Would you like to sing contemporary choral arrangements of songs in Yiddish?
We invite you to audition if you can:
– learn a vocal line by reading music or working with a recording
– sing in harmony with others
– attend Monday evening rehearsals
No Yiddish knowledge is required. With the help of recordings, translations, and lively rehearsals, we all sound like native speakers by concert time – at least while we’re singing!
The Chorus rehearses weekly on Mondays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Midtown Manhattan, a few blocks from Penn Station. This coming season’s rehearsals run from September 15, 2025 through June 15, 2026 – with days off on Jewish holidays and most national holidays.
All rehearsals are videorecorded. If you need to miss a rehearsal, we expect you to work with the recording before the following week’s rehearsal.
There are several additional non-Monday rehearsals for each voice section. Dates for these sectional rehearsals are determined by consensus and usually take place between January and March.
We give two full concerts a year and one or more additional shorter performances.
At your five-minute audition, we listen for musicianship, ability to learn pronunciation, and ability to convey the meaning of a text. We also determine your vocal part (soprano, alto, tenor, or bass) and range within that part.
You’ll be asked to sing a brief song or part of a song you choose (in any language), repeat pitches and rhythms, and repeat a sentence or two of Yiddish text.
We schedule appointments on two late-summer evenings. In 2025, they were:
– Tuesday, August 26, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
– Wednesday, September 3, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
To schedule an audition and for more information, write to us at [email protected].
When possible, please attend one of our concerts before you audition – visit our CONCERTS page. And watch some of our YouTube videos, like our jazzy Dayenu and our intense Partisans’ Hymn.