huge popularity. Their website has more information about attending some of the classes and concerts. Dena Cohen appears to be a resident composer attached to the groups.
http://www.theshiracentre.com/

Shulmusic
Shulmusic is a website devoted to music of the synagogue and all Jewish liturgical music. The aim of the site is to become a global resource for Jewish liturgical music. Musical scores for various holidays and events are provided online.
http://shulmusic.org/

Synagogenchor Zurich
Robert Braunschweig, director. Bernard San, Chazan. Language of site: German. The amazing thing about this website is that they've digitized their standard repertoire to make it available to their members. You can view or print from this digital music collection at their website. Website includes a schedule of their concerts and synagogue work.
http://www.synagogenchor.ch/

Synagogue Music: Youth Choirs
Kolot Yaldeinu: Mini Curricula for Youth Choirs and Youth Groups. Available from UAHC. For more information:
UAHC Commission on Synagogue Music
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212.650.4220 Fax 212.650.4229
E-mail: musiccommission@uahc.org
http://uahc.org/music/index.shtml

Wembley Shul Choir
A temple Choir from the Wembley United Synagogue, located in Wembley, a suburb northwest of London. The site includes an interesting history of the group, a bit of philosophy on their music and audio clips of selected works.
http://www.j-geek.org/choir/index.html

Yerachmiel Begun and the Miami Boys Choir
This website features information about current albums, a clearly arranged listing of concert schedules, music samples and enthusiasm in a visual site.
http://www.ybandmbc.com

Zamir Chorale
Zamir Chorale concert schedule and excerpts from recordings are available at their website. This site also contains links to Jewish music resources.
http://www.zamir.org

The Zemel Choir
The Zemel Choir, founded in 1955 and located in London, UK, is a mixed voice choir that performs extensively in the UK, Israel and elsewhere. The repertoire is inclusive of Jewish liturgical, Israeli, madgrigals, modern and classical music. The choir has performed internationally at festivals, concerts, on the BBC and other media venues. The choir prides itself on its high musical standards.
http://www.the-zemel-choir.org/

Zemer Chai
Jewish community chorus of Washington, D.C., founded in 1976 and under the direction of Eleanor Epstein. Zemer Chai sings "the full range of Jewish choral repertoire, including liturgical and classical pieces, Jewish folk music from around the world, and new works composed especially for the choir." Admission is by audition. Website has contact information, schedules and news about the chorus.
http://www.zemerchai.org/index.cfm

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Choral Music Publishers

Boosey & Hawkes

Located at 52 Cooper Square, NYC, NY 10010, Boosey and Hawkes is one of the premiere music publishers.
http://www.boosey.com/

Transcontinental Music
"Transcontinental Music Publications/New Jewish Music Press, the music publishing arm of the Reform movement, publishes a wide variety of musical materials for synagogue and home use. Since it is the largest publisher of Jewish choral music in the world, it serves as the single most important resource for all community groups such as schools, universities, churches, and libraries." Catalog is now online. The Transcontinental catalog is also distributing music from the Cantors Assembly (Conservative). Ordering information included at site. Phone: 800-455-5223. Email: tmp@uahc.org
http://www.etranscon.com/

Jewish Choral Music Archives

International Archive of Jewish Music
Burton A. Zipser, Director. Located in Southfield, Michigan, the mission of the IAJM is to discover, collect, preserve, and disseminate information about music for adult choirs and instrumental groups of varying sizes. The International Archive of Jewish Music primarily is concerned with choral works of Jewish music. The Archive is part of a recognized non-profit. As of the end of 2001, over 1100 choral compositions are included in the choral section of the Archive. The Archive has also created a database of composers of Jewish music. There are over 1626 names in that database, with approximately 60% being cantors. Music has been acquired through contributions from composers, as well as discounted purchases from publishers' lists. Three collections have been obtained in either microfilm or xerox-flow versions and these are being catalogued. Because the Archive also has a performance "arm", it will be possible to present concerts of the music, and to work in cooperative efforts with publishers and composers to create recorded versions of the music which can be a further benefit to the composer or his/her estate.
All inquiries should be directed to: Burton A. Zipser
The International Archive of Jewish Music
c/o Oakland Performing Arts, Inc.
17333 W. Ten Mile Rd. Suite B
Southfield, MI 48075-2950
E-mail: zipmusic@bignet.net
Phone: 248-552-0025
Fax: 248-552-0027

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Choral Music Arrangers

David Ben Or
Choir Director of Gan HaLev. David Ben Or has put up choral arrangements with midi files, score, Hebrew, transliteration and English to liturgical texts. Gan HaLev is a post-denominational Jewish Congregation of the San Geronimo Valley, Marin County, California. http://www.ganhalev.org/zmirot/zmirot.html

Josh Jacobson of Zamir Chorale
Zamir Chorale concert schedule and excerpts from recordings are available at their website. This site also contains links to Jewish music resources.
http://www.zamir.org

Mark Zuckerman
Choral Composer and arranger. Has arranged Yiddish choral works, often incorporating some English to help audiences appreciate the texts better.According to his online bio, his "choral music has achieved an international reputation with choruses and at festivals in The Netherlands and Canada as well as in the United States. It's been performed and recorded by the Gregg Smith Singers, The Goldene Keyt Singers, the New Yiddish Chorale, The Workman's Circle Chorus, and Di Goldene Keyt/The Yiddish Chorale.... instrumental music has been recorded by the Chicago Brass Ensemble, Ilya Itin, the Seattle Sinfonia, Peter Vinograde, and James Winn." The website needs some cleaning up, but get through that mess if you wish to contact Mark if you need Jewish choral arrangements.