Ensemble Cecilia – Hymn to Saint Cecilia
Friday, November 28, 2025, 9:00 PM, Bar Orian Hall
A program for an a cappella vocal octet exploring sacred liturgical music, folk music, and what lies between them. At the center of the concert is Benjamin Britten’s work, “Hymn to Saint Cecilia.”
Following the exciting first-place victory at the International Choir Competition in Hungary in April 2025, Ensemble Cecilia brings the winning program back to Israel. In this program, the ensemble embarks on a vocal journey between sacred and holy music and secular music – with all content performed a cappella, without instrumental accompaniment, in eight voices for eight singers. At the center of the program stands Benjamin Britten’s work, “Hymn to Saint Cecilia,” one of the central works for a cappella writing that presents special harmonic complexity and praises the patroness of music and the arts. Also in the program: works by Monteverdi, Byrd, Zvi Avni, Udi Perlman, György Orbán and others.
Ensemble Cecilia is a vocal octet specializing in performing a cappella works. Each of its singers is a soloist with classical training from Israel and around the world, and many of its singers perform in parallel to their appearances with Ensemble Cecilia on the biggest stages in the country with the finest orchestras active today.
Program: *The right to make changes is reserved; this is not the program order
Sacred Music from the World
- Byrd: Haec Dies
- György Orbán – Pange lingua
- Monteverdi: Cantate Domino
- Orbán – Daemon Irrepit
- Britten – Hymn to St Cecilia
Sacred Music from Judaism
- Avni – Mizmorei Tehilim (Zvi Avni – Psalms)
- Hannani – Kol Hanshama (Avner Hannani – All Souls)
- Ben Haim – Elohai Tsidki (Paul Ben Haim – My God of Righteousness)
- Braun – Dror Yikra (Yehezkel Braun – Freedom Shall Be Proclaimed)
- Perlman – Psalms (Udi Perlman – Psalms)
Sacred to Secular: What lies between sacred and folk music
- Marc Lavry – Hora
- Swingle – Danny Boy (Traditional)
- Peretz/Aharoni – Arrangement: Menachem Wiesenberg – Ein Gedi
- From the Sources/Zarai – Arrangement: Menachem Wiesenberg – And Uzziah Built
- Achinoam Nini and Gil Dor/Leah Goldberg – Arrangement: Gilad Cohen
The Musicians:
- Lotem Taub
- Tom Ben Yishai
- Maya Heller
- Noa Doron
- Tam Karni
- Yaakov Halperin
- Guy Peltz
- Yoav Ayalon
Musical Direction – Guy Peltz Artistic Direction – Naomi Faran