The School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the University of
London, offers unique opportunities for the study of Jewish musics.
The SOAS Music department runs BA, MMus and PhD degree programmes; all focus
on world music, with the opportunity to specialize in regional traditions
including Jewish musics, and to receive high- level training in performance.
In the BA, Music can be combined with language studies, Development Studies,
Anthropology and many other academic disciplines, while PhD projects can be
practice-led, fieldwork-based, or theoretical.
SOAS is the only university in the UK with a dedicated lectureship in Jewish
music, established in memory of the late Jewish bandleader Joe Loss z”l.
Course options include a survey of Jewish musics, specialised units in
klezmer and in Israeli pop, individual research projects, and Jewish
performance options. Students can also take courses from the wider Hebrew
and Jewish studies syllabus. Further, in partnership with the Jewish Music
Institute, Jewish music learning at SOAS continues outside the formal
classroom, including weekly klezmer classes, new Jewish music workshops,
concerts and of course Klezfest. SOAS students have access to the JMI
library, housed at SOAS, in addition to the wide holdings in Jewish music
within the SOAS library.
For further information, contact Dr Abigail Wood, Joe Loss Lecturer in
Jewish Music at SOAS:
Department of Music
SOAS, University of London
Thornhaugh Street
London WC1H 0XG, England
Tel: +44-(0)20-7898 4243
Email: aw48@soas.ac.uk (replace ‘at’ with @ symbol)