Letter to Kamilla – Music in Jewish Memory Mosaic Voices

• Max Janowski (1912 - 1991): Avinu Malkeinu:
• 1 Janowski: Avinu Malkeinu 03:27
• Nissan Blumenthal: Tree of Life (Eitz Chayim):
• 2 Blumenthal: Tree of Life (Eitz Chayim) 03:17
• Benjamin Till (b. 1974): Psalm 23:
• 3 Till: Psalm 23 05:12
• Sholom Secunda (1894 - 1974): Dona Dona:
• 4 Secunda: Dona Dona 03:50
• Benjamin Till: Generation To Generation (Leh'Dor Va'Dor):
• 5 Till: Generation To Generation (Leh'Dor Va'Dor) 03:27
• Traditional: Shomer Yisrael:
• 6 Traditional: Shomer Yisrael 03:27
• Benjamin Till: Yis'mechu:
• 7 Till: Yis'mechu 02:29
• Meta Cohen: Sim Shalom:
• 8 Cohen: Sim Shalom 04:11
• Traditional: Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen:
• 9 Traditional: Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen 03:00
• Robert Bernard Sherman (1925 - 2012), Richard Morton Sherman (b. 1928):
• 10 Sherman, Sherman: Adon Olam (Feed The Birds) 03:11
• Traditional: Adio Querida:
• 11 Traditional: Adio Querida 03:40
• Benjamin Till: Uv'nucho Yomar:
• 12 Till: Uv'nucho Yomar 04:05
• El Melech Yoshev:
• 13 Till: El Melech Yoshev 03:06
• Veh'al Kulam:
• 14 Till: Veh'al Kulam 01:34
• Traditional: Ochila la 'El:
• 15 Traditional: Ochila la 'El 03:20
• Benjamin Till: Ein Keloheinu:
• 16 Till: Ein Keloheinu 02:50
• Letter From Kamilla:
• 17 Till: Letter From Kamilla 05:15
• Traditional: Im Nin' alu:
• 18 Traditional: Im Nin' alu 03:37
• Total Runtime 01:02:58

Info for Letter to Kamilla – Music in Jewish Memory

"Exactly eighty years ago, my great grandmother Kamilla wrote a letter to her children. It was July 1942. Fortunately, her children had escaped Nazi-occupied Austria, but Kamilla had not been so lucky. She endured four terrifying years of brutality and unimaginable suffering. The letter to her children was the last thing she wrote before being sent to Theresienstadt then Auschwitz, where she was murdered. She did not know if her letter would ever reach her children.

Eighty years later, my vocal ensemble, Mosaic Voices, is writing back to her in the form of an album of Jewish songs. We want Kamilla to know that, although she, her husband, and her sister, Minka, lost their lives in the Holocaust, all her children survived, and lived their lives successfully and happily in Britain, as proud Jewish people. Hitler’s mission had failed.

Her touching letter, which Kamilla wrote in German, has been set to music as one of the songs on this album (Letter from Kamilla). The other tracks that we have chosen to record celebrate the diversity, mysticism, and beauty of the music that Jewish people have brought to the world over time." ​

Mosaic Voices
​Michael Etherton, musical director ​

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Mosaic Voices
founded by its Musical Director, Michael Etherton, is an a cappella vocal ensemble dedicated to performing, preserving and commissioning music from the Jewish tradition. It is the resident choir of one of Europe's most beautiful synagogues, the New West End Synagogue in London. In 2020, Mosaic Voices launched The Blue Book, a major new volume of choral works, arrangements and transcriptions of music from the British-Jewish tradition. Mosaic Voices' first album, The Blue Book, was released in 2018. The group's latest album, Letter to Kamilla, will be released by Chandos Records on January 21st 2022. Mosaic Voices regularly commissions new music, including from its Composer in Residence, Benjamin Till, and has been broadcast several times on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Recent live performances include at the Almeida Theatre, London. ​

Booklet for Letter to Kamilla – Music in Jewish Memory