Obermayer German Jewish History Award, Distinguished Service

Leipziger Synagogalchor

Ludwig Böhme & Reinhard Riedel

Leipzig, Saxony

Since 1962, the Leipziger Synagogalchor (Leipzig Syna-gogue Choir) founded by Chief Cantor Werner Sander has been bringing Germany’s Jewish musical tradition back to life, introducing new generations of Germans to a rich heritage that all but vanished with the Holocaust. The tenor Helmut Klotz assumed the role of cantor and artistic director after Sander’s death in 1972 and, in the decades since, the choir has participated in historic events—from the memorial concert for Yitzhak Rabin in 1996 in Berlin, to becoming the ?rst German choir to sing at the synagogue of Yad Vashem in Israel.

Part of what makes the Leipziger Synagogalchor so special is that it features voluntary singers of all ages—the youngest is 22, the oldest is 81—and from all occupations: students and teachers, physicians and scientists, engineers and media professionals. It performs about 15 concerts a year, mostly in Germany but also abroad. In 2015, the group sang in England, last year in Poland, and in 2017 it will sing in Israel. According to nominator Daniela Kolbe, Leipzig, who is a member of the Federal Parliament, since 2000 the choir has reached some 70,000 listeners across Europe, the U.S., Brazil and elsewhere.

Two people in particular, straddling two generations, have been instrumental in the choir’s efforts: 37-year-old conductor Ludwig Böhme and 66-year-old tenor Reinhard Riedel, the lon-gest serving person in the choir. “Forty years ago, almost nobody in Germany made Jewish music,” recalls Riedel. “Now we have universities and colleges that study the subject, editors who publish the scores of those who survived [the Holocaust], choirs and musicians who perform, and many folk groups and Klezmer groups. I think the time for Jewish music has improved a lot.”

Born in Leipzig, Riedel began singing in the choir in 1969 when its conductor, Sander, who had been friends with his par-ents, told them he was looking for a good tenor. Riedel went on to study violin and play for Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Central German Broadcasting), or MDR, one of the leading orchestras in Saxony. Until today he remains an ardent voice in the Syna-gogalchor, which has touched many Holocaust survivors while helping Germans to rediscover a Jewish musical culture ranging from the sacred to secular, Yiddish songs.

“I was musically fascinated by the passion of the choir mas-ter Werner Sander, the way he felt the music and brought it out of his own personality,” says Riedel. While the choir’s repertoire hasn’t changed much in his 47 years there, the audience has changed a lot. In the 1970s and 80s, he says, “many survivors of the Holocaust came to the concerts because it was their only chance to hear the music of their youth, and they recognized the songs. They were overwhelming moments.”

His most memorable moment happened when the choir got permission to perform at Yad Vashem in Israel. A German choir had never been able to sing at the memorial site, and the topic became a discussion in Israel’s Knesset. Finally, the Leipziger Synagogalchor sang there, marking a unique point in relations between the countries. “It was a very moving moment,” says Riedel.

His colleague, conductor Ludwig Böhme, brings a different generation’s perspective to the choir. Born in 1979 in the East German Vogtland region, Böhme grew up in Leipzig where he began to sing when he was nine, performing Bach, Men-delssohn and a range of Protestant music in the Thomanerchor (St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig). He later studied and worked as a choir conductor and singer, and until 2012, he never expected to ?nd himself leading a choir dedicated to Jewish music.

“When I was asked if I could imagine conducting the Syna-gogalchor, my ?rst thought was, ‘Why do they want me? I have nothing to do with Jewish music.’ But when I thought about it, and informed myself more with Jewish music, it became overwhelming and something I started to love, so I said, ‘I can do this,’” says Böhme. Now, he works passionately with the vol-untary choir of 34 German, non-Jewish singers to “try to bring to life the music that our ancestors had almost destroyed.”

Böhme is drawn to Jewish religious music sung in He-brew because it “creates a very special sound.” Written for the synagogue, it includes the unique mix of organ, cantor and choir. Böhme explains: “Sacred music has a solo part for the cantor, and the cantor was a virtuoso singer, so those solo parts are very dramatic and emotional. The choir accompanies the solo part and sometimes has the role of the angel choir, which comments or answers to the soloist, while the organ has the role of an orchestra and colors the music.”

For Böhme, reconnecting Germans with their Jewish musical past—including the tragic music that emerged after the Holocaust—is a way to help them rediscover their own iden-tity. “Jews in 19th century Germany were successful, they were accepted, they made connections with a non-Jewish world, and this cultural exchange between Jews and non-Jews happened within the music, too,” he says. “On memorial days, when we remember the terrible things our ancestors have done, there’s a lot of music with this theme, and it’s an important task for us to be a musical reminder. On the other hand, it’s important to look forward, to look into the future, to practice a way of coming together in the new generations.”

Riedel, who once sang in a concert the choir gave at Auschwitz, recalls the emotions and tears that ?lled the audience. But today, that generation of survivors has almost van-ished, and a new audience has taken its place. He agrees with Böhme that looking ahead is crucial. “For me, it’s very important to ?nd the traditional Jewish music, the treasures and pearls, and bring the past to life,” says Riedel, “but also to get new ideas for the 21st century: new programs, new concepts, and to be en-tertaining with interesting arrangements. This mixture between future and tradition is very important for the choir.”