Featuring performances by a flautist from the Royal College of Music and a pianist from Imperial College, the Chabad-Lubavitch center serving schools in the South Kensington section of London celebrated a night of Chasidic melodies last week.

Community members and students turned out for the event, which offered explanations of selected nigunim by Rabbi Naftali Loewenthal, professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College of London, and Rabbi Avremi Groner, program director of Chabad-Lubavitch of South London.

Popularly referred to as a “pen of the soul,” a nigun is a typically wordless melody intended to express and stir one’s spiritual essence.


Mark Harris of Imperial College played the piano for an exploration of Chasidic melodies at the Chabad-Lubavitch center serving schools in the South Kensington section of London. Gavin Zev, of the Royal College of Music, played the flute.


Known as nigunim, the typically wordless melodies sung at Chasidic gatherings are intended to express and stir one’s soul.


Refreshments for the June 14 event, which included cookies decorated with musical notes, were provided by the Parkway Patisserie.


Rabbi Avremi Groner, program director of Chabad-Lubavitch of South London, explained the meaning behind several melodies as an introduction to the students’ performances.


Rabbi Naftali Loewenthal, professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College of London, introduced the mystical concept of Chasidic melodies to the audience.


The audience filled the main room of the Chabad House of South Kensington, spilling over into the kitchen and adjoining staircase.