Artistic directors

Philipp Goldmann was a member of the Thomanerchor and studied singing and choral conducting with Roland Schubert, Berthold Schmid, Roland Börger and Vivianne Sydnes in Leipzig and Oslo. He was a recipient of the Deutschlandstipendium and received a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. As a baritone, Philipp Goldmann is primarily in demand for oratorios. Master classes with Kammersänger Peter Schreier and Gerd Türk gave him important impulses. From 2002 to 2018 he worked as bass in the male voice quartet ensemble Thios Omilos. He is currently a member of the Gaechinger Cantorey and in the Ensemble 1684. As a freelancer, he regularly sings with renowned ensembles such as the MDR Rundfunkchor, the Amsterdam Baroque Choir, the Lautten Compagney, the Bachconsort Leipzig and arsys bourgogne. In addition, Goldmann acts as an initiator and organizer of choir and ensemble projects. Goldmann gives lectures in singing and choral conducting at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and at the Evangelic University for Church Music in Halle. Goldmann has been the musical director of the Denkmalchor Leipzig since 2015. The performances of vocal music in the Monument to the Battle of the Nations are unique in the German choral landscape due to the special acoustic conditions and an extraordinary spatial sound. In September 2022, Goldmann took over the artistic direction of the Leipziger Synagogalchor.

Ludwig Böhme was a member of the Thomanerchor and studied choral conducting in Leipzig. In 1999 he founded the Calmus Ensemble. For 23 years he was baritone and the creative head of this internationally recognized quintet. From 2002 to 2022 he conducted the Kammerchor Josquin des Préz, with which he won first prize at the German Choir Competition in 2018. For ten years, from 2012 to 2022, Ludwig Böhme shaped the Leipziger Synagogalchor as artistic director. Many projects ‒ from the rediscovery of choral symphonic works to tolerance concepts ‒ have contributed to making Jewish music more visible in the choral scene during his tenure. Ludwig Böhme taught conducting at the music academies in Leipzig and Halle, gives master classes and workshops and is active as a composer and arranger. Over 1800 concerts in more than 25 countries, more than 30 CD productions, awards including with OPUS and ECHO Klassik as well as several CARA and Supersonic Awards, document his extensive work. He has been the artistic director of the Windsbacher Knabenchor since September 2022.

Helmut Klotz was born in Oederan in 1935. He studied cello, piano and singing at the Dresden Music Academy and at the Dresden University of Music. In 1958/59 he was a cellist in the Dresden Staatskapelle. From 1961 to 2000 Klotz was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Leipzig Opera and, as a lyric and character tenor, performed over 110 roles in more than 2750 performances. As a concert singer, he appeared primarily as an evangelist in the Bach oratorios in numerous performances with the Thomanerchor Leipzig and the Dresdner Kreuzchor. In 1985 Helmut Klotz received the title of Kammersänger. From 1972 to 2012, Helmut Klotz was the artistic director and tenor soloist of the Leipziger Synagogalchor. Under his direction, the choir distinguished itself as an ensemble of international standing. For his artistic and cultural-political work with the Leipziger Synagogalchor, Helmut Klotz was honored a. o. with the Art Prize of the GDR (1981), the Medal of Honor of the City of Leipzig (1998), the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony (1998) and the Great Cross of the Order of Merit of the FRG (2005). In 2007 he was inducted into the Golden Book of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, the Jewish National Fund. As part of the 16th concert tour of the Leipziger Synagogalchor to Poland in 2011, Helmut Klotz was awarded the Order of Honoris Gratia by the city of Kraków.
 

Literature:

Tina Frühauf: Transcending Dystopia. Music, Mobility, and the Jewish Community in Germany 1945‒1989. Oxford 2021, S. 233–306.

Werner Sander was born in Breslau on August 5, 1902; he comes from a Jewish family. He received his first musical training in the synagogue choir, later he studied at the conservatory. His work as a private music teacher and conductor of several choirs ended in 1933 when the National Socialists banned him from working. He was able to continue his musical work as leader of the choir of the Breslau Jewish Cultural Association (Jüdischer Kulturbund) and teacher at Jewish schools. After the ban on Jewish schools, Sander had to do forced labor in 1943 in Kurzbach and Grünthal, satellite camps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. His parents were murdered in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz.

In November 1945, like many other Jews from Breslau, Sander emigrated to Thuringia. In Meiningen he worked as a music teacher in schools and as choirmaster. In 1950 he was appointed cantor at the Jewish religious community in Leipzig, where he conducted the synagogue choir and contributed to the transmission of religious traditions. more