The Mekor Haim Choir will celebrate five years of musical activity with a special concert at the Holocaust Museum of Porto on Friday, 31 October 2025 at 3 p.m. The Choir, under the musical direction of maestro Leonardo Mendonça, has been part of the Jewish cultural scene of Porto since its inception.
The Choir was formed in 2020 “to teach, learn, and perform Jewish liturgical, Sephardi, and Hebrew music for the education and enjoyment of its members and of the community at large”. It is composed of members of the Jewish community of Porto and others from the larger community with an interest in learning and performing Jewish music.
It holds rehearsals in the Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue on Friday afternoons and online on Monday evenings. This culminates with regular concerts at the Holocaust Museum on the last day of each month. The Choir has also performed in the Synagogue on the European Days of Jewish Culture and in other venues around the city of Porto.
The birthday concert will feature songs from each of the five years of the Choir’s existence. The performance will open with Shalom Aleichem, a song that welcomes the Sabbath on Friday evening. This was the first piece learned by the Choir at its founding rehearsal on October 27, 2020.
The Choir will then continue with Ani Ma’amin, set to music by Azriel David Fastag. This piece was first performed by the Choir in April 2021 for the opening of the Holocaust Museum. Next on the program is Tzur Mishelo Achalnu, a hymn sung at the dinner table on Friday night. The verse in Hebrew is followed by three verses of a love song in Ladino. Shir Hama’alot is a setting of Psalm 128 composed by Salomone Rossi in Italy in the 17th century.
The Choir will then perform Yhiyu Leratzon, set to music in the 20th century by Ernest Bloch. Hishki Hizki, written in the Baroque style, is a setting of a poem composed for the opening of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam in the 17th century.
The Choir’s Yiddish repertoire is represented by Rozhinkes mit Mandlen (“Raisins and Almonds”) from the 19th-century opera Shulamis by Avraham Goldfadden. The Hallel is a setting of Psalm 117 by Emmanuel Aguilar, from the Spanish and Portuguese community in London.
The Choir will then continue with Ma Tovu by Luis Lewandowski. This hymn, added to the Choir’s repertoire in 2025, is recited upon first entering the synagogue. The concert will conclude with Hatikvah, sung to a melody originating in Italy in the 17th century.
All are welcome to attend this free concert. Please contact yonahyaphe@hotmail.com for more information on the concert or if you are interested in joining the Choir.
