The Zemel Choir 
The Zemel Choir, established by Dudley Cohen in 1955, is proud of its international reputation as one of the world’s finest mixed-voice Jewish choirs. Our wide-ranging repertoire embraces all the traditional Jewish cultures, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Yiddish and Israeli. We regularly perform in major venues throughout the U.K. and overseas, and, besides singing well-known favourites, are particularly proud to present new music, often specially commissioned, from contemporary composers.
Recent highlights have included the Choir’s Golden Anniversary, celebrated in November 2005 with a concert at St John’s, Smith Square, and also our Celebrate with Song event, which aims to raise the profile of Jewish choral music through workshops and performances. This took place at St John’s between 2007 and 2009, and at JFS in 2010 and 2011.
In recent years we have also performed at London venues including the South Bank Centre and V&A museum. TV and Radio appearances have included the 1986 live television and radio broadcast of Kaddish for Terezin from Canterbury Cathedral, the Expressions of Reconciliation and Hope service in York Minster in 1990, a Holocaust Day commemoration edition of Radio 4’s Sunday Worship in January 2001, and most recently, in January 2005, an edition of BBC1’s Songs of Praise, The Holocaust Remembered.
We have travelled extensively to the U.S.A., Canada, Israel, and Eastern and Western Europe, and in 1993 participated in the Polish Holocaust Memorial ceremonies in Warsaw and Treblinka to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At the 1996 Zimriyah Choral Festival in Jerusalem we were invited to sing at the opening ceremony concert, which was broadcast live on Israel Radio, and In October 2001 we toured The Czech Republic and Hungary. In April 2007 we toured Belgium, France and Luxembourg, and in March 2009 we made another successful and enjoyable tour of Israel. In 2011 we were invited by the Mayor of London to take part in London’s Holocaust Memorial Ceremony, and shortly afterwards we gave concerts in Paris and Strasbourg. In December 2011 we attended the Lewandowski Festival in Berlin where we performed with seven other Jewish choirs in a Grand concert, and on our own in a Lutheran Church that was designed with extensive Nazi symbolism.
Over the years we have made many recordings, the most recent of which is our newly completed CD - Celebrate With Song - conducted by Benjamin Wolf.