Zemel Choir’s Repertoire
The Zemel Choir has a wide repertoire compiled over the fifty years of the choir’s existence. It includes works by both Jewish and non-Jewish composers – both sacred and secular, light and serious. We have performed works 
spanning ten centuries of Jewish music, from the plainchant of Ovadiah the monk to new works commissioned by the choir. We are also proud to perform in a mixture of languages, particularly Hebrew, Ladino and Yiddish, as well as English. In recent years we have performed works by well known European composers of Jewish music such as Lewandowski and Sulzer, British composers such as Mombach and Alman, Israeli composers such as Ben Haim, Gil Aldema and Yehezkel Braun, and American composers including Copland, Bernstein, Gershwin and Weill.
Adon Olam – Anonymous 18th-century Italian, arranged by Joshua Jacobson
A beautiful melody from 18th-century Italy (Casale Monferrato), arranged by one of America’s best-known composers of Jewish music
Adon Olam – Benjamin Wolf
A light-hearted composition by the choir’s Musical Director
Atah Zocher – Chonon Lewis
A setting of a passage from High Holiday liturgy by a contemporary composer whose music has often been performed by the choir
Avinu Malkeynu – Janowski
This was made famous by Barbara Streisand, but sounds lovely for choir too
Baruch Hagever
A plainchant by Ovadiah the (converted) Monk
Chanukah in Santa Monica –Tom Lehrer, arranged Joshua Jacobson
Tom Lehrer’s humorous song arranged for choir
Chant des Oiseaux - Janequin
A Renaissance tongue-twister in old French. Social satire mixed with bird noises.
Chichester Psalms – Bernstein
One of the few pieces in Hebrew to have reached outside the Jewish community: a famous piece written by Leonard Bernstein for the music festival of Chichester Cathedral
Dayenu – Traditional, arranged Dudley Cohen
A spiced up version of the Ashkenazi Pesach tune, arranged by the choir’s founder.
Deep River – arranged H.T.Burleigh
A short but effective arrangement of the old American spiritual
Eli Eli – arranged Antony Saunders
Hannah Senesh’s famous poem, arranged for choir by one of our former conductors
Ken Bakodesh – Gil Aldema
A Chassidic melody arranged by an Israeli composer whose arrangements have been performed all over the world.
Havdoloh – Zavel Zilberts
A tour de force for cantor and choir – the text from the end of Shabbat, as imagined in twentieth-century America.
Hine Ma Tov – Salomon Sulzer
Salomon SulzerA lyrical setting of the well-known psalm by the best-known Jewish composer of early nineteenth-century Vienna.
Kos Nisa Re’im Kos Yayin – Mozart, arranged Alexander Knapp
A Mozart canon re-arranged with a Hebrew text
Lebn Zol Columbus
Another Yiddish song – this tells of a girl’s impressions of living in America
L’Keil Boruch – Hailman
A longer setting of a liturgical text for cantor and choir
La Cantiga de la Ley – Traditional, arranged Daniel Tunkel
An old ladino tune arranged by one of our members
Moshe WilenskyNa’ari Bayam Beito – Moshe Wilenski
A mournful song of lost love, by one of Israel’s most famous twentieth-century songwriters.
Ocho Kandelikas – Arranged Joshua Jacobson
A fun arrangement of a Sephardi tune (in Ladino) for Chanukah
Penny Lane
Just to show that we don’t only sing Jewish music: a favourite by Lennon and McCartney
Psalm 121 (Esa Einai) – Steve Cohen
A contemporary and slightly jazzy setting of the well-known psalm
Raindrops keep falling on my head – Bacharach arranged Warnick
From ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ – a non-Jewish song by a Jewish composer
Samuel AlmanRibbono Shel Olam – Samuel Alman
Samuel Alman came to the UK from Russia in the early twentieth century, and left a large body of compositions, including many choral compositions for use in worship. This is one of his most impressive, for cantor and choir.
Sh’hecheyonu – Meyer Machtenberg
A popular piece with Jewish choirs in Europe and America: the festival blessing arranged in light-hearted style
Sheyn Vi di Levoneh – Joseph Rumshinsky arranged Joshua Jacobson
A popular Yiddish favourite arranged for choir
Shibolet Basade – Yehezkel Braun
A lively harvest song arranged by one of Israel’s best-known modern composers.
Shir Tsiltsulim
Another song by Moshe Wilenski arranged for choir. This tells of shepherds on the hills around Jerusalem
Shuvi Nafshi – Louis Lewandowski
Louis LewandowskiPerhaps the finest small-scale composition by the nineteenth-century’s best-known (and perhaps most loved) composer of Jewish liturgical music.
West Side Story medley
A choral arrangement of some of the best-known songs from Leonard Bernstein’s American opera
When I’m Sixty-Four
Another Lennon and McCartney favourite
Yiboneh Hamikdosh
A choral arrangement of an old folk-song
Yigdal – Sholom Secunda
Sholom SecundaSholom Secunda was a well-known American conductor and composer of Jewish music, and this is just one of his liturgical settings.
Yom Zeh L’Yisrael – Traditional, arranged Dudley Cohen
An old Zemel favourite – the Shabbat song arranged by the choir’s founder.
Yom Zeh L’Yisrael/Yismach Moshe – Traditional, arranged Joshua Jacobson
A compilation of two sephardi melodies, for cantor and choir
Zion’s Walls – Aaron Copland
A motet written by a young Aaron Copland