American folk singer-songwriter and pop star. Born June 25, 1945. Rose to extraordinary fame during the 1960s and 1970s superstardom. An entire lengthy personal biography is outlined on the official Carly Simon website, including listings of her songbooks, recordings, and online store.
http://www.carlysimon.com/
American. composer, clarinet, viola, piano. b. New York, NY, B.A., Barnard College; M.A., Harvard; D.M.A., Columbia, in music composition. Her teachers have included Otto Luening, William Sydeman, Leon Kirchner, Lukas Foss, Vladimir Ussachevsky, and Jack Beeson. Her compositions are published by Seesaw Music Corp. and recorded on New World Records and Crystal Records. She has received awards from UNESCO, the National League of American Pen Women, ASCAP, and the Rockefeller Foundation, and (paid) commissions from Philip A. DeSimone, Thomas Matta, the IWBC for Junction, the Monarch Brass Quintet, the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse, the Fromm Foundation, NEA, Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates, Con Spirito, the Greater Lansing Symphony, and the Chamber Music Society of Baltimore. She has taught at Columbia, various branches of City University, Goucher College, the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, and the Aspen Music Festival, and is currently on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music and Eugene Lang College.…
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American composer, largely of classical chamber and large scale music and film scores. Wrote the opera The Thief of Love. Winner of several prestigious composition prizes including the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Composer Award and the ISCM National Composers Competition. Professor of Music at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Sheila Silver has written numerous works with Jewish themes, including her recent Piano Concerto and Song of Sarah. Shirat Sarah will be out on the Milken Archive of Jewish Music (Naxos) the summer of 2004. She has written in a wide range of mediums: from solo instrumental works to large orchestral works; from opera to feature film scores. Her musical language is a unique synthesis of the tonal and atonal worlds, coupled with a rhythmic complexity which is both masterful and compelling.…
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American. Singer. Songwriter. Julie Silver was raised in Newton, Massachusetts. By 18, she was leading song sessions throughout the Reform Jewish movement, and playing coffeehouses in and around Boston. She was graduated from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts and was selected by her senior class to deliver the commencement address and sing an original song at Graduation in May, 1988. After college, Silver landed a job as an on-air personality at WMJX, Magic 106.7 in Boston, a contemporary music radio station. She started as a weekend DJ, and quickly became the host of Bedtime Magic, a top show of the Boston radio market. It was a natural fit for Silver who combined comic timing with a silky-smooth speaking voice.
Silver moved to Santa Monica in June 1994 to continue writing and recording.…
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Opera Star and philanthropist, Chairperson of Lincoln Center, and for many years, director of New York City Opera. Debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1953 and New York City opera in 1955. Joined the board of the Metropolitan Opera in 1991 where she had debuted in 1975. Beverly Sills, affectionately known to millions of fans as “Bubbles”, is a classical high coloratura soprano with an incredible range, flexibility and poise. She sang a repertoire of over 70 operas. She is the recipient of the French Order of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the New York City Handel Medallion, and a Kennedy Center Honor among her many achievements and honors. Born in Brooklyn, NY, as Belle Miriam Silverman May 25, 1929.
Article/Interview with Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Governor’s Commission Honoring Beverly Sills/New York State Council on the Arts webpage…
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American. Percussionist. Leads Isle of Klezbos. Received BA in Russian History & Literature, Harvard University. Performer of klezmer, rock, R and B, Cajun/zydeco, samba, swing and Mid-Eastern music. Founded Metropolitan Klezmer, 1994. Won OutMusic Award as Outstanding Producer, 2002 for Mosaic Persuasion. Taught percussion and Yiddish film history at KlezCamp, Buffalo on the Roof, and Mame-Loshn.
American. Cantor. songwriter. Born into a musical family with mother Rita Shore and father Ira Shore. BA Florida International University. Recorded CDs “My Soul” and “Quiet Time”. Has a Purim Spiel website where various spiels can be viewed, listened to or purchased. Served as a cantor for Hillel in Miami, Florida. Currently cantor at Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton, Florida. Member of the Guild of Temple Musicians, the Cantor’s Association of Florida and the Women’s Cantors Network. Her website has a unique cantorial teaching area with torah portions (broken down into a triennial cycle) and various prayers and blessings. Learners can listen to these various items online. Her website features a biography, a list of recordings and a link to the Congregation B’nai Israel website.…
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American. Born March 1, 1917 as Frances Rose Shore. Died February 24, 1994, Beverly Hills, California. Blues and popular music singer, and star on television. Grew up in Winchester, Tennessee as the only Jewish child. Attended Vanderbilt University, graduating 1938. Went into radio in New York and became known as “Dinah”, from her audition song. In 1939, started The Dinah Shore Show series on radio. She sang mostly the blues and imitated the African-American singers of the day. During WWII, she married George Montgomery and started in movies, but her main career became television with the hugely popular The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1951-1956) and The Dinah Shore Show (1956-1962) followed by a talk-show called Dinah’s Place (1970-1974) and other TV series during the next twenty years.
Israeli composer of choral works. Wrote “The Little Prince” premiered in January, 2002.
Jerusalem Post article on events of music in Sde Boker.
“Shirona, a native New Yorker, was raised in Israel in a musical, cultured evironment, and started performing at an early age. After serving in the Israeli army she returned to the United States and starred in the nationally acclaimed Israeli-American Musical Review “On Silver Wings”. After taking time off to marry and raise a family, Shirona returned to the Jewish Music scene with a newfound interest in New Age and Jewish Spirituality. She began composing original melodies to the ancient texts of the Bible and Prayer Book, in Hebrew, using multi-cultural musical influences, such as Celtic, Eastern European, Middle Eastern and American.” She currently resides with her family in Rye, NY. He CD Judaic Love Songsreceived wide ranging acclaim and received reviews in The Journal of Synagogue Music – Fall 2001 and Jewish Week, August 10, 2001.…
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(Brighton, UK)
Composer, singer, pianist and the leading choral conductor of Yiddish song in the Former USSR. She has performed and taught internationally. Her specially developed choral teaching methods are based on instrumental ornamentation and Jewish modes. Performs with her own a capella ensemble Ashkenazim and works with the Sound & Light Cinematic Duo, who play live accompaniment to rare black and white silent Jewish films. Polina’s music is performed by choirs and soloists all over the world.Contact: E-mail: polina_shepherd@yahoo.co.uk , tel. +44-1273-553737
Naomi Shemer was born in Israel on Kvuzat Kinneret in 1931. She is a prolific composer and singer. One of her most famous songs is “Jerusalem of Gold”.
brief Naomi Shemer bio
Naomi Shemer bio
songs arranged for choir
PDF file of Jerusalem of Gold in English
Naomi Shemer album-2 CD set from Hed Arzi
Professor of Music at Harvard University, Dr. Shelemay has written on many topics of Jewish interest including Let Jasmine Rain Down (1998) and Music, Ritual, and Falasha History” (1986) and A Song of Longing: an Ethiopian Journey (1991). She was also editor for Studies in Jewish Musical Traditions: Insights from the Harvard Collection of Judaica Sound Recordings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard College Library, 2001. A website at Harvard tells of the project: Student Series. Dr. Shelemay received her B.M., M.A., and Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Michigan. She is a past president of the Society for Ethnomusicology and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Shelemay has written a textbook called Soundscapes: Exploring Music in a Changing World (2001).…
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American. composer. Recent CD of orchestral music called Piping the Earth, just released on Capstone Records (CPS 8727). Her Shapirit, Yefehfiah (Beautiful Dragonfly) was performed in January, 2005 by the New York Treble Singers in New York. Currently, Judith Shatin is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Music and Director of the Virginia Center for Computer Music of the McIntire Department of Music at the University of Virginia. She founded the VCCM in 1988. Prof. Shatin received a AB from Douglass College, 1971, a MM from Julliard in 1974 and the MFA 1976 and PhD from Princeton in 1979. She started teaching at the University of Virginia in 1979 and has been there since. Her awards, commissions and prizes are numerous, spanning over 25 years of accomplishment and are listed on her website at the University of Virginia.…
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Israeli musicologist specializing in serious music, Israeli art music, Japanese music and Jewish women’s music. She attended Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel and completed both a BA, musicology and philosophy; and MA in musicology. Currently completing the PhD at Cornell University with her dissertation on Israeli art music. Contributor to, Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia,(forthcoming); the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001); and Asian Composers (2002).
Israeli. Horn player. Born, Rehovot, Israel, 1970. Studied with Jacob Kling and Yaacov Mishori. Member of Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Won America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships. Serve in education corp in Israeli army. Joined Jerusalem Symphony and then Israel Philharmonic 1992. Attended Julliard and studied with Ranier DeIntinis. Currently assistant principal hornist with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
American. Born in Detroit, Michigan. Wayne State University, in nursing. An experienced educator and singer/songwriter. In 2001, she won the “Jewish Woman in the Arts” award for contributions as a songwriter, performer and Jewish educator. She has made an impact not only in the Midwest, giving concerts to children and adults for over thirty years, but has published a song book, Sing and Celebrate: Jewish Songs for All Occasions (Danza Publications, 1987) with a CD available. Elaine’s songs teach about Jewish life and themes in an upbeat, yet non-insipid fashion, with varied arrangements. While most of the songs are in English, she mixes Hebrew and English in holiday and other songs. Her second CD is “Join the Circle” (Danza, 2002). Elaine is an ASCAP and published songwriter.…
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Dancing in the Wind is the Website for Roz Schwarz, a Jewish musician living in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She performs and composes music in a variety of settings. She is currently Canadian Regional Representative for the Children’s Music Network. She is also a photographer. The website includes lyrics and songsheets for many songs of her music.
http://www.dancinginthewind.ca/entrance.htm
American. Singer songwriter, guitarist, music teacher working in the Philadelphia area. Rebecca has published a book of songs called “Rebecca Songs” and has produced three CDs “Only Time Can Tell”, The Light of Shabbat” and Ahavah Rabah”. She won an award at the 2004 Shashelet competition for her compositions “Y’did Nefesh” and “Birkat Haneirot.” She leads music in Jewish camps, performs for Jewish temples, workshops, and simchas. She also sings in local Philadelphia coffeehouses and nightclubs. Her website includes photos, a bio, a calendar, news and section with music clips where you can hear her rich and pleasant voice.
http://www.rebeccasongs.com/home.html
NOTE: Giora Schuster was incorrectly identified in the International Encyclopedia of Women Composers, by Aaron I. Cohen, (New York: RR Bowker Co: 1981) p. 416, as female. Actually, Schuster is a male Israeli, born in Germany in 1915, He had an outpouring of music published in the 1960s, mostly chamber music. The JMWC is indepted to Dr. Yosef Goldenberg of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance for pointing out the error in the encyclopedia for us.
Born June 27, 1924, Hamburg, Germany. Composer and pianist. Studied in Berlin where she was the “youngest student ever accepted at the Stern Conservatory.” In 1935 her family began fleeing the Nazis, going first to Stockholm, where she studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and then Mexico City where she studied composition with Manuel M. Ponce. In 1946, Hindemith met her and invited her to study at Yale, where she earned a BA in 1950. She worked in several part-time jobs to support herself both by playing and teaching. In 1950s, moved to New York, composing a large number of works over 30 years including operas, orchestra pieces, lieder and chamber music and quite a few piano works. Her works include several with Jewish themes such as A Bird Flew Over Jerusalem.…
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American. Born Constantinople, Turkey. grew up in Seattle in a bilingual Ladino and English household. Developed an interest in the scholarly study of Ladino culture, including linguistics and music. Wrote a master thesis in 1935 at Univ. of Washington on A study of the Linguistic Characteristics of Seattle Sefardi Folklore. She incorporated an audio section which was field work and recorded Sephardic women from the Seattle community, including Spanish canticas and romansas, Turkish songs and Ladino songs. The University of Washington had the recordings transferred to better archival storage in 1981.
Martha Haftel was born in Vienna, 25 September 1922. Died, October 6, 1985, Jamestown, NY. Singer, pianist and actress. Martha was the only daughter of Meier and Gisa Braten Haftel, who were Orthodox Jews. Her father owned a kosher restaurant in Vienna, where Martha spent her formative years before escaping Nazis in 1938. She escaped through France to England, where her father became a butler and her mother a cook. She attended a Jewish school in England. Despite being refugees, her parents were considered “enemy aliens” and so were interned by the English government on the Isle of Man . Martha chose to join her parents there. At the camp she met Engel Lund, a singer from Iceland, who inspired her to become an international singer.…
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Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller is both the first woman to be a full time faculty member at the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and a composer of sacred music. Born in New York on April 14, 1958 to Miriam and Nathan Schiller, Cantor Schiller studied voice and composition, and received a B. M. in Theory and Composition at Boston University in 1980. She continued graduate studies there in voice and choral conducting, and shortly thereafter, married Rabbi Lester Bronstein in June, 1981.
She attended the School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College in New York and was invested in 1987. Her Master Thesis composition was “Life Song Cycle.” Cantor Schiller also became a full time faculty member and taught courses in cantillation, basic nusach (prayer modes) and the in-depth study of repertoire for Shabbat.…
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Pharoah’s Daughter, is a band featuring Basya Schechter, Tracey Love-Wright, Martha Colby, Jen Gilleran, Jarrod Cagwin, Tomer Tzur, and Benoir. Their music is exotic and innovative, utlizing elements of Sephardic, Middle Eastern and modern Western sounds. The website features press reviews of concerts and their cd’s. The links lead to places to purchase the cds. The new music blends Jewish traditions with world beat music. He new CD Haran, released in 2007, combines “hasidic psychedelic rock” with complex Middle Eastern instrumentation. Her other albums include Queen’s Dominion(2004), Exile(2000), Out of the Reeds (2000) and Daddy’s Pockets (1999).
Beth Schafer is an award-winning songwriter who blends first-class musicianship with a little teaching and a little theatre into a high-impact transformative experience. Beth has been blazing a trail in Contemporary Jewish music for 10 years. She has been a guitarist since the age of 6, and attended the University of Miami School of Music on a jazz scholarship. Her music pays attention to the universal themes that not only define Judaism, but many other faiths as well.
http://www.bethschafer.com/
Née Beyle Schaechter. Poet, artist and songwriter. Born 7 August 1920 in Vienna. Her mother, Lifshe Gottesman, and father, Benjamin Schaechter, moved to Cernauti, Romania (also called Czernowitz, now part of the Ukraine) when Beyle was eighteen months old. Beyle attended general school in Romanian, also learning French and Latin, spoke Yiddish at home, and German or Ukrainian around town. She studied violin briefly, but her fascination lay in art, singing and Yiddish poetry. Home was full of song as her mother knew a large folk song repertoire and had a wonderful voice. Years later, Lifshe Schaechter-Widman recorded songs in the United States, and wrote a memoir,Durkhgelebt a Velt: Zikhroynes (1973).
In 1938, Beyle’s two-year study at the Vienna art school was cut short when Hitler invaded Austria.…
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British. Pianist. Born, London, 2 Feb. 1888, Died London, 11 January, 1971. Ida and Tobias Scharrer’s third child. She first studied with her mother, Ida. At the age of twelve she won a scholarship to study with Tobias Matthay at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At her first Royal Academy student concert in 1901, Scharrer played Chopin s Rondo in E flat Op. 16 & “with wonderful finish and very remarkable technical skill.” Her Debut was 1904. According to Naxos music, Myra Hess was not a cousin, but she was someone with whom Irene played duos often, and with whom she gave her last public concert in 1958. Early in her career Scharrer toured widely, performing in Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia and the United States.…
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Born 1914, Brooklyn, N.Y. Broadway singer. Also sang in opera and on television. Graduated Cornell University, 1935. Known for her role in “The King and I” with Yul Brynner on Broadway. Founded “Speech Dynamics Inc., where she became a speech consultant to politicians and public personalities. Her papers, ranging over 75 years, are held at Cornell University Library Rare Books and Manuscript Division, where a finding aid is available online. Information about Dorothy Sarnoff from the “Guide to the Dorothy Sarnoff Papers”, Cornell University.
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM03147.html
Israeli bassist, composer. Co-Founder, Eve’s Women (1997), an all female group of jazz, klezmer, and rock. Also founded Daphna Sadeh And The Voyagers,(2002), a contemporary world fusion music group based in London. Studied, Manhattan School of Music in New York. After graduation, she joined theEast-West Ensemble in Israel for seven years. Performed in Israel with The Israel Orchestra, The Israel Northern Orchestra, The Israeli Opera Orchestra, and The Beer-Sheva Sinfonietta. Released the CDOut of Border in 2002, and the CD “Eve’s Women” Sadeh has performed at numerous international festivals along with her work in her various ensembles. She currently resides in England. Sadeh’s profile and list of works available from Rainlore website.
http://www.rainlore.demon.co.uk/Artists/DaphnaSadeh.html Her website describing her life, various ensembles includes photos and audio clips from her two CDs.…
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The following article was supplied by her daughter, Naomi Rudinow Cohen.
Ruth Leviash was born in Odessa, Russia, July 24, 1890. She studied at the Imperial Conservatory in Odessa, graduating in 1917. She married Moshe Rudinow, (who also graduated in the same class,) on February 28, 1917. In 1919, they left Russia and toured though Europe, reaching Palestine in 1920, where they joined the First Palestine Opera Company. Moshe and Ruth sang in operas and concerts throughout Palestine until 1927, when she and her husband sailed to the United States. Their son, Jacob was born in Odessa in August 1919, and their daughter, Naomi was born in Tel Aviv in July 1925. Both reside in California. Ruth lived with Moshe, (Cantor of Temple Emmanuel,) in New York until 1948, when he retired and they moved to Oakland, California to be closer to the children.…
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Yiddish folklorist, ethnomusicologist and song collector. Ruth Rubin collected and notated over 2000 Yiddish songs. Ms. Rubin sang the Yiddish folksongs, often unaccompanied. She made documentary recordings such as “The Old Country” on Folkways Records, with other folksingers such as Pete Seeger included in the project. In a documentary about her life and work, “A Life of Song: A Portrait of Ruth Rubin” by Cindy Marshall, Ruth Rubin states that her parents moved to Montreal in 1904 and she was born there in 1906 as Rifkele Royzenblatt. She was born on Sept. 1, 1906. (Mark Slobin, in his new introduction to “Voices of a People” lists her as being born in Khotin, Romania.) At age 5, her father died. She attended The Aberdeen School, a Montreal Protestant school, and in the afternoons, a Jewish secular “shule”, the Peretz Shule,– getting an immersion in Jewish Yiddish culture.…
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Singer Songwriter. Sings Orthodox popular music. Her CD is Ani L’Dodi. Some clips on site.
http://rachelrubin.net/MainMenu.htm
Canadian-born American. Singer-songwriter. Contemporary Jewish acoustic roots music. Chana’s MYSpace page states: “Rothman’s approach to performance, born of her background as an educator and spiritual leader, to go beyond a typical performer-audience dynamic. Music is a dialogue, she explains, It doesn’t have to be a spectator sport. Rothman’s music, using two languages and ancient texts to address social ills and joys of today, brings a universal appeal. Rothman’s music bubbles with a conscious vibe that’s capable of bringing people together, writes Richard Antone of Elmore Magazine, She is adept at using religious imagery and bilingual lyrics as a bridge rather than a wedge. Chana Rothman’s music — an urban mountain blend Chana Rothman’s tunes, born of her native Canada, Himalayan trekking, adventures in Israel, and current muse, the New York City subways, have earned a growing pile of accolades.…
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Born, January 1, 1885, in Pinsk, Russia. Died, May 18, 1960 in New York. Yiddish folk singer, composer, author. Her father was a Yiddish playwright and novelist. She started singing as a very young child with extraordinary accuracy. The family moved to New York and she studied voice with Lazar Samioloff, Fracis Rogers and others. Premiered her opera “Once Upon a Time” in 1922 at the New York Yiddish Art Theatre. Member of Yuval Trio. Sang primarily in the Jewish community Jewish music. Held leadership positions in Mailamm, the American-Palestine Music Association, along with her sister, Miriam Shomer. Studied Jewish music in trip to Eretz Yisrael in 1927. Wrote, Songs Heard in Palestine, based on her study there. Her papers are held by YIVO in New York, which include newspaper clippings from 1916 through 1950.…
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German-American. Soprano. First known woman cantor, in San Francisco, during the years between 1884-1893, the only currently known example of a nineteenth century woman cantor in America. Born on March 7, 1847 in Stuttgart the daughter of Moritz Eichberg (1806-1892), a cantor of Stuttgart for many years, and Eleanor Seligsberg Eichberg (1811-1881). Julie studied music at the Stuttgart Conservatorium. At age 17, Julie came to America, joining her sister, Mrs. Pauline Weiller, a piano teacher, in Baltimore in 1864. In 1866, she married Jacob H. Rosewald, a violinist and conductor. She and her husband participated widely in Jewish community musical activities in Baltimore. She decided to further her musical studies in Europe in 1870. She began singing opera professionally in America in 1875 with the Kellogg English Opera Company.…
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American. Born April 9, 1924, Cavala, Greece. First female synagogue cantor. At age 4, she moved to Poland with her family. As a youngster there, she convinced the local cantor to teach her to sing for synagogue, (which he agreed to do if she cut her braids!) In 1938, the family escaped from Poland to Australia. There, she met and married an American service man and moved to US, settling in Oceanside, New York. In 1955, she was appointed cantor at Temple Avodah for their High Holidays. The New York Times ran an article on August 3, 1955, quoting Reform officials that she may have been “the very first woman cantor in …Jewish history.” She continued to teach children and serve as a cantor in various synagogues in places she lived, and on Jewish holiday cruises.…
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American Yiddish singer. Born in Brooklyn, NY. Child of Holocaust survivors, Ruth(Ruchele) Hoff and Chaskel Schlusselberg. BA from Brooklyn College, graduating cum laude, majoring in Speech and Theatre. Reissa is a actress, playwright and Tony-nominated director of “Those Were the Days”, a Yiddish musical revue in 1991 featuring Bruce Alder. Changed her name to “Reissa” for the stage. She has many CDs including “Songs in the Key of Yiddish”, “Going Home, Gems of Yiddish Song”. Her play “Thicker Than Water” examines how “we, in the present, are affected by the ripples of the past in unexpected ways.” The Folksbiene Yiddish Theater in NY producted the world premiere of Zise Khaloymes (Sweet Dreams)by Eleanor Reissa, with music by Zalmen Mlotek, and Frank London of The Klezmatics.…
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American. Boston based clarinetist. An instructor at KlezKamp. She has taught at the Klezmer Institute (a summer program at the New England Conservatory of Music) and taught a course on klezmer history. She studied with Hankus Netsky. Her klezmer group is Di Bostoner Klezmer. Dena has appeared on stage with major figures in the klezmer music scene.
http://www.yiddishmusic.com/home.html
Born 14 July 1904, in Vilna, Lithuania, Nadia Reisenberg moved with her family to St. Petersburg in 1915 where she studied piano at the Conservatory under Leonid Nikolaiev. After the Russian revolution, the family moved, going from Vilna, where Nadia played in the Gelios Theatre accompanying movies, to Poland where she concertized with the Warsaw Philharmonic, to Germany. The Reisenberg s came to America in 1922. Under the helpful largesse of Isaac Sherman, Nadia gave private recitals and began to build a reputation.
With less than one year of study with Alexander Lambert in New York, she gave her American debut on 17 December 1922, playing the Polish Fantasy by Ignace Paderewski, with the composer at the performance in the Century Theatre. With sterling reviews by the press, the young Miss Reisenberg began to receive invitations for more recitals.…
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Born in Amsterdam. Daughter of Lin Jaldati. Singer. Specializes in Jewish song.
http://www.milch-und-honig.com/jalda_rebling.htm
A composer and singer. Most of her repertoire of more than six hundred romances and songs is composed on texts of the famous Russian classical poets, A. Akhmatova, N.Gumilyov, O. Mandelstam, M. Tsvetayeva, A. Blok, I. Severyanin, S.Yesenin and others. In Israel she has written music for symphony orchestras, choirs and chamber ensembles.
Born in Leningrad. (Now St. Petersburg). Composer and singer. Most of her repertoire of more than six hundred romances and songs is composed on texts of the famous Russian classical poets, A. Akhmatova, N.Gumilyov, O. Mandelstam, M. Tsvetayeva, A. Blok, I. Severyanin, S.Yesenin and others. In Israel she has written music for symphony orchestras, choirs and chamber ensembles. Works include “Requiem”, performed in 1989 at the Kremlin, Moscow; “The song of the Murdered Jewish People” on a poem by Itzhak Katzenelson; soundtrack for Kastner’s Trial”.…
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A lyric soprano whose voice was often described as ravishing, Judith Raskin stressed purity of sound, clear diction, and the musical line. Born 21 June 1928, in New York, Judith grew up as an only child of teachers Harry A. Raskin and Lillian Mendelson Raskin. She studied both violin and piano as a child, but discovered singing, and sang in the glee club of Roosevelt High School in Yonkers. She studied voice with Anna Hamlin and acting with Ludwig Donath at Smith College, graduating 1949 with a BA, and along the way winning various scholarships and awards including the Harriet D. Barnum Award. Smith College later also awarded her an honorary MA in 1963. She won the Marian Anderson Scholarship for two years 1952 and 1953, and in 1956 won an award by the Musician s Club of New York.…
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American. Born, Knoxville, Tennessee. Rabbi. Singer-songwriter. Geela-Rayzel Raphael is the co-creator of Shabbat Unplugged– a musical, rockin’ Shabbat service; sings with MIRAJ, an a cappella trio; and New Shalom, which offers lively interactive Shabbat services for synagogues and street performance. She has been writing songs for over 20 years. Her debut CD was Bible Babes a’ Beltin -strong songs of biblical women. In addition, she has recorded two CDs with MIRAJ. Her songs tend to be lifecycle ritual songs, ballads of Jewish women, and Hebrew/English liturgy. Rabbi Raphael is the daughter of Mitchell and Natalie Robinson. She received a BA from Indiana University in religious studies, and a Masters in Contemporary Jewish Studies from Brandeis University. Rayzel studied at Machon Pardes and the Melton Center for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.…
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A widely acclaimed composer and pianist who studied in Israel and the United States and now works internationally, including the US. Ms. Ran was born in Tel Aviv. While primarily a classical musician, Ms. Ran has written several works both on Jewish themes, including an opera The Dybbuk, and and works with Jewish musical content, including klezmer-influenced music and several liturgical settings. Ms. Ran won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991. Her music is published by Theodore Presser which has an excellent page dedicated to her music, her publications, her biography and a discography. It includes a photo.
http://www.presser.com/composers/ran.html
Born May 23, 1893, Bialystok, Poland.(nee, Burchstein). Died September 28, 1963, Los Angeles, California. Soprano. Sang with the Chicago Opera and internationally in over 500 performances. Popular for her performances in Italian operas. Opened a school in the 1930s in Chicago with her husband, Giacomo Rimini. A webpage devoted to her has some wonderful photos and more about her opera performances. A biography has been written by Charles Mintzer called: “Rosa Raisa: A Biography of a Diva with Selections from Her Memoirs” published by Northeastern University Press.
http://www.cantabile-subito.de/Sopranos/Raisa__Rosa/hauptteil_raisa__rosa.html
and
http://www.operajaponica.org/reviews/books/rosaraisa.htm
American. Born January 1, 1936 in New York City. Conductor, pianist. First woman appointed conductor to a metropolitan orchestra and first woman to conduct at Lincoln Center’s Philharmonic Hall. Also the first woman to conduct on a commercially recorded opera. (Massenet’s Le Cid, 1976) Ms. Rabin grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home. A child prodigy, she received a scholarship by age 5. She attended New York City High School of Music and Art. Later she studied at CCNY and conducting at Mannes College of Music. She also studied at the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music. Started vocal coaching and rehearsal accompanist at New York City Opera in 1957-(8). Then, in graduate school, studied conducting with Carl Bamberger and later with Joseph Rosenstock at the Metropolitan Opera.…
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Israeli violinist. Born, 1975 in Moscow, Russia. Entered Tchaikovsky Central Music School. Immigrated to Israel 1990. Studied at Jerusalem Rubin Academy and Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. Member of young Israeli Philharmonic. Won first prize at Tel Aviv Academy chamber music competition, 1996. Appeared as soloist with Ra’anana Symphonette, Tel Aviv Academy Symphony, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Member of second violin section, Israel Philharmonic since 1996.
American singer. Graduate of Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. Specializes in the music of Spain and Sephardic Jews. Her albums include “Jewels of the Sephardim,” “Wings of Time” and “The Radiance of Faith.”
Born, June 1, 1898, New York. (nee, Margaret Pyekoon.) Died, April 5, 1992, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mega-star of the Yiddish stage and movies. Her papers are held at the American Jewish Historical Society in the Center for Jewish History. An online finding aid gives a brief biographical sketch about her wildly successful career, spanning over 70 years in theater, stage and film. One of her most famous appearances in the Yiddish film Yidl Mitn Fidl(1937). The YIVO Archives also has holdings of Picon.
http://www.cjh.org/academic/findingaids/AJHS/nhprc/MollyPiconb.html
American. Born May 4, 1930, New York. Currently serving on the board of the National Endowment of the Arts. Star of the Metropolitan Opera in New York where she sang over 500 times. She experienced tremendous success giving concerts and recitals with major orchestras, and master classes around the world. She married Robert Merrill, and later Bertram Fields, and had two children. Her memoir is Debut at the Met (1967). http://www.northwood.edu/dw/1989/peters.html
“Israeli born. Received her B.A. in Piano Performance from the Chicago Music College and M.A. in Composition from Indiana School of Music in Bloomington, both degrees with Distinction. While a student she received the First Prize in the Molly Margolis Piano Competition in Chicago, as well as numerous scholarships and Distinctions. Among her teachers were Prof. Ludmila Lazar (Piano) and Prof. Fred Fox (Composition) Ms. Pelleg studied conducting with Henry Mazer, Associate conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Pelleg was awarded a conducting fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival, a scholarship to study with Frederick Prauznitz at Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hoplkins University in Baltimore, and a fellowship to a special master class with Max Rudolph at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In addition, she participated in Master Classes with Sergiu Celibidacce in The Munich Philharmonic and Ghenadi Rhozdesvensky in Sienna.…
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Israeli. Singer of Judeo-Spanish music. Ph.D. candidate, ethnomusicology at the Program on Ladino Folklore, Ladino Department, Bar-Ilan University. Research student at the Technical University of Istanbul-Conservatoire, Turkey (Vocal Department) where she studied folklore, classical Turkish music, and makam. Research interests: the song in Ladino in the contemporary stage. Research assistant at the Jewish Music Research Center at Hebrew University on the cataloging of the Ladino song collection at the National Sound Archive. Her first solo album, Yahudice: Urban Ladino Music from Istanbul, Izmir, Thessalonika and Jerusalem (Kalan, 2003), was released in Istanbul. Judith Cohen, has said of her CD: “excellent Hadass Pal-Yarden cd –one of the rare cases where I’ve barely ANY criticism!! except for her harmonized Moroccan version of the ballad “Landarico”, –which is at odds with the rest of her VERY fine, tradition-based interpretations throughout the cd — probably the best I’ve heard in the genre.”…
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American vocalist, guitarist, teacher and singer-songwriter residing in Sherman Oaks, California. Sings in Yiddish, Hebrew and English. Attended a Yiddish Kindershule. B.A. in French, UCLA. Worked for over thirty years as director of children’s music at Temple Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. Cantorial soloist at UCLA Hillel. Specializes in children’s music. Has recorded eight CDs of Jewish and children’s songs. Her albums include: Celebrate With Cindy Vol. 1 and 2; What a Happy Day; S’iz Yontev Kinder Lomir Zingin!; Chanukah a Singing Celebration; Shabbat Shalom; Zing with Cindy Paley; Yavo Shalom; A Singing Seder; Koleet: a Celebration of Jewish Folk Music.
http://www.cindypaley.com/
American. Ordained in May 1998 from the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York City. Cantor at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple since July 1999. She had a diverse career in central New Jersey as a singer, pianist, guitarist, educator, and choral director long before she came to the cantorate. She grew up in Metuchen, graduated from Hillel Academy in Perth Amboy and Bruriah High School in Elizabeth, graduated with honors from Douglass College with her BA in Music Education and Piano while taking advanced courses in the Hebraic Studies department, and obtained her MA in Vocal Performance from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey). She taught vocal music for ten years in the public schools of Piscataway Township, NJ and taught private students in piano, guitar, voice, Hebrew, and B nai Mitzvah studies.…
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American. Cantor. Born December 24, 1952, St. Louis, MO. She is the first woman invested as a cantor. Graduated 1975, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion-School of Sacred Music (HUC-SSM). Received the honorary DSM from HUC in 2000. From 1976 through 1988, served Temple Beth-El of Great Neck. From 1990 through 2002, served Temple Beth Am of Buffalo, NY. From 1996 to 1998, chaired the Joint Cantorial Placement Commission. In 2002, appointed as Placement Director of the American Conference of Cantors (ACC). She also served the American Conference of Cantors (ACC) as Secretary, Vice-President, as a Northeast regional representative, and several terms on the board of directors. Cantor Ostfeld edited the CAA newsletter, Shalshelet: The Chain, for two years.
American-born Israeli clarinetist. Moved with her family to Israel at age four. Returned to US to study at New England Conservatory. There she won the chamber and the concerto competitions. She studied at Northwestern University near Chicago for a Masters, also winning many competitions. Orit has played with numerous orchestras and symphonies, and with many top soloists. Some of the highlight performances included appearances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Zubin Mehta conducting), Boston Philharmonic, San Francisco Sinfonietta, the Northwestern Symphony, Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra (Nayden Todorov conducting), Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Israel Northern Symphony, Haifa. She serves as principal clarinetist with the Israel Northern Symphony of Haifa and also as a teacher with Music by the Red Sea – Israel Festival. Orbach has premiered works by major modern composers, including Krzystof Penderecki and Robert Starer.…
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Betti Olivero, born in Tel Aviv in 1954, is one of few young women composers highly acclaimed throughout Israel, Europe and the US. She studied both in Israel and in the United States at Yale with Jacob Druckman. Ms. Olivero’s list of works shows skill and variety. She has written instrumental chamber works, symphonic works, for voice and chamber groups, puppet plays and for large string ensembles. A list of compositions, a brief bio and a discography has been gathered by the Israel Music Institute.
http://www.aquanet.co.il/vip/imi/bios/olivero.htm#Biographical notes
The website has information on over 40 years of the career of Esther Ofarim, one of Israel’s premier singers. Esther Ofarim was a sensation in the 1960s and 70s. She stopped concertizing for over a decade, but has since returned to the stage. She started singing in the Israëli National Theatre “Habimah”. She met, and later married, Abraham (Abi) Reichstat. After touring and recording widely in Europe and the US, winning several prizes as a duo, they later divorced. Esther continued on a solo career on the stage and on television, eventually moving back to Israel. Today she concertizes in Germany and in Israel, often accompanied by Yoni Rechter, piano. She is still remembered for winning the Israel Song Festival in 1961 with 2 songs. The website has some nice photos, reviews, and discography with sound bites.…
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Fan site for Israeli singer Noa with English, Spanish and Italian versions. Lots of photos, clips, CDs, links, discography and news.
http://noasite.net/
Fan site, Lots of pictures, bio, real audio files and ways to buy music.
http://www.hrmusic.com/discos/anframe.html
Israeli-born singer (1969), pianist and percussionist, of Yemenite descent. She grew up in Bronx, NY, but moved after high school to Israel. After the army, she attended the ‘Rimon’ School of Music, meeting Gil Dor who became her musical collaborator and accompanist. Her music reflects both her Yemenite heritage and the jazz and rock infused music of Gil Dor. Her career launched with him, completing several international and Israeli albums and hundreds of concerts. Noa has performed for presidents, popes and prime ministers as well as working with some of the outstanding musicians of popular culture in the United States, such as Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Quincy Jones, and Sheryl Crow. Site contains a biography, discography, photos, news and political statements. Noa is especially known for her peace work and concerts promoting understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.…
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American Singer and Blogger. Raised in upstate NY, attended Hampshire College and immigrated to Israel. Orthodox and Green, Sarah joined Atid Yarok (green future) at Merkaz Hamagshimim Haddassah. Sarah went on to finish a Master s degree in Non-Profit Management at Hebrew University. After finishing her degree she took a position with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. In 2003, Sarah married David Nadav and they lived together on The Moshav and then moved to Jerusalem where their son Shalom BenTzion was born. They currently live in LA. Her music mixes influences of Carlebach, hasidic, American folk, rock, and middle easterns sounds from Jerusalem and is put together on her first CD, “Sarah Dahlia” Music For the Middle of the Night. A lot of songs in English.…
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American. Born April 5, 1901. Died Jan. 17, 1991 in Chevy Chase, MD. Lyricist in the Yiddish theater. Wrote “My Son and I” that opened in 1960, a “musical play in English and Yiddish with book by Herman Yablokoff, music by Sholom Secunda and lyrics by Bella Mysell.” (NYTimes, Oct. 16, 1960).
Special thanks to Victor Berch, retired Brandeis University Special Collections Librarian for research on this entry.
Song collector, author, ethnomusicologist and librarian. Works at the YIVO Institute in New York and is the author of several important collections of Yiddish music, (the last two of them with her husband Joseph Mlotek), including: Mir Trogn a Gezang– The New Book of Yiddish Songs (1972), Perl fun Yidishn lid– Pearls of Yiddish Song (1988), Lider fun dor tsu dor:naye perl fun Yidishn Lid–Songs of Generations: New Pearls of Yiddish Songs (1990). Many of her papers are held by YIVO.
Jewish song leader. American. Works in Chicago’s western suburbs, providing the music for Shabbat services, Family services, Tot Shabbat, Holiday services and programs, camps and retreats. Cindy is a graduate of the 1995 Synagogue Leadership Institute and the 1995 Rabbinic Aid program, both sponsored by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. She is a 10 year veteran of Hava Nashira, the annual Song Leading and Music Conference held at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
http://home.xnet.com/~rtm/
Nee Ella Milch. Born 1954 In Haifa, Israel. Composer. Singer, pianist. Milch-Sheriff started as a child prodigy, writing her first compositions by the age of 12. While serving in the Israeli army, she continued to write and sing her songs. After army service, she returned to studies in composition under Prof. Tzvi Avni at the Rubin Academy of Music at the Tel-Aviv University where she graudated in composition. She studied vocal studies with Prof. Tamar Rachum and Dafna Cohen-Licht. Her output consists of opera, orchestral, chamber and vocal and popular music. Her works have had numerous performances in Israel and abroad. She is composer of chamber works such as: Duo for flute & Cello (1976) with recent pieces that include “A Crown they shall give unto You” for voice and orchestra based on Ladino-Flamenco folk music (premiered January 2005); “Woman in Paths” for voice and piano (premiered 2005); and “Good Night, Sweet ladies” for 3 singers, actress and orchestra (premiered 2004).…
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(1878-1943?)
Ottilie was an outstanding contralto and sang with Caruso (in Carmen and Aida). She sang in all the major opera houses of the day. Ottilie Metzger (she added the name of her second husband to her name) was particularly admired in Wagner parts, and sang several times at Bayreuth. At least one of her appearances in New York before the first world war was reviewed in the NYT. In 1934 Ottilie fled Germany and lived in Brussels. She was rounded up in 1942 and deported. Died in Auschwitz, probably in 1943.
American. Pianist and social worker. Born, May 20, 1920, San Francisco. Also lived in Australia and England. Died, January 1, 1981, London. Concertized widely with her brother, Yehudi Menuhin in her youth, and again in her later years. Had her first recital debut at 8 years old in 1928. Studied with Rudolf Serkin in Basel. Recordings won classical music prizes. Won Prix du Disque at age 12. Moved to Australia in the 1940s. She also worked tirelessly for deprived persons and families and also was an activist for peace and disarmament causes. President, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 1977.
American. Born NYC, nee Moskowitz. Composer. Pianist. Accompanist. Died Feb. 12, 2004 at age 93. Married to a Cantor, Saul Meisels in 1935. Focused on creating accessible music that would be “timeless and well-received by people of all ages.” She wrote, arranged or orchestrated more than 400 songs — many of which have been performed by famous Jewish musicians. Her daughter Florence Nelson told the Miami Herald “She knew that much of what she wrote would be possible for cantors, choirs and children to sing,… She wanted to keep the music of Judaism alive.” Ida frequently accompanied her husband and other cantors for recitals and concerts. She discovered her talent for composing later in life, and it became a passion. “Music was her life,” Nelson said.…
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American. Born, 1928. composer. Several websites devoted to her music appear online.
Music of Ursula Mamlok
C Michael Reese wrote reviews and this biographical sketch: “Ursula Mamlok was born in 1928 in Berlin. Her Jewish family left Germany in 1941 and had to settle for Ecuador as the US quota for German immigrants had been capped. From there she submitted handwritten compositions to American Universities until she received a full scholarship from the Mannes College in New York. She studied with George Szell at Mannes, Roger Sessions (lessons during his weekly visits to New York) and later Vittorio Giannini at the Manhattan School of Music.”
Aamerican. Vocalist and guitarist. Cantorial soloist. B.A. in English and Russian Literature, U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1979. Additional work in Russian Language and Literature, U. of Chicago, IL. Founder, the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, 1983. Cantorial soloist for ten years at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation of Evanston, IL. Cantorial soloist Congregation Or Shalom, Vernon Hills, IL. High Holidays Cantorial Soloist for the U. of Michigan and U. of Wisconsin Reform services. Founded the Heavy Shtetl congregational klezmer band. Co-founded the Yiddish Arts Ensemble, a family repertory company.
http://www.klezmerband.com/bios.html
