London shul to host 100 singers for World AIDS Day concert

Up to 100 singers from the renowned London Gay Men’s Chorus are due to grace the stage at West London Synagogue for a special event on Sunday 3 December to raise funds for World AIDS Day.

Proceeds from the annual show, called ‘Resistance,’ will go to Jewish AIDS Trust and – for the first time – partner organisation Israel AIDS Task Force.

A spokesman for West London Synagogue (WLS), a Reform shul near Marble Arch, said: “This concert will take us back in time to the music of resistance and hope that reminds us of the early days in the war against HIV and AIDS.”

Europe’s largest gay men’s choir are set to perform a selection of moving anthems such as Come What May, Bridge Over Troubled Water and What I Did For Love.

Dr Yuval Livnat, director of the Israel AIDS Task Force, is coming to London for the service and concert and WLS Rabbi David Mitchell said he was “immensely proud” that the shul was once again hosting the “exceptional” choir.

“For the last five years, each and every World AIDS Day, we mark the passing of those we have lost, celebrate the survival of those who live on with HIV and AIDS, and renew our resolve to keep fighting until we have beaten this disease,” he said.

Mitchell added that this year’s theme – resistance – was “an easy one to choose… resistance is what enabled the lucky ones to survive during the 80’s and early 90’s, it enabled the LGBTQ community to fight against the discrimination and stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, and it enabled the medical profession to continue researching and discovering drugs which can not only combat, but contain and almost cure HIV and AIDS”.