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by the great works of Lewandowski, Sulzer and the music of the 19th Century, he developed a late-romantic style, with more chromaticism, surprising modulations and complex harmonical structures. This setting of Psalm 92 is one of the main works. It was often sung in Leipzig, particularly in concerts that were presented not only to the Synagogue congregation, but to everyone in Leipzig. SYNAGOGAL ENSEMBLE BERLIN Louis Lewandowski (1821 - 1894) Louis Lewandowski Meir Finkelstein W'hagen baadenu Keduscha Avinu Shebashamayim EVERYONE Abraham Saqui (1824 - 1893) arr.Wolf Yigdal A familiär setting of the hymn that concludes evening Services. Saqui was a nineteenth-century composer based in Liverpool. This arrangement for cantor and choir was made by Benjamin Wolf for tonight's concert. Meyer Machtenberg (1884-1979) Sh'hecheyonu The blessing that is said on festive occasions, this is a perennial Zemel favourite. Machtenberg was born in Vilna and came to America in his late teens. He achieved fame as a conductor/composer in the Jewish world, as well as enjoying a period in collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein Senior in the operatic world. Sh'hecheyonu has a publication date of 1951. Although Jewish in conception and Inspiration, there is more than a touch of Italian operetta about this music. THE PERFORMERS BENJAMIN WOLF - MUSICAL DIRECTOR Benjamin Wolf works as a conductor, pianist, composer, singer and academic. He is Musical Director of the Zemel Choir, the Wallace Ensemble and the Royal Free Music Society, Choirmaster of Beisize Square Synagogue and a regulär conductor of the Quorum Chamber Choir. Performances with the Zemel Choir have included Holocaust memorial Services for the Mayor of London, concerts at the South Bank and St John's Smith Square, a broadcast for the BBC's Songs of Praise and tours to Europe, Israel and the USA, the most recent of which com- prised four concerts at the Sacrees Journees de Strasbourg (November 2014). Activities with the Wallace Ensemble have included performances at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, while the Professional choir of Beisize Square Synagogue has been featured on BBC radio and television (most recently in February 2015). Recent performances with the Beisize choir have included Westminster Abbey's 'Service of Solemn Remembrance and Hope on the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht' and performances for the International Louis Lewandowski Festival in Berlin. In February 2015 he conducted both the Zemel and Beisize choirs at a Service at Westminster Abbey commemorating the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. As composer, he has written music for the concert hall and the stage, including works using the texts and modes of Ancient Greek, a piano concerto and a cello concerto commissioned for the 70th anniversary of Beisize Square synagogue. He has written a number of pieces for the Zemel Choir and wrote new instrumental works for the Chichester Festival in 2013 and 2014. As pianist, he works as both accompanist and solo recitalist, while his singing is primarily focussed on performances with his own Jewish barbershop quartet, bOYbershop, for which he has written a number of arrangements and original compositions, including comic songs The Only Jewish Cowgirl and Fifty Shades of Hay. In summer 2015 this quartet is performing for the Montefiore Heritage Concert in Ramsgate and for the Chichester Festival, while its new CD, Bendigamos, is being released this week. Following the award of a PhD in 2010, he worked as a visiting lecturer at Royal Holloway and Senior Associate Teacher at Bristol University. In 2011 he was appointed as Lecturer in Music at Regent's University, London, where he teaches both academic courses and runs the choirs of the Regent's School of Drama, Film and Media. He has given Conference papers in the UK and America, and was on the organising team for a Conference at the IMR in January 2013 (focussing on music in twentieth-century Britain). He has also worked as a researcher on a Royal Holloway project investigating the use of music to accompany silent films.
