Jewish Music Bulletin: May 2019
May 22, 2019
Our latest Jewish Music Bulletin includes a new oral history video featuring Moshe Ganchoff, Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Wolfe's latest project, and more.
The Cantor's Art
There’s a reason hazzanut is referred to as “cantorial art.” Learning its intricacies takes years; perfecting it, decades. In a newly released video from our oral history archives, the great cantor Moshe Ganchoff weighs in on what distinguishes hazzanut from performance.
Julia Wolfe Commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
In recent years, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe has brought her unique compositional voice to bear on the history of the American worker. Her latest work, Fire In My Mouth (commissioned by the New York Philharmonic), is a gripping multimedia piece for orchestra and voices about the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.
Ghetto Swingers
Photo Courtesy of Todd Allen
In 1945, trumpeter Eric Vogel jumped off a train headed for Dachau. Up to that point, he had survived by playing jazz. A recent story in The New Yorker by Amanda Petrusich recounts Vogel’s fascinating “story of horror, terror, and death but also of joy and pleasure.”
Composer David Schiff Honored in Oregon
Photo by Benjamin Brink
Composer David Schiff known for his opera Gimpel the Fool, among other works, was recently honored upon his retirement from Oregon’s Reed College, where he taught for nearly four decades and contributed significantly to the musical life of the Pacific Northwest.
Purple Daze
The phrase “Yiddish song” typically connotes what most consider a bygone era. Alex Weisser’s new album, All the Days Were Purple, suggests anything but. He discussed the album with composer Annie Gosfield and scholar Eddy Portnoy for the Forward.
If It Ain't Got That Schwing
It Must Schwing! a new documentary on the storied jazz label, Blue Note, celebrates two Jewish refugees who established an American musical institution. The Wall Street Journal calls the film “an unusually lustrous gem.”
Changing the Face of Yiddish Theater
In a recent column for Tablet, Rokhl Kafrissen summarizes recent research exploring the myriad ways women contributed to the male-dominated Yiddish theater world.
Look forward to more exciting content in the coming months, including a new oral history excerpt from one of our beloved composers, the conclusion to our immersive symphonic music virtual exhibit, and much more.
Sincerely,
The Milken Archive of Jewish Music
