Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich
A small ensemble with a big impact. (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
The Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich (JCOM) was founded in 2005 by Daniel Grossmann. Since then, it has developed a unique profile under his artistic direction: It presents itself as a contemporary Jewish voice that is internationally active on a variety of stages. It is constantly exploring new alliances and formats in order to bring contemporary Jewish culture to life and make it audible, tangible and visible for everyone - an internationally relevant concern that the orchestra takes for granted and takes out into the world. In addition to tours to Israel, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, North America and China, among others, the JCOM appears as an ambassador of Jewish culture at guest performances within Germany. It is an orchestra for all nations and religions, its musicians come from over twenty countries and are Jewish and non-Jewish.
The JCOM cultivates the rich Jewish musical tradition and a repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the present day at the highest artistic level: it brings forgotten Jewish composers to light and fills former places of Jewish life with living culture. It regularly commissions work from young composers and maintains long-standing collaborations with important Munich cultural institutions such as the Bavarian State Opera and the Villa Stuck Museum. The long-standing collaboration with the Münchner Kammerspiele will take on a new form from the 2025-26 season: the JCOM will be Orchestra in Residence there.
A diverse education and outreach program rounds off the orchestra’s profile. This includes concerts for children, teenagers and students, but also special projects, such as the e-learning platform Music in the Terezín Concentration Camp, which provides an insight into the living conditions and cultural activities within a concentration camp (www.jcom.de/elearning). Recently, a new anthem for FC Bayern Munich‘s initiative Rot gegen Rassismus (Red against Racism) was created together with 250 Munich schoolchildren.
The JCOM has recorded works by Mieczysław Weinberg, Fanny Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn and Paul Ben-Haim, among others. The recording Jewish Vienna together with soprano Chen Reiss has just been released. Since 2020, JCOM has also been presenting works by Jewish composers in professional visual and sound recordings online on its YouTube channel www.jcomtv.de.