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.

Education and Academic Background

Regina Yantian began her musical training as an organist and choir director at the age of ten. She later expanded her knowledge in Berlin, Heidelberg, and Jerusalem by studying Jewish Studies and Comparative Musicology. She explored the diverse forms of Jewish musical traditions and completed her studies with a master’s thesis on Israeli popular music.

Serving in the Jewish Community of Berlin

Since 1998, Regina Yantian has served as music director at the Pestalozzistraße Synagogue. There, she carried on the tradition established by Louis Lewandowski for the cantor, choir, and organ, and led the professional synagogue choir at all Shabbat and holiday services. During her more than 25-year tenure, she has worked with influential cantors—from Estrongo Nachama to Laszlo Pasztor and Isaac Sheffer, and on to Simon Zkorenblut, Jochen Fahlenkamp, Gabriel Loewenheim, and Isidoro Abramowicz.

Since June 2023, Regina Yantian has been leading the musical program at the Sukkat Schalom Synagogue together with Cantor Esther Hirsch and Rabbi-Cantor Alexander Nachama.

Ensembles & Choral Conducting

In 2002, she founded the professional Synagogal Ensemble Berlin (SEB). Under her direction, the vocal ensemble regularly performs in Germany and abroad, including throughout Europe, Israel, and South Africa. In addition to her work with professional musicians, Regina Yantian has devoted herself extensively to amateur choral work: She conducted the Schalomchor Berlin (2003–2010), the Re’utchor Berlin (2010–2021), and the youth choir “Young SEB” (2013–2021). For her commitment to the Refugiochor Berlin, where people with and without refugee backgrounds sing together, she received an award from the Berlin Academy of Arts.

Conducting and Solo Performances

As a conductor and organist, Regina Yantian regularly collaborates with renowned ensembles and orchestras, including the Brandenburg State Orchestra (featuring, among other works, Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony at the Philharmonie Frankfurt/Oder), the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the New Rhenish Orchestra of Cologne, the Belgrade Jewish Orchestra, and the Lewandowski String Ensemble. She is also a sought-after collaborator for international cantors in their solo concerts.

Festival Management & International Collaborations

Regina Yantian has served as artistic director of the Louis Lewandowski Festival in Berlin since 2011. Under her leadership, the festival has evolved into an internationally renowned platform that brings together ensembles and choirs from around the world each year to showcase the diversity of Jewish liturgical and Israeli choral music.

As part of the festival and her concert activities, she regularly collaborates with renowned international guests. Her partners include distinguished cantors such as Joseph Malovany (New York), Nikola David s. A. (Munich), and Yoed Sorek (Berlin), as well as top choirs such as the Johannesburg Jewish Male Choir, the Zamir Chorale of Boston, Le Chant Sacré (Strasbourg), the Moscow Male Jewish Choir, and the Jerusalem Academy Chamber Choir.