Mekor Haim and HaMakom Choirs
Following the success of the first concert of the Synagogue music of the Italian Baroque composer Salomone Rossi, one month ago at the Holocaust Museum of Porto, the Mekor Haim and HaMakom choirs will repeat the program on July 17, 2026 at 3 p.m.
The program includes setting of the Psalms that were sung in the synagogue of Mantua, Italy in the 17th Century. The recently rediscovered manuscript of these songs has allowed modern choirs to learn and reinterpret this music.
Two of the songs, Psalm 146, Hallelujah Halleli Nafshi, and Psalm 128, Shi Hama’alot, are arranged for male voices, while Psalm 118 (Baruch Haba) is set for five mixed voices. The complex weaving of voices in Baroque polyphony is challenging and beautiful. Psalm 137, known as ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’, is appropriate for the Tisha B’Av memorial day, to be observed three days after the concert. The program closes with the Kaddish set in 3/4 time to an old Italian dance melody. It ends with an uplifting prayer for peace.
The Mekor Haim choir, under the direction of Leonardo Mendonça, was formed in October 2020 to learn and perform Jewish music in Hebrew, Ladino and Yiddish. The HaMakom choir, under the direction of David Kates, is a project of the Progressive Jewish Community of Porto.
Admission is free. Registration is required (info@comunidade-israelita-porto.org). The next concert of the Mekor Haim Choir is scheduled for 6 September 2026 at noon in the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue for the European Day of Jewish Culture.
