Leipzig Synagogal Choir

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Leipzig Synagogal Choir
Seat: Leipzig / Germany
Founding: 1962
Genus: mixed choir
Founder: Werner Sander
Head : Ludwig Boehme
Voices : 27 ( SATB )
Website : www.synagogalchor-leipzig.de
The Synagogal Choir in 1988 at a memorial event for the Reichspogromnacht

The Leipzig Synagogal Choir is a mixed choir dedicated to the care and preservation of synagogal music as well as Yiddish and Hebrew folklore . The choir consists of 25 to 30 non-Jewish amateur singers, most of whom have received private vocal training. In terms of its performance, the choir meets professional standards. This is expressed, among other things, in his global venues and in the fact that he works with renowned vocal soloists and orchestras.

history

The Synagogal Choir emerged in 1962 from the Leipzig Oratorio Choir , which the Jewish chief cantor Werner Sander founded in Leipzig in 1951. The aim of the now slightly smaller choir was, in addition to the cultivation of folklore, the performance of Jewish composers such as B. Samuel Naumbourg , Salomon Sulzer and Louis Lewandowski . After switching to the new profession, the choir performed in front of an audience for the first time in 1963. The first long-playing record was released by ETERNA as early as 1964 , which was soon followed by two more.

After the sudden death of Werner Sander in 1972, the tenor at the Leipzig Opera Helmut Klotz , who had already worked as a soloist with the choir, was appointed choirmaster. Helmut Klotz succeeded in his artistic direction in forming the choir into a semi-professional ensemble. He works with soloists from the opera houses in Leipzig, Berlin and Zurich and with members of the Gewandhausorchester or the symphony orchestra of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk .

The choir's venues included the Berlin Philharmonic , the Berlin Schauspielhaus , the Munich Gasteig , the Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. The choir was a guest in the synagogues of Warsaw , Krakow , Prague , Paris and Breslau as well as in the cathedrals of Opole , Lublin and Katowice . Trips abroad led to Israel , South Africa , Spain , Portugal , Belgium , Brazil , Sweden , Slovakia and several times to Poland and the USA .

In Leipzig, the choir can be heard twice a year in a series of events. For over 25 years, the ensemble has also participated in the ecumenical service in Leipzig's St. Thomas Church in memory of the victims of the Reichspogromnacht of November 9, 1938.

Under the leadership of the Carlebach Foundation, the celebrations for the anniversary "50 years of the Leipzig Synagogal Choir - 40 years under the direction of Kammersänger Helmut Klotz" began on March 4, 2012. On April 14, 2012 Helmut Klotz led the choir for the last time in a gala concert in the great hall of the Leipzig Gewandhaus after speeches by Stanislaw Tillich , Burkhard Jung and Dieter Graumann . His successor, the singer and choir conductor Ludwig Böhme , took over the artistic direction of the choir on April 15, 2012.

Choirmaster

Awards

Recordings (selection)

  • Jewish songs - treasures of Jewish folklore: with the Leipziger Synagogalchor , conductor: Werner Sander, LP. Eterna, 1969
  • Jewish songs The Leipziger Synagogalchor sings , conductor: Helmut Klotz, Eterna, 1983
  • Jewish chants , conductor: Helmut Klotz, Label Berlin Classics, 1995
  • Masterpieces of the Synagogue (historical recordings 1964–1988 and anniversary concert 2002), double CD, label DS, 2004
  • Lidl fun goldenem Land , director: Ludwig Böhme, querstand, 2016
  • Sounding tolerance , head: Ludwig Böhme, querstand 2019

literature

  • Leipzig Synagogal Choir. Tables of Remembrance 1962–2012 , compiled by Kurt Grünhagen, Leipziger Universitäts-Verlag, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3-86583-673-1 .
  • Helmut Pieper: The successes didn't fall into the choir's lap. In: UZ - University newspaper of the Karl Marx University, No. 11 from March 19, 1982 (PDF; 4.9 MB), p. 6.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Korfmacher: "Beautiful and successful story". "Leipziger Ware" for the opening of the exhibition "50 Years of the Leipzig Synagogal Choir". In: Leipziger Volkszeitung of March 6, 2012, p. 10, ISSN  0232-3222 .
  2. ↑ Peter Korfmacher: legacy, order, cold islands. After 40 years of leadership, Helmut Klotz is saying goodbye to the 50-year-old Synagogal Choir in the Gewandhaus. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung of April 16, 2012, p. 9, ISSN  0232-3222 .