Exploration of the Significance and Influence of American Jewish Music, held at UCLA
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies are hosting a two-day conference titled "American Culture and the Jewish Experience in Music." The event, inaugurating the Lowell Milken Fund for American Jewish Music at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, is funded by various sources including the Lowell Milken Fund, the Mickey Katz Endowed Chair in Jewish Music, the Center for Musical Humanities, the Natalie Limonick Symposium in Jewish Civilization, and other generous donors.
The conference aims to explore the significant role of Jewish influence in shaping various American music genres and cultural expressions. It will highlight how Jewish musicians, producers, and cultural figures contributed to the development, popularization, and transformation of American music, particularly in genres such as rhythm and blues, folk, and hip hop.
Jewish involvement was crucial in amplifying African American music, especially rhythm and blues, where Jewish entrepreneurs and executives largely controlled the independent record business that introduced this music to broader audiences in the mid-20th century. In folk music, Jewish composers and performers, including foundational figures like Aaron Copland, influenced social justice themes and musical aesthetics embraced by iconic American folk artists such as Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, who had Jewish roots and connections to Jewish music and ideals. Additionally, Jewish artists and producers played a prominent role in hip hop’s commercial expansion and stylistic development in the 1980s and 1990s, with Jewish executives like Rick Rubin and Lyor Cohen and groups like the Beastie Boys shaping the genre.
The conference will also address deeper cultural and historical debates within Jewish music traditions themselves—such as authenticity, aesthetics, and identity—revealing complex intellectual exchanges exemplified by figures like cantor Pinchas Minkovsky, who balanced universal musical standards with the particularities of Jewish nationalist music.
Highlights of the symposium include a symposium devoted to the legendary composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, panels on the legacy of "Fiddler on the Roof," scenes from musicals based on Jewish topics enacted by UCLA musical theater students, and a presentation and film screening of "100 years of The Jazz Singer."
An evening concert on Sunday, Nov. 5 at the Stephen S. Wise Temple in Bel Air opens the conference, featuring the world premiere of "David's Quilt," an original, contemporary libretto performed by UCLA students and alumni. The concert is free, but attendees must make a reservation at Bit.ly/DavidsQuilt.
The chamber music concert re-creates the 1945 Wilshire Ebell Theatre concert organized by musicologist Annaliese Landau, showcasing the work of Jewish immigrant composers, including Korngold, Ernest Toch, Arnold Schoenberg, and Louis Gruenberg.
The conference will illustrate how American culture provided unprecedented opportunities for Jewish artists to thrive across musical genres. It will also explore the influence of Jewish customs, values, and beliefs on American music and the growth of music for Jews in America. The symposium, which will convene on campus Nov. 6 and 7, will survey the enduring template that Jewish cultural expression has on compositions found in film, television, and cartoons.
Conference reservations are required and can be made at [email protected] or (310) 267-5327. For more details about the conference schedule, visit the official website. The funding for the concert at the Stephen S. Wise Temple is provided by the school of music's Lowell Milken Fund for American Jewish Music and David and Irmgard Dobrow Fund, as well as the Max Helfman Institute for New Jewish Music. The Lowell Milken Fund for American Jewish Music is a gift from the Lowell Milken Family Foundation.
The conference is being convened by Mark Kligman, the Mickey Katz Endowed Chair in Jewish Music. It is presented by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies.
- The conference, "American Culture and the Jewish Experience in Music," at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, aims to demonstrate how education and self-development in music have been significantly impacted by Jewish influences in various American music genres, such as rhythm and blues, folk, and hip hop.
- In addition to exploring the transformation of American music, the symposium will also delve into entertainment aspects, such as the presentation of "100 years of The Jazz Singer," a film screening and discussion about Jewish cultural expression in film and television.
