Places – Mekomot

There are many synagogues in Germany and Eastern Europe which survived the years of National Socialism but are now vacant or used for other purposes. A new concert tour aimed to revitalise these abandoned places, or “mekomot”, as they’re called in Hebrew. Five young Jewish composers, who live in Germany, have written new pieces for these places which have been performed by an ensemble of international musicians. The programme featured contemporary music interwoven with traditional Jewish chants, recited by the cantor Assaf Levitin.
More than 20 concerts have taken place in Erfurt, Dresden, Berlin, Essen and other locations in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine. Workshops have been offered at selected venues prior to the concerts so that audiences had the opportunity to become acquainted with New Music and related topics of history and religion. The New Music Forum at Deutschlandfunk in Cologne hosted one of the concerts, during which video and audio recordings were made for a planned CD release.

Concept/artistic director: Sarah Nemtsov
Dramaturge: Asmus Trautsch
Composers: Amit Gilutz (IL), Bnaya Halperin-Kaddari (IL), Eres Holz, Sarah Nemtsov, Amir Shpilman (IL)
Vocals: Assaf Levitin (IL)
Ensemble: Roy Amotz (IL), Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir (IS), Matthias Engler, Seth Josel (US), Antje Thierbach and others
Organiser: Bettina Lehmann

Concerts:

22 venues from Berkach to Zamosc, concerts in summer 2016 in Cologne, Essen, Worms, Ichenhausen, Kippenheim, Erfurt, Görlitz, Warschau, Lublin, Zamość and Wrocław.