Yoed Sorek — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Yoéd Sorek was born in Jerusalem in 1980. From a young age he showed passion for music and singing, and through the loving eyes of his Grandmother, Sima, he began a musical path.

The path started in the Jerusalem “Ancor Children Choir”, where he experienced high-level performance and was taught by his first mentor Singing teacher - Cilla Großmeyer. In this Choir he performed in front of Israeli presidents and remarkably sang a Solo with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, in a Piece by Luciano Berio and in the presence of the composer.

After his voice changed, he continued his training at the Jerusalem Academy School and then, after his military service as paramedic, at the Jerusalem Academy majoring in Piano and Singing, At this time he started performing with Chazzanut choirs, influenced through the art of Orthodox tradition from E.Jaffe, N. Herstik, R. Goldstein, Y.Helfgot and others.

In 2005 he moved to Europe. First, he continued his studies in The Hague, Holland in the singing class of R. Dams and D. Forlano. After finishing this second B.A. he moved to Pavia, Italy, and studied Linguistics in Italian.

In 2011 he moved to Augsburg, Germany. He immediately started conducting the Choir “Shma Kolenu” in Munich's’ main Synagogue. In 2013 he started his Masters in early music ensemble singing and directing in Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland.

2014 was a special year. Conducting the Strasbourg Synagogue Choir “Chant Sacre”, producing his Debut Album “Sima’s songs”, winning the “Best Yiddish” Prize at the International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam and started performing with the Program Sima’s songs/Lieder in Israel, Holland, Switzerland, and Germany. The program was supported with the help of Zentralrat d.J. in Deutschland and KulturIsrael in Holland.
During the past few years, Yoed started to be an active cantor himself, Davening (Praying) among others in many German cities, but also in Vilna, Warsaw, and Amsterdam.

He performed and directed various concerts, at many important festivals and stages in Europe, Israel, and the USA. Amongst them is to perform twice as Conductor, Yiddish Singer, Arranger, Cantor and Pianist. at the Stuttgart Jewish Music Festival with his own musical ensemble Shir Chazzanut. A similar concert took place at the Munich Gasteig.

In 2017 he sang the main Role in Kurt Weill's Opera “Die Verheißung” with the MDR Orchestra at the Dessau Festival. Back at the IJMF in Amsterdam, he was a invited as a special guest artist, acting as Moderator, Pianist, Arranger and mainly Yiddish song specialist, but also performing from the Sima’s Songs program.

During the past years in Germany, Yoed performed at various concerts in a great musical variety. As a classically trained Tenor, Accompanist and Conductor, a growing public has been touched by this special performer and artist. He is an active Voice teacher and accompanying pianist.

In spite of all these achievements, in the beginning of 2016 Yoed felt "The world is getting more violent and hatred is growing. Something very negative is alive and growing. “So I realized that I should use my gift as an artist to promote something positive: Shalom."
And so he initiated his"Sima’s Yiddish Songs - Geschichte von Enkel gesungen" program. He created an educational project, bringing his story, the story of his grandmother, his dear Sima, the story of the 2WW, to public schools and the education system in Germany . The wish is to build bridges between people, to learn from the History. " 70 years later.
“I live openly and happily in Europe, in Germany. This means that through hard work, peace and positive change is possible. שלום"

Source: Yoedsorek web site