The Mekor Haim and HaMakom Choirs, conducted by Maestro Leonardo Mendonça, will perform a special concert of Jewish music in the Alfândega (the historical Porto customs house) on Friday, April 24 at 6 pm. The concert will mark the opening of an exhibit of Jewish ceremonial objects as part of an exhibit entitled ‘Fluxo: Objects, People, and Places’ organized by the Museu de Convergências of Porto.
The idea is to create a direct and evocative connection with the Jewish ritual objects on display in the exhibition, creating a sensitive dialogue between sound, object, and memory, where materiality and spirituality intertwine in a cultural experience.
The program will feature songs in Hebrew (Ma Tovu, Veshameru, and Tzadik K’Tamar Yfrach) that are sung during the Sabbath morning synagogue service. It will also include Barechu in the Italian Baroque style, Hallel from the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of London, and Hishki Hizki from the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of Amsterdam. There will also be two popular songs, La Rosa Enflorece and Avram Avinu, sung in Ladino, the common language of the Jews living in the Mediterranean region after the Expulsion from Iberia at the end of the fifteenth century.
The Mekor Haim Choir, under the direction of Leonardo Mendonça, was founded in October 2020 “to teach, learn, and perform Jewish, Sephardic, and Hebrew liturgical music for the education and enjoyment of its members and the community at large.” The HaMakom Choir is a project of the Progressive Jewish Synagogue of Porto under the direction of David Kates and coordination of Sharon Campbell.
The concert is free and is open to all. More information can be found on the Museum website.
