In this talk “Jewish Religious Music in Nineteenth-Century America: Restoring the Synagogue Soundtrack”, Professor Judah Cohen of Indiana University explores the very creation of what we know today as “Jewish music.” There were no professional cantors in synagogues in early America. Choirs were non-existent. Synagogue practice mirrored that in European synagogues. But all that changed in 19th Century America. Why? Sharing insights from a book of the same name, Cohen tells the story of the innovations and evolutions in Jewish musical developments of that period, laying the foundation of the Jewish music we know today. UCLA student vocalists sing music of the period, highlighting Cohen’s talk.

Professor Shari Rabin of the College of Charleston, scholar of American religious history and the author of “Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century America” will be the respondent.

This event is made possible by the Lowell Milken Fund for American Jewish Music at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. It is co-sponsored by The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, the Department of Ethnomusicology, the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies and the Department of Musicology.

Please RSVP at https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/event/restoring-the-synagogue-soundtrack/.