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Hanukkah Music in America, A Nuanced View on Jews and Christmas Music, and Voices of Change
December 23, 2024
Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the legend of the eight-day endurance of a single day’s oil, as well as the heroic Maccabean victory in 165 BCE over the...
The Music of Judith Shatin
November 20, 2024
Judith Shatin, who turns 75 this week, is a renowned composer of choral, chamber, orchestral, and electronic music whose work has received much critical acclaim. Fanfare has called her a composer “possessed of a strong and original voice.” She has...
A Sweet Sukkot
October 22, 2024
Sukkot, like so many Jewish holidays, offers a beautiful opportunity to reflect on the interconnectedness, interdependence, and impermanence of our lives. Yet beyond reflection, Sukkot is a holiday of action. We are encouraged to recognize the bounty in our lives,...
Arnold Schoenberg at 150
September 10, 2024
Throughout 2024, institutions around the world are marking the 150th birthday of Arnold Schoenberg, one of the most innovative, influential, and controversial artists of the 20th century. Born in the waning decades of the Romantic era in one of Europe's most...
Milken Archive Foundations, Now Streaming
August 20, 2024
Episode 13: FoundationsIn the final episode of the series, "Episode 13: Foundations," Leonard Nimoy guides us through the origins and mission of the Milken Archive of Jewish Music. This episode focuses on key works that have defined the Archive, with...
The Conflict and Confluence of Klezmer
July 23, 2024
Episode 12: KlezmerLike many inventions of the diaspora, klezmer is a mix of cultural, stylistic, and historical influences merging into something unique and distinctly Jewish. In Episode 12 of American Jewish Music from the Milken Archive, Leonard Nimoy takes us...
NOW STREAMING — Your Guide to 350 Years of American Jewish Music
July 23, 2024
Assembling and recording the 600+ works in the Milken Archive collection required the careful work of scholars and artists over many years. Today, discovering and enjoying the immense contribution of Jewish music to life in America requires little more than...
Reflecting on a Century of Schonthal and the Passing of Schoenfield
June 18, 2024
In Her Own Words: Ruth SchonthalRuth Schonthal was so thoroughly musical that she couldn’t remember a time when music wasn’t constantly running through her mind—so much so that she had to train herself to listen to people speak. In this...
Reflecting, Revisiting and Reinvigorating Our Heritage
May 22, 2024
Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) shares some undeniable similarities with Jewish holidays themselves. Celebrated each May, it reflects and builds upon the past through both commemoration—emphasizing history and its lessons from the Holocaust—and celebration of the achievements and contributions of...
Yehudi Wyner Celebrates 95 with a Concert and Residency at UCLA – Plus a Passover Playlist
April 17, 2024
Long considered a staple of both American and American Jewish music, Yehudi Wyner looms as large in the cultural imagination as any other composer of his era. He is also an ardent champion of the music of his father, Lazar...
