Plum Street / Isaac M Wise Temple

Another frosty morning, but no time for early morning shots this morning, since we have to be at church for 8am. After lunch, there was time for a few jobs before going downtown to another concert in the St. Peter in Chains Cathedral concert series. Plum Street Temple is directly across from St. Peter in Chains. The Isaac M. Wise Temple (formerly known as the Plum Street Temple) is the historic synagogue erected for Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise. Rabbi Wise was the founder of American Reform Judaism. The building was constructed by James Keys Wilson in a 19th century Germanic architectural style that blended the Neo-Byzantine architecture and Moorish Revival style derived from the architecture of Moorish Spain. The style of the synagogue, including the tripartite, twin-domed facade, was copied from the Leopoldstädter Tempel, built in Vienna, Austria, in 1853.
Plum Street is notable for having been the first of many American Moorish Revival synagogues. All examples of similar architecture in Germany were destroyed by Hitler, although many examples survive in other parts of Europe. It was dedicated on Friday, August 24, 1866 and is among the oldest synagogue buildings still standing in the United States.

The concert featured the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela. SCV (formerly known as Schola Cantorum de Caracas) is one of the most important choral societies belonging to the growing choral movement in Venezuela. It was founded in 1967 by Alberto Grau, Venezuelan composer and conductor born in 1937 in Barcelona, Spain. It was an excellent and very varied concert. The first half was comprised of sacred music, starting with a number of Renaissance pieces from Spain, then moving on to more contemporary music, including a couple of works by their founder Alberto Grau, who has written a great deal of music for them. The second half of the program was dedicated to secular music, including native dances and folk music. Unfortunately, it wasn't very well attended - apparently there were a couple of other concerts on this afternoon. I know one of them was one of the Hyde Park United Methodist organ series, which we also go to when we can. It was also a nice sunny (though somewhat cool) afternoon, which may have kept some more people away.