Jewish Musical Showcase: The Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus Sings Puccini's "Oy, Mayn Liber Tate" (O, Mia Babbino Caro)

The Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus began as a musical expression of the Jewish labor movement. It was founded in 1922 as the Freiheit Gezang Farein, an outgrowth of the leftist Morgen Freiheit Yiddish newspaper. 

In 1948, the Chorus changed its name to The Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus—likely to avoid scrutiny during the McCarthy era. Now that it's a century old, they changed the name again—to reflect the goals of learning, enjoying, and promoting the Yiddish language and Yiddish choral music.

The chorus is a multigenerational thirty-five-voice ensemble. They're students, professionals, and robust retirees, all in love with singing and committed to promoting Yiddish language and culture through beautiful four-part harmony.

Led by conductor Binyumen Schaechter, they perform each spring and fall at Merkin Concert Hall and most summers at the North American Jewish Choral Festival. They've also performed at Symphony Space, Carnegie Hall, Shea Stadium, West Point, Queens College, the World Trade Center site after 9/11, and places of worship throughout the New York metropolitan area.

Today we're sharing a video of the chorus singing a Yiddish version of Giacomo Puccini's O Mia Babbino Caro at the Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center in New York City. 

Binyumen Schaechter is the chorus conductor and Seth Weinstein is the pianist.

Enjoy!