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Center, the sixtieth anniversary of the deporation of the Jews from the Ghetto of Rome, the Jewish Passover, the celebrations of the centenary of the construction of the Synagogue of Rome and the European Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust. In the course of its existence, the Associazione Coro Ha-Kol has released three CDs, respectively 'Canti Liturgici Ebraici' [Jewish Liturgy] (2001), 'Canti di Scola Tempio' (2006) and 'Chatan ve Kallah - il matrimonio ebraico a Roma [The Jewish Wedding in Rome] in February 2010. Coro da Camera Ha-Kol (The Ha-Kol Chamber Choir) was created in 2010 explicitly for the performance of music by Salamone Rossi, a sev- enteenth-century Jewish composer who wrote in the characteristic style of the Italian Renaissance. Salamone Rossi is important because he composed Jewish liturgical music in contrapuntal style which can sit side by side with the works of famous Church composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, Andrea Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi. The Ha-Kol Chamber Choir wishes to preserve and disseminate the music of this great compos er of Renaissance Jewish music. The group is formed of ten Singers, all amateurs, who sing in four-part harmony. Leipziger SYNAGOGALCHOR Musical Director Ludwig Böhme; Piano Clemens Posselt; Soprano Anja Pöche The Leipziger Synagogalchor was founded in 1962 by cantor Werner Sander, whose aim was to preserve the Jewish sacred music tradition and to attract a larger audience for it. In May 1963 the first concert took place in Dresden. Assisted by the Directorate for Concert and Guest Performances Leipzig, the choir sang in Halle, Erfurt, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Dresden, Berlin, and Leipzig. The choir was also a guest in Jewish communities. After the expan- sion of the choral repertoire to Jewish folklore the first LP 'Meisterwerke der Synagoge und das Jüdische Volkslied' was released in 1965, which was later published in the Federal Republic of Germany and the USA. The choir also arranged a series of Sabbath celebrations for Berliner Rundfunk. Following the death of Sander in July 1972, the tenor Helmut Klotz, who had already appeared as soloist with the choir, was appointed artistic director. He then took over the role of the cantor and sang the tenor solos while conducting. Under his leadership, the ensemble developed into a semi-professional concert choir with high artis tic Standards, working closely with renowned soloists and orchestras. Increased concert activity at home and abroad was an expression of a growing appreciation for the artistic work of the ensemble, which participated in many official events such as the memorial concert for Yitzhak Rabin in 1996 in Berlin and the concert in the Frauenkirche in Dresden during the opening celebrations in 2006. Since 1980 the choir has been taking part in the ecumenical Service at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig to commemorate the vic- tims of the "Kristallnacht" pogrom of 9 November 1938. Until the German reunification the Federation of Jewish Communities in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was the body responsible for the choir. It received funding from the Cultural Fund of the GDR to Support the ensemble. Since 1991, the Leipziger Synagogalchor is a registered non-profit Organization and is subsidized by the city of Leipzig and the Free State of Saxony. The engagement and idealism of approximately 30 singers from different Professional groups contributes in large measure to the choir's success. The choir has been honoured with numerous awards, including in 1981 the Art Prize of the City of Leipzig and in 1988 the Gold Star of International Friendship, one of the highest national awards in the GDR. Since April 2012, the artistic direction is continued by Ludwig Böhme. The Leipziger Synagogalchor performs repertoire including the music of the nineteenth-century Reformers Salamon Sulzer and Louis Lewandowski. Besides these they also perform music by Samuel Aiman, Samuel Lampel, Abraham Dunajewski, David Nowakowski and Samuel Naumbourg. The secular repertoire of the choir includes Yiddish folklore, which mainly comes from the ancient Jewish communities of Lithuania, the Ukraine, Poland and Romania, as well as Hebrew folklore and Israeli choir music. Most of the traditional melodies are per- formed in arrangements by Werner Sander and Friedbert Groß. They have enriched the songs with virtuoso piano parts or instrumental accompaniments for concert purposes. This music is supplemented by Contemporary com-
