OUR MISSION

We are the Kol Sephardic Choir (ROSE), a non-profit musical ensemble, and our goal is to preserve and celebrate Ladino, the endangered language and culture of the Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain during the Inquisition.

 

Their history is both tragic and inspiring. Driven from their home, Spanish Jews resettled all over the world, bringing their distinctive culture with them-Ladino-a beautiful mixture of Hebrew, Jewish, and Spanish language and traditions. Today, Ladino is spoken by minority communities in more than 30 countries, yet it is at risk of extinction. Kol Sephardic Choir (ROSE) is the only artistic group in Los Angeles dedicated to preserving this unique musical tradition, and the only choir to perform with flamenco dancers, Pasión Flamenca de Los Angeles, highlighting Ladino’s fascinating intersection of Hispanic and Jewish culture. Kol Sephardic Choir (ROSE) is recognized by the Sephardic authority.

 

Founded in 1992 by the late Raphael Ortasse, a man with a huge heart and a great dream of preserving the language and songs he heard in his childhood. He always followed the mantra: "That man is a success- who leaves the World better than he found it; Who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had".

 

His dream became a reality, and today Kol Sephardic Choir (ROSE) is a diverse group of singers, representative of the rich cultural tapestry of Los Angeles. Members have ancestry from Israel, Eastern Europe, Uzbekistan, Libya, Turkey, Spain, Canada, Brazil, and Morocco, including choristers from Mexico who discovered their connection to Sephardic Jewry when investigating family histories. The Choir not only preserves Ladino music through performance, but through commissioning musical arrangements of Ladino folk tunes that have been passed down orally for centuries in secret, when Sephardic Jews were prohibited from practicing their traditions.

 

We are now just exiting the pandemic, a three-year period marked by heightened anxiety and fear. We, as a community, are just beginning to recognize the toll on our collective mental health. Research bears out what any choir/dance troupe member will tell you: Communal singing and dancing are profoundly healing and has tremendous benefits for physical and mental well-being. It’s clinically proven to strengthen community bonds and feelings of togetherness, and to promote prosocial behavior such as neighborliness and kindness to others. Numerous studies point to the mental health benefits of singing, including reducing stress and depression, and learning to dance flamenco, besides the obvious benefits of movement, is just plain fun! For these reasons, Kol Sephardic Choir (ROSE) will build interactive singing and dancing into our community performances.