Performance of Herman Berlinski’s Avodat Shabbat

The Leipziger Synagogalchor will present Herman Berlinski’s Avodat Shabbat in September 2026. The 25th anniversary of the death of composer Herman Berlinski—who was born in Leipzig and fled the city to escape the Nazis—provides the occasion for a long-overdue public tribute to him in his hometown. The German premiere of his choral-symphonic Friday evening service will take place at Leipzig Central Station, the construction of which Berlinski watched with interest as a boy.

The work Avodat Shabbat is a musical setting of a Reform Friday evening service, sung in the Ashkenazi pronunciation of Hebrew. The first version for soloist, choir, and organ was composed in 1958 as a commission for the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York. The cantor David Putterman encouraged the composer to experiment with traditional liturgical music for his annual services featuring new music and to reinterpret it using modern stylistic elements. Berlinski’s composition earned the admiration of Leonard Bernstein. His endorsement convinced the Union of American Hebrew Congregations to finance an orchestration and the premiere of the new version. This orchestral version for soloists, choir, narrator, woodwinds, brass, harps, strings, and elaborate percussion premiered in 1963 at Lincoln Center in New York. There are no records of further performances of the complete work in the United States.

In early 2000, Berlinski was invited to Berlin to conduct the first recording of Avodat Shabbat by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Ernst Senff Choir. This marked the first time the work was performed in Germany, though not in a public concert. As far as is known, the recording was not followed by any performances, apart from individual choral pieces. The Leipziger Synagogalchor will now perform the complete work in Germany as part of Saxony’s 2026 Festival Year of Jewish Culture Tacheles, made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
leipziger-synagogalchor.de

Date

September 27, 2026
Leipzig Central Station, East Hall