Michael Isaacson (born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, USA in 1946) is a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

synagogue music, and one of the originators of the Jewish camp song movement.Alexander Gelfand
"A Musical Midrashist"
, ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

'', December 5, 2007.Alexander Gelfand
"Song and Prayer"
, '' Tablet Magazine'', January 12, 2011. His camp songs were often written and premiered on the same day, defining the camp music movement in the 1960s.

Biography

He received his MA in Composition from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

, where he studied composition with Robert Starer. He also holds a PhD in Composition from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied under

Warren Benson Warren Frank Benson (January 26, 1924 – October 6, 2005) was an American composer. His compositions consist mostly of music for wind instruments and percussion. His most notable piece is titled ''The Leaves Are Falling'' (1964). Biography Benso ...

and Samuel Adler. After moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1976 to compose and arrange for television and film, he was commissioned by several local congregations to produce the synagogue works, 'Sim Shalom' from the Regeneration album, and 'Bayom Hahu' from the Nishmat Chayim Shabbat service. His work in conjunction with Cantor Nathan Lam of Stephen S. Wise Temple was recorded on several albums, including the 1986 album ''Legacy'', described by one reviewer as "startling". His setting of "Bayom Hahu" was used as "a strong representation of Jewish-sounding music" in the 1999 film '' Liberty Heights'' (anachronistically, since the film is set in the 1950s). In 1990, Isaacson was the first artistic director of what is now called the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music. He has conducted and produced more than fifty CDs of symphonic, chamber, and choral music, including all the permanent exhibit symphonic music for New York City's Museum of Jewish Heritage. He conducted a recording of it entitled "Heritage" with the

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is a major Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert ...

in Tel Aviv and has subsequently conducted 15 CDs of Jewish music with the IPO and its chamber music group the Israel String Quartet. He was co-commissioned by forty-three North American Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist Jewish congregations to compose and produce a Sabbath evening service entitled "L'maaseih V'reisheet - To Recreate the World" with standardized pre-recorded accompaniment tracks and synthesis and instrumentation (EWIs and EBIs). The work simultaneously premiered on Shabbat Shirah, the Sabbath of Song in January 2001; making it the largest co-commission of synagogue music in history. Much of his sacred music incorporates both Hebrew and English in the text. His choral arrangements of Yiddish, Ladino, and Israeli music comprise The Michael Isaacson Folk Music Series at Transcontinental Music Publications. The three-volume Michael Isaacson Songbook, published by Transcontinental Music Publications, includes 160 of his musical compositions for solo and unison voices accompanied by keyboard. He composed a three-movement chamber work is for clarinet and string quartet entitled "The Shul In My Right Mind". Isaacson is also the author of the 2007 book "''Jewish Music as Midrash: What Makes Music Jewish?"'', accompanied by a double CD of his musical examples. The spoken version by Dr. Isaacson is available from Oysongs.com Isaacson was one of the ten composers who were the subject of a 2006 multimedia exhibition called "A Living Legacy: American Jewish Liturgical Composers of the 20th Century" at the

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

Museum in New York. In 2017, he was awarded ''Honoris causa'' a Doctor of Humane Letters from Hebrew Union College

Though he is known primarily for his work in music for the Jewish life cycle and worship, Isaacson has also produced over 100 chamber works for double reed instruments published by Trevco Music and works for flute and piccolo from ALRY Music. His "The Fearless Whistler" and "November Song" for piccolo have expanded the instrument's image. The Michael Isaacson Archive – containing his publications, manuscripts, and papers – is held at the Sibley Music Library,

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

in Rochester, New York."Michael Isaacson Collection"
Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music (accessed 2020-05-01).

References

External links

The Michael Isaacson website
from Zam'ru: The Jewish Choral Music Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Isaacson, Michael 1946 births Jewish American composers Jewish American musicians Living people Pupils of Samuel Adler (composer) Brooklyn College alumni 21st-century American Jews