European Jewish Choirs on song in Italy

The Zemel Choir from London competes alongside entries from across the continent at the European Jewish Choir Festival.

By Jenni Frazer
  • Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
12 July 2019, 9:53 am
Massed Choir singing Hevenu Shalom Aleichem at the Gala Concert of the European Association of Jewish Choirs Festival in Ferrara (Source: European Association of Jewish Choirs Facebook page)

More than 230 choir members and musicians gathered in Ferrara, northern Italy, for the seventh European Jewish Choir Festival.

The four-day-long festival featured several entries by ensembles from five different countries: Ha-Kol (Rome, Italy), Wiener Judischer Chor (Vienna, Austria), Les Polyphonies Hebraiques (Strasbourg, France), Ensemble Choral Copernic (Paris, France), The Zemel Choir (London, UK) and Shtrudl – Band (Lviv, Ukraine).

The events took place at Ferrara’s new Museum of Italian Judaism and the Holocaust, and the city’s municipal theatre, with a repertoire ranging from klezmer to Italian opera.

Riccardo di Castro, president of Rome’s Ha-Kol Choir, said: “The festival was born, a bit fortuitously, in London in 2012, and has since been held in Vienna, Rome, St Petersburg, Lviv, and now Ferrara. Jews have always sung, played and composed music, even in the most tragic moments of their history. This event offers an opportunity for cultural exchange between different musical traditions, for the groups to get to know each other, and to understand and interact with the city which welcomes them”.


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