The Baruh Brothers Choir was founded in Beograd in 1879 as The Serbian-Jewish singing society. Its present name the Choir has taken after its renewal in 1952 after three brothers of the well known Baruh family in Beograd who were killed in their fight for freedom during the World War II. Some sources claim it to be the oldest still active Jewish singing company /prof. Joshua Jacobson, North - Eastern University, Boston, USA/.

 

During its longlasting history, the Choir visited all the most important music centers round Yugoslavia and neighbouring countries. The foreign tours and performances at some of the world most prestigeous music/choral festivals took the ensemble to Belgium, Netherland, Spain, Israel, Hungary, Austria, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Italy, France, Cyprus, Greece, Switzerland, Ireland and USA in 1978, where the Choir had a remarcable evening in Carnegy Hall, New York.

      The Baruh Brothers Choir appears regularly at all the main     music festivals in our country, such as Beograd Music Festival    (BEMUS), Beograd Summer Festival (BELEF), Mokranjac Days in Negotin, Yugoslav Choral Festival in Nis, The Marble and Sounds Festival in Arandjelovac, The Spiritual evenings in Sombor, where it receives a large number of different awards and recognitions. The Choir performs permanently with The Beograd Philharmonia, The Nis Symphony Orchestra, Pro Musica Chamber Ensemble, Horreum Margi Strings, NATAN Strings and other instrumental groups, while on its huge repertory besides the number of large

vocal-instrumental pieces by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, Bernstein, Bloch and others, one can find choral music of the world famous composers from all over the world as well as serbian and jewish authors of all the periods and styles.

Some of the most significant pesonalities from our music history were the Artistic directors of the Choir, such as Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac, Josif Marinkovic, Jovan Zorko, Petar Krstic, Dragutin Pokorny, Jovan Srbulj, Stevan Hristic, Erih Samlaic, Alfred Pordes, Ivan Brezovsek, Milan Bajsanski, Andrija Preger, Rafajlo Blam, Bogdan Babic, Borivoje Pascan, Slobodan Krstic, Dusan Maksimovic, Kamenko Beric, Aleksandar Vujic, Bojana Matorkic - Ivanovic a.o. Among the outstanding conductors, vocal soloist and instrumentalists performing with the ensamble were Aleksandar Marinkovic, Svetolik Pascan - Kojanov, Bogdan Cvejic, Isak Demajo, Solomon Mosic, Isak Amar, Moric Levi, Oskar Danon, Breda Kalef, Blanka Danon - Kurpjel, Dusan Cvejic, Branislav Simonovic, Enriko Josif, Mirjana Zivkovic, Konstantin Vinaver, Milica Baric, Djurdjevka Cakarevic, Branko Pajevic, Joshua Jacobson, Josif and Aleksandar Levi, and nowdays Jadranka Jovanovic, Ana Jovanovic, Ivana Radivojevic, Slavoljub Kocic, Nikola David., Zivojin Ciric.

The actual position of one of the leading vocal groups in our country, the Baruh Brothers Choir ows to its present conductor and Artistic director Dejan Savic, who has been with the Choir since 1987.

The Baruh Brothers Choir realized a number of TV and Radio broadcasts and recordings both inland and abroad.

For Gramophone Production of RTV Serbia, the Choir recorded two LP’s and one CD with Jewish synagogal and traditional music.

The Baruh Brothers Choir was decorated twice by the Government, for its artistic and social achievements and for the international representation of our music and cultural herritage.

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