Temple Emanu-El
For more than 180 years, music has shaped the religious life of Temple Emanu-El in New York. The history of the choir also tells the story of how a small Jewish immigrant community evolved into one of the most significant Reform Jewish congregations in the United States.
Zamir Choir, Jerusalem
Founded in Jerusalem in 2024, the Zamir Choir combines Jewish liturgical music, classical works, and Israeli folk songs. About 45 singers of different generations and musical backgrounds form an ensemble that blends musical excellence with a sense of community. At the Louis Lewandowski Festival, Zamir brings the voice of Jerusalem to Berlin.
Cecilia Ensemble
Eight outstanding soloists make up the Cecilia Ensemble, the professional vocal ensemble of the Moran Choirs. The singers combine solo experience with the highest standards of ensemble artistry. Their repertoire ranges from the Renaissance to the present day and places a special emphasis on new Israeli music, world premieres, and collaborations with prominent composers and instrumental ensembles.
Synagogal Ensemble Berlin
The Synagogal Ensemble Berlin (SEB) combines the precision of classical concert singing with the vibrant tradition and deep spirituality of Jewish liturgical music. Founded in 2002 by conductor Regina Yantian, this professional vocal ensemble has become a fixture on the European cultural scene. It embodies a broad musical spectrum that makes Jewish sacred music accessible to a modern audience.
Regina Yantian | Artistic Director
Regina Yantian is one of the leading figures in Berlin’s Jewish musical life and has dedicated herself to preserving and advancing European synagogue music. As a conductor, organist, and artistic director, she combines profound scholarly expertise with decades of international concert experience. For over a quarter-century, she has shaped the musical identity of the Jewish Community of Berlin and has consistently carried the great 19th-century liberal synagogue music tradition into the modern era.
Final concert 2025 on YouTube
Now on YouTube: The final concert of the Louis Lewandowski Festival in the Rykestraße Synagogue: international choirs and cantors unite for an impressive finale full of synagogal music tradition. A musical highlight and moving finale to the festival
A journey through the Jewish-religious music of all times
Regina Yantian, Artistic Director of the festival on the theme of the 15th festival in 2025:
Since its inception, we have welcomed more than 80 choirs and ensembles from 13 countries around the world to Berlin. In these 15 years we have performed Jewish religious music from the last five centuries, from 9 different countries.
Leipziger Synagogalchor
In recent years, this ensemble has devoted itself in particular to the Jewish music history of its home town with composers such as Samuel Lampel, Salomon Jadassohn and Herman Berlinski.
Hidden Voices | Philadelphia
Hidden Voices, led by Dr. Julia Zavadsky, brings together soloists from Philadelphia and New York. The ensemble performs Jewish choral music from the Renaissance to the modern era on international stages and promotes intercultural exchange.
Geffen Choir
The Geffen Choir is one of Israel’s finest vocal ensembles and prides itself on meeting the highest standards.
The choir’s main priority is performing acapella music and sharing the special joy and intimacy of choral singing with a diverse audience of different ages and backgrounds.
Yamma Teiman Ensemble
Women’s songs in the Yemeni tradition. “Teiman” is the Hebrew word for Yemen. This newly founded women’s ensemble brings an ancient tradition of the Jewish community, which has lived in Yemen for two millennia, back into the limelight.
Jeanette Rotstein Yehudaiyan
Jeanette Rotstein Yehudayan was born in Tehran as the daughter of the well-known cantor Geula Aziz Mola Yehudayan, who was the son of the rabbi (Mola) from the city of Esphahan.
Atanu Ensemble
The Atanu Ensemble is a unique collective of musicians known for knowing and performing the musical styles of almost every Jewish community in the Middle East and North Africa.
The ensemble consists of seven musicians – playing both modern and ancient instruments – and four singers of religious poetry, known as paitanim.
Yair Tzabari
The musician, singer, drummer and percussionist Yair Tzabari (47 years old) is a multi-talented musician and one of the most respected and fascinating musicians of the Yemenite community in Israel.
Shir-Ran Yinon
From classical to pop and rock to folk and metal. Shir-Ran Yinon is a versatile and multi-faceted musician. As a performer on violin, electric violin and viola, singer, as well as composer and arranger, she sets herself no musical boundaries.
Dirk Zöllner & Band
Die Zöllner were founded as a duo by Dirk Zöllner and André Gensicke in November 1987 and quickly made their first major appearance at the legendary “Rocksommer 88”. There they played at the “Beat Apartheid” festival as the support act for James Brown.
Tehila & Band
Direct and immediate, expressive and with a warm timbre, Tehila is a versatile and soulful musician with a large repertoire for both soprano and mezzo-soprano.
She enjoys switching back and forth between opera, chamber music and song repertoire.
Nashirah Chorale
Nashirah was founded in 2002 when a group of singers wondered if we could start a choir with auditions and a focus on Jewish music.
There was no such choir in the Philadelphia area at the time.
We decided that we would have a professional artistic director and a professional accompanist.
We decided how we wanted to define Jewish music.
Maureen Nehedar
Maureen Nehedar is a vocal artist, composer and paytanit – a singer of Jewish liturgical poetry – as well as a poet and researcher of Jewish musical traditions in general and the Jewish Persian tradition in particular.
Yamma Ensemble
The Yamma Ensemble is one of the projects of Israeli singer Talya G. A Solan.
With the Yamma Ensemble, she is searching for the roots of traditional Israeli music.
Profeti della quinta
The repertoire of the
16th and early
17th century repertoire, the Profeti della Quinta ensemble has set itself the goal of creating lively and expressive performances for today’s audiences.
This is achieved in particular by incorporating the performance practice of the respective period.
