A women’s choir located in Republic of Czech that sings exclusively Hebrew music. The choir started as part of a Hebrew class at Ostrava University by Dr. Tomáa
Novotný. Later it grew into a performance group. The Adash 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. The CDs are Adash & Barbora Baranová, Jewish Songs II, Jewish Songs, , and Hebrew through Songs. The site also includes videos through YouTube.
http://www1.osu.cz/adash/index-eng.php…
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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/

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/

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

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.…
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An Israeli chamber ensemble established in Jerusalem in 1995. The group has concertized widely in Israel. They participated in the international Zimriya held in Israel in 2004. Omer Levy is the current director.
http://www.domino.co.il/root/eng_main.htm

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/

The purpose of the Hazamir Helsinki Choir is to maintain and promote the Jewish musical tradition. Hazamir is a mixed voice choir, and has been since 1917. Singers come both from Helsinki’s Jewish congregation along with members of other music groups. Today, the choir s repertoire consists mainly of Hebrew and Yiddish language songs. Additionally, the choir sings songs in Finnish, Swedish, and, more recently, in Russian. A large part of the choir s Yiddish language repertoire is arranged for this choir and, therefore, unique. The Choir s long-time director, Eva Jacob, has made a number of arrangements for the choir, and also brought the Russian-Jewish tradition of choral singing into their repertoire. The Choir appears regularly and is active in a range of festivals and music events.…
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HaZamir was begun by Matthew Lazar in 1993 to offer high-school age teens the opportunity to gather together, learn and sing Jewish choral music in local ensembles. Each year, in addition to performing in their own local areas, HaZamir choirs from across the globe gather for a weekend Festival and concert in New York City.
http://www.zamirfdn.org/index.php?p=11

Binyumen Schaechter, Musical Director

The Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus, the longest-continually-performing Jewish chorus in the world, is celebrating it¹s 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.…
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Brown University a capella singing group.
http://www.brown.edu/Students/Jewish_Student_Union/Committees/Kol_bYachad/pages/home.html

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, 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 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 capellasoftware into your computer.
http://www.ljmc.org.uk/

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

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

Nashirah “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.” Jonathan Coopersmith, the current Artistic Director, has been the Associate Conductor for The Philadelphia Singers since 2002 and on the Musical Studies Faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music since 2004. Coopersmith teaches harmony ounterpoint, music history, and solfege at Curtis. The Chorale usually has 3 or 4 concerts per year. Information for auditions is on the website, as is a calendar of events. Harold Evans is the past artistic director.
http://www.nashirah.org

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

An 8-voice semiprofessional chamber choir, which performs Jewish liturgical music in Montreal (and beyond?)has recently been formed. Shir Hamaalot has been around for about a year, and gave a first concert at Montreal’s Shaare Zion Congregation in June 2003. Since then they performed at two other synagogues, and took part in a commemorative concert for September 11th at McGill’s Anglican Theological College. For info, call Jerry at 514-737-6600, or email: shir_hamaalot@canada.com

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/pages/en/home.php?lang=EN

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@werple.net.au

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:

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/

An a cappella group heard for a number of years on NPR for programs such as  The Birthday of the World, The Chanukkah Story and The Passover Story. Along with Jewish music they have recordings on early American folk and art music.
http://www.westernwind.org/

Female a capella group based in California. The group sings in English, Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish, and Arabic. Members include Judith Kate Friedman, Linda Hirschhorn, Liz Stuart, Alison Lewis, Jennifer Karno, and Ellen Robinson.
http://www.vocolot.com/aboutvocolot.htm

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

The Yavneh Ensemble, conducted by Robert A.M. Ross, is the Philadelphia area’s newest independent Jewish chorus. Composed of professional and experienced amateur singers, Yavneh presents tightly themed programs of historic and newer Jewish choral works, with narration, which both educate and entertain. Yavneh made its debut in the spring of 2006.
http://www.yavnehensemble.org

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

“The Zamir Choral Foundation, created by Matthew Lazar, promotes Jewish choral music as a vehicle to inspire Jewish life, culture and continuity. Building on the success of the Zamir Chorale, the first modern Hebrew-singing chorus in North America, Mr. Lazar sought an expansive vision that went beyond the activities of any single choir – one that fostered Jewish identity across generational and denominational lines. Today, through extensive programming, education, sponsorships and special events, the Zamir Choral Foundation is at the core of an ever-growing network of Jewish choirs, singers and music which has helped create the only Foundation of its kind devoted to Jewish choral music. The Zamir Choral Foundation is creating a new world of Jewish music, musicians and culture for today and the future.”
http://www.zamirfdn.org/…
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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

Founded in 1969, the Zamir Chorale of Boston, a choir of over 45 singers that has performed internationally, supports a website containing a history, concert schedule, tour information, and excerpts from recordings. This site also contains links to Jewish music resources and a newsletter. Joshua Jacobson is the founder and has served as the Director of the Boston Zamir Chorale for over 20 years. Zamir is the choir-in-residence at Hebrew College located in Newton, MA.
http://www.zamir.org

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