The Jewish Music Forum Complete Listing of Sessions (2005-11)
FIRST SEASON, SPRING 2005
January 28, 2005 – Inaugural Lecture “Memory and History in Jewish Music” Kay Kaufman Shelemay, G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music at Harvard University
February 11, 2005 “Studying Jewish Music in Israel: Achievements, Failures and Challenges for the Future” Edwin Seroussi, Emanuel Alexandre Professor of Musicology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Respondent: Stephen Blum, City University of New York
March 11, 2005 “Who Will Reclaim the Golden Sounds?: Judaism, Tradition, and Music Scholarship in an American Context” Judah M. Cohen, New York University Respondent: Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University
April 8, 2005 “Beyond Yiddishland: New Studies from theJewish Musical Mediterranean” Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Respondent: Professor Uri Sharvit, Bar-Ilan University
May 13, 2005 “Between Wissenschaft and Etnografiia: The Search for a Jewish Musical Science in Eurasia, Past and Present” James Loeffler, Columbia University Respondent: Dr. Lyudmila Sholokhova, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
SECOND SEASON, 2005-2006 Friday, September 23, 2005 “The Philadelphia Russian Sher Medley: Viewing the Immigrant Experience through a Musical Text” Hankus Netsky, New England Conservatory of Music Respondent: Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University
Friday, November 4, 2005 “Between Church and Synagogue: The Organ in German- Jewish Culture” Tina Frühauf,CUNY Graduate Center Respondent: Dr. Philip Bohlman, University of Chicago
Friday, November 18, 2005 “The Sephardic Voice in Ottoman Song: The Life and Art of Tanburi Isak Fresco (1745-1814)” Walter Zev Feldman, Bar-Ilan University Respondent: Karl Signell, Editor, Ethnomusicology Online
Friday, December 2, 2005 “From Rossi to Rossini: Shifting Paradigms in Italian Jewish Musical Culture” Francesco Spagnolo,Hebrew University/U.C.-Santa Cruz Co-sponsored by the Centro Culturale Primo Levi as part of the symposium “Humanism and the Rabbinic Tradition in Italy and Beyond” Respondent: David Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania
Friday, January 20, 2006 “The Tradition Continues on the Lower East Side: Experimental Music and the American-Jewish Imaginary in 1990s New York City” Tamar Barzel,Wellesley College Respondent: Jonathan Freedman, University of Michigan
Friday, February 10, 2006 “Finding the Rhythm: Dance and Music in Jewish Studies” Nina Spiegel, National Museum of American Jewish History Respondent: Judah M. Cohen, New York University
Friday, March 17, 2006 “Assimilating (Post-Modern) Jewish Music: Ambivalence in Contemporary Composition” David Schiller, University of Georgia Respondent: Klara Moricz, Amherst College
Friday, March 31, 2006 “Energizing Jewish Musical Memory: Encounters with Sound and Text in Archives and Libraries” Judith Pinnolis, Brandeis University Respondents: Bret Werb, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Gina Genova, New York University / Milken Archive of American Jewish Music
Friday, April 28, 2006 “‘I am a Jew from eternal nowhere’: Yiddish song in the aftermath of the Holocaust” Shirli Gilbert, University of Michigan Respondent: Jeremy Dauber, Columbia University
Friday, May 12, 2006 “The Migration of Memory: New Contexts for Mizrahi and Bukharian Musical Poetic Traditions in Israel and the United States” Evan Rapport,City University of New York and Galeet Dardashti, University of Texas at Austin Respondent: Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute, New York
THIRD SEASON, 2006 – 2007
September 15, 2006 “How Do You Play the Musical Scream in Gideon Klein's Terezin Requiem?” Michael Beckerman, New York University Respondent: Gershon Kingsley, composer and conductor
October 20, 2006 “Music and Memory among Crypto-Jews in Portuguese Border Villages” Judith Cohen, York University, Toronto Respondent: Jane Gerber, CUNY Graduate Center Co-sponsor: American Sephardi Federation
November 10, 2006 “Composing Herself: Finding Miriam Gideon in Her 1958 Opera Fortunato” Lecture, Performance and Panel Discussion Stephanie Jensen-Moulton, CUNY Graduate Center Panel discussion: Ellie Hisama, Columbia University, Bruce Saylor, CUNY Graduate Center, and Cantor Charles Osborne
December 8, 2006 “Mediterranean Israeli Music: The Politics of Aesthetics” Amy Horowitz, Ohio State University Respondent: Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, New York University Co-sponsor: American Sephardi Federation
February 16, 2007 “Sephardic Music On Record: A Century of Commercial Ladino Recordings” Edwin Seroussi, Hebrew University, Jerusalem and Joel Bresler, discographer Respondent: Dr. Virginia Danielson, Harvard University Co-sponsor: American Sephardi Federation
March 9, 2007 “The Media and the Messenger: Transforming the Cantor's Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Jeffrey Shandler, Rutgers University Respondents: Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, New York University, and Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University Co-sponsor: Working Group on Jews/Media/Religion at the Center for Religion and Media, New York University
April 27, 2007 “Blacks and Jews in American Popular Music: The Business of Cultural Mediation” Jonathan Karp, SUNY Binghamton Respondent: Jonathan Schorsch, Columbia University
May 8, 2007 “Kurt Weill's Kol Nidre: Lecture with Music Performance” Tamara Levitz, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Respondent: Kim Kowalke, Eastman School of Music, Kurt Weill Foundation. Co-sponsors: The Weill/Lenya Institute; Milken Archive.
FOURTH SEASON, 2007 – 2008
November 20, 2007 “Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive” Chana Mlotek, YIVO Music Archivist Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University with a performance by Zalmen Mlotek and Eleanor Reissa
January 25, 2008 “Felix Mendelssohn and the Jewish Question” Professor Jeffrey Sposato, University of Houston Respondent: Professor Michael A. Meyer, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
February 22, 2008 “Creating ‘New’ Jewish Sounds” Josh Kun, University of Southern California, Judah M. Cohen, Indiana University Daniel Saks, member of the bands DeLeon and The LeeVees
FIFTH SEASON, 2008 – 2009
Note: During this season, for the first time, sessions of the Jewish Music Forum were held at sites outside of New York City,in the Northeast, in the mid-West, and on the West Coast.
November 14, 2008 “Beyond the Pale: The Russian Jewish Musical Experiment 100 Years Later” Dr. James Loeffler, University of Virginia Dr. Klára Móricz, Amherst College Dr. Lyudmila Sholokhova, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
December 12, 2008 “American Jews, Music and the Memory of the Holocaust: 1945-1962” Hasia Diner, New York University Respondent: Cantor Bruce Ruben, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
January 16, 2009 “Ethel Raim and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance: Three Decades of Showcasing Jewish Music” With Ethel Raim and Dr. Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University Co-sponsored by the Working Group on Jews, Media and Religion at New York University
February 26, 2009 “The Jewish Self/The Jewish Other: Performing Identity in the ‘Majufes’" Halina Goldberg, Indiana University Held at and co-sponsored by the University of Chicago
April 24, 2009 "’Old Lamps for New:’ Alexander Krein and Jewish Neonationalism” Dr. Klara Moricz, Amherst College Respondent: Professor Alexander Rehding, Harvard University Held at and co-sponsored by Harvard University
May 1, 2009 “The Participating Observer: Fieldwork in Jewish Settings” Jeffrey A. Summit, Tufts University Respondent: Henry Goldschmidt, Wesleyan University Co-sponsored by the Working Group on Jews, Media and Religion at New York University
SIXTH SEASON, 2009 – 2010 Sunday, November 8, 2009 “Pulitzer Prize-winning Composer Steve Reich Talks about his Jewish Music:" A unique interview by fellow Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang Steve Reich and David Lang
Thursday, December 10, 2009 Is Israeli Art Music Jewish? Ronit Seter, Jewish Music Research Centre at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Respondent: Dr. Klára Móricz, Amherst College Held at and co-sponsored by Hebrew College, Boston
March 5, 2010 “Sacred and Secular Music Texts in Modern Times" Dr. Mark Slobin, Wesleyan University Dr. Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Co-sponsored by the Working Group on the Jewish Book at the Center for Jewish History
Saturday, March 14, 2010 "Back to the Roots: Notions of Jewish Musical Revival" A panel discussion with Edwin Seroussi, The Hebrew University; Benjamin Brinner, UC Berkeley; and Judah Cohen, Indiana University, curated and moderated by Francesco Spagnolo, The Magnes, and produced by Eleanor Shapiro, the Jewish Music Festival. Co-sponsors: 25th Jewish Music Festival; The Magnes; Music Department and Jewish Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Held at the Berkeley-Richmond JCC, Berkeley, CA.
April 2, 2010 “’In a Land Large as an Apple Tree': Wolpe's Avant-Garde Music, Pedagogy, and Pacifist Zionism in 1930's Palestine” Brigid Cohen, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Respondent: Stephen Blum, City University of New York
April 15, 2010 “Imaginaries of Exile and Emergence in Israeli, Jewish and Palestinian Hip-Hop” David A. McDonald, Indiana University Respondent: Edwin Seroussi, Jewish Music Research Center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Held at and co-sponsored by Indiana University
SEVENTH SEASON, 2010 – 2011
November 3, 2010 "Chinese Jews: Aspects of their History and their Music" Alexander Knapp, Joe Loss Lectureship in Jewish Music, University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, Emeritus Respondent: Dr. Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York
November 18, 2010 “Reimagining Tradition or Preserving Its Legacy: Yiddish Songs in Hasidic Communities and in Contemporary Eastern Europe" Asya Vaisman, Visiting Research Scholar in Jewish Studies at Indiana University Respondent: Dr. Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York Co-sponsored by YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
February 16, 2011 “Robert Lachman's ‘Oriental Music Archive’ and Broadcasting Project in Mandatory Palestine” Ruth Davis, University of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College Respondent: Mark Kligman, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
March 24th, 2011 “The Most Musical Nation: Jews and Culture in the Late Russian Empire” James Loeffler, University of Virginia at Charlottesville Lecture with Performance by YIVO’s Sidney Krum Young Artists Co-sponsored the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research
EIGHTH SEASON, 2011-12
November 14, 2011
One-Day Conference on German Jewish Aspirations in Music and Culture in 19th and 20th Century Germany The Treasure Hall, Goldfarb Library, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Sponsored by: The American Society for Jewish Music’s Jewish Music Forum; Brandeis University’s: Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry; Center for German and European Studies; Library and Technology Services; with thanks to the Department of Music, Hebrew College; Brandeis University, Center for German and European Studies, and "Do Deutsch"
PROGRAM
Welcome Michael Leavitt, President, American Society of Jewish Music
Introductory Remarks Dr. Sabine von Mering, Associate Professor of German and Women’s and Gender Studies, Brandeis University
Panel Session One, 19th century “Re-voicing Tradition: Theory and Practice of German Jewish Synagogue Music” Dr. Mark L. Kligman, Professor of Jewish Musicology, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Music Examples by singers from Hebrew College: Risa Wallach, soprano; Becky Wexler, alto; Kevin Margolius, tenor; Rick Lawrence, bass
“’Modern yet Jewish’: Searching for a Jewish Voice in Nineteenth-century Organ Music for the Synagogue” Dr. Tina Frühauf, Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University
“Die Form des Innern: The German-Jewish Musical Tradition and the Philosophical Anthropology of the Berlin School (Mendelssohn, Steinthal, Cohen)” Dr. Michael Zank, Acting Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, Boston University
Panel Session Two Complexity in Negotiating Contours of Jewish Music in the 20th Century
Contextualization Dr. Eugene R. Sheppard, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought, Brandeis University
“German Confrontations with Jewish Music: A Scholarly Dilemma” Dr. Pamela Potter, Professor of Musicology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Response: Judith S. Pinnolis, Academic Outreach Librarian for Graduate Studies and Humanities, Brandeis University
Discussion Forum/ Q & A Dr. Eugene R. Sheppard, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought, Brandeis University
December 9, 2011 “Jewish Identities and the Quest for Purity in 20-Century Art Music” Dr. Klara Moricz, Visiting Professor, University of Amherst
February 9, 2012 “The St. Petersburg School: The Music of Leo Zeitlin (1884-1930)” Professor Paula Eisenstein Baker With music examples by YIVO's Sindney Krum Young Artists
NINTH SEASON, 2012-13
October 29, 2012 Hebrew Union College, Chapel (Live presentation cancelled because of Hurricane Sandy - Soon Available Online)
A Prayer for Modernity: Cantor Abraham Baer (1834-1894) and the Jewish Reform Movement Anders Hammarlund, Associate Professor Center for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research
In 1877 Abraham Baer published his Baal t'fillah oder der practische Vorbeter, an epoch-making work in the history of Jewish liturgical music. Baer's publication is considered the most comprehensive documentation of traditional, 19th-century European hazzanut. While his work is well known, astonishingly little has been published or written about Baer's biography. Hammarlund's work sheds new light on the cantor's early years in the German/Polish province of Posen, and on his cultural environment in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he served as cantor, shochet and mohel from 1857. It is demonstrated that the very peculiar and specific cultural climate of the Swedish city considerably encouraged Baer in his efforts. His Baal t'fillah emerged from a fascinating interplay between Jewish, Swedish and German cultures characteristic of "the Gothenburg spirit." Further, Baer could be described as a pioneer of Swedish ethnomusicology.
Dr Anders Hammarlund is a Swedish ethnomusicologist and cultural historian. He has served as a music researcher and producer at Sveriges Radio (the Swedish public service broadcaster) and as a university professor in Uppsala, Stockholm, and Gothenburg. Currently Dr. Hammarlund serves as research archivist in charge of multicultural affairs at Music Development and Heritage Sweden (Statens musikverk), the government institution for the music scene in Sweden. At Statens musikverk, Dr. Hammarlund coordinates and supports collaborative projects of national interest as well as works to preserve, promote and make the cultural heritage within theatre, dance and music accessible.
Hammarlund's research has focussed on topics of music and migration, cultural identity, and Jewish cultural history. From 2009 to 2011 he was in charge of the research project Gestaltung Identity Integration, which dealt with the life and work of the Jewish Cantor Abraham Baer (1834-1894).
