Author Archives: Pro Musica Hebraica

A rich trove of music created by Jewish artists under the Nazis is to be revealed in a new radio series.  Presented by Jewish historian Shirli Gilbert of University College London (UCL), Music That Survived The Nazis is inspired by a recently digitised cache of songs recorded by two Jewish labels from Berlin in the… Continue Reading »

Allan Nadler reviews From Psalm to Lamentation: A Concert of Cantorial Masterpieces: It was especially good to be reminded of hazzanut, our own equally magnificent treasury of classical composition for the synagogue, which for too long has been spurned and scorned by Jews of all denominations.  It was comforting and inspiring to be moved not… Continue Reading »

Arnold Schoenberg and Jascha Heifetz considered him one of the greatest composers of their generation. He developed a revolutionary new system of playing the violin, which is now considered commonplace. He was one of the most celebrated and influential Jewish nationalist composers and was among the first to incorporate ancient Jewish trop (liturgical chant) into modern concertos,… Continue Reading »

Pro Musica Hebraica is pleased to announce its fifth season at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The 2011-2012 program features two extraordinary pianists who will explore the different faces of Jewish music — from the lost generation of European composers of the 1920s and 1930s to the greatest French pianists of the 19th century.

My mother left Berlin in 1932. It was nothing to do with the Nazis, just that, fortunately, my grandfather happened to have been offered a journalistic position in London. In England my mother was teased for her German accent. Now people joke that she sounds like the Queen. She claimed, oddly I always felt, to… Continue Reading »