Pro Musica Hebraica (PMH) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is "to present Jewish classical music – much of it lost or forgotten – in a concert hall setting." Since April 2008, Pro Musica Hebraica has presented 13 concerts, typically two per year at Washington D.C.’s

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

. The concert series featured performances by

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman (; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the First ina ...

, the ARC Ensemble of Canada, the Apollo Ensemble of Amsterdam,

Jascha Nemtsov Jascha and Yascha are Yiddish or German language spellings of the East Slavic name Yasha, a diminutive of Yakov, or Jacob. Notable people with the name include: * Jascha Brodsky (1907–1997), Russian-American violinist * Jascha Franklin-Hodge ( ...

, and

Marc-André Hamelin Marc-André Hamelin, OC, OQ (born September 5, 1961) is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer who has received 11 Grammy Award nominations. He is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music. Biography Born in Montreal, Quebec ...

, among others. The concert recordings are not sold, but are available on the website for free. PMH concerts are occasionally broadcast on

WETA (FM) WETA (90.9 FM) is a non-commercial, public FM radio station licensed to serve Washington, D.C., broadcasting a classical music format. Its studios are located in Arlington, Virginia and its broadcast tower is located near Arlington at (). W ...

History

Founded in 2004, Pro Musica Hebraica was the idea of lawyer-turned-artist Robyn Krauthammer, who recognized that there was a tradition of Jewish music that was neglected within the Jewish community and that deserved to be recovered and appreciated by the general public as great music worthy of the concert hall. As her husband (and PMH co-founder),

Charles Krauthammer Charles Krauthammer (; March 13, 1950 – June 21, 2018) was an American political columnist. A moderate liberal who turned independent conservative as a political pundit, Krauthammer won the Pulitzer Prize for his columns in ''The Washington ...

, put it, "when people hear ‘Jewish music,’ they think Israeli folk-dancing -- ‘Hava Nagila’—they think of liturgical music, they think of Kol Nidre, they might think of klezmer and that's it. It turns out there's a great, rich tradition of classical Jewish music people just don't know about.” The idea is to bring Jewish experience, feeling, and history – 'Jewish soul,' if you like – as expressed through classical music. They presented the idea of twice yearly concerts of these neglected masterpieces to Kennedy Center Director Michael Kaiser, who offered his encouragement and support. In December 2012, Kaiser said that the Kennedy Center "is enjoying a wonderful collaborative relationship with Pro Musica Hebraica. Their concerts here are always well received, and it's been great to see the company grow.” Pro Musica Hebraica was formed and made its debut in the Terrace Theatre at the Kennedy Center on April 10, 2008 with a concert featuring Itzhak Perlman and the

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

players honoring the 100th anniversary of the St. Petersburg school of Jewish composers.

Mission

Pro Musica Hebraica defines its mission as aspiring “to expose our audience to the magnificent range of Jewish music and to present Jewish composers not as cultural curiosities or ethnic heroes, but as passionate modern artists who embrace the challenge of expressing their Jewishness through the creative medium of music.” As the founders emphasize, this mission is flexible, not focusing on a single region or style, and less on DNA than sensibility—an attachment, feeling, or concern with Jewish experience Jewish destiny. One of Pro Musica Hebraica’s primary goals is education – training a new generation of musicians to learn the works while leading new audiences to appreciate the Jewish tradition and Jewish music. "If only a few of these compositions end up in the canon," Charles Krauthammer says, "it will be a great achievement."

Inaugural concert

Pro Musica Hebraica’s first concert (on April 10, 2008) featured musicians from the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

and Itzhak Perlman as a special guest. It celebrated the centenary of the 1908 Society for Jewish Folk Music in St. Petersburg, a group of self-defined Jewish composers from Russia and the first association devoted to Jewish musical traditions. Responding to the challenge of European nationalism, the St. Petersburg Society “gave rise to what would become known as Jewish art music—music that deliberately melded Western and Russian classical music with Hasidic melodies, Yiddish folk songs and synagogue chants, capturing the sounds of the towns and villages of the

Pale of Settlement The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlem ...

.” As Charles Krauthammer explained, “It's music that's either consciously or unconsciously drawn from the folk, the klezmer, the liturgical, the shtetl,” and reinterpreted in the spirit of “modern classical sensibility.” The concert presented the forgotten works of composers Joel Engel, Solomon Rosowsky, and

Alexander Krein Alexander Abramovich Krein (; 20 October 1883 in Nizhny Novgorod – 25 April 1951 in Staraya Ruza, Moscow Oblast) was a Soviet composer. Background The Krein family was steeped in the klezmer tradition; his father Abram (who moved to Russia fro ...

. The embrace of Jewish music by these composers influenced the likes of

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

and

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

Reception

Reviews of the concert series have been quite positive. For example, in a review of the inaugural concert, the ''Washington Post'' wrote that PMH’s inaugural concert was “an auspicious start” to an organization that is “breathing new life into lost Jewish music.” PMH’s Fall 2008 concert—which featured the performance of the ARC Ensemble of Toronto and the music of “last century’s least-known Jewish geniuses,” Mieczsław Weinberg—was called a “powerful performance.” PMH’s Fall 2010 concert—which focused on the work of

Karel Berman Karel Berman (14 April 1919 in Jindřichův Hradec, Czechoslovakia – 11 August 1995 in Prague, Czech Republic) was a Jewish Czech people, Czech opera singer, composer, opera director, and translator. Life After extensive musical education, Karel ...

Paul Ben-Haim Paul Ben-Haim (or Paul Ben-Chaim, ; 5 July 1897 – 14 January 1984) was an Israeli composer. Born Paul Frankenburger in Munich, Germany, he studied composition with Friedrich Klose and he was assistant conductor to Bruno Walter and Hans Knapp ...

, and

Walter Braunfels Walter Braunfels (; 19 December 1882 – 19 March 1954) was a German composer, pianist, and music educator. Life Walter Braunfels was born in Frankfurt. His first music teacher was his mother, the great-niece of the composer Louis Spohr. He co ...

—was lauded as “enthralling mix” that “riveted the audience's attention.” Its Fall 2011 concert, which included works by

, was described as reflecting “romantic longing and peasant energy, the imperatives of both dance and religion and a reverence for history, all couched in the modality and the emphatic rhythms that characterize so much of what we recognize as a Jewish musical tradition.” Its most recent, Spring 2012 concert, featuring Marc-Andre Hamelin, was praised by Anne Midgette, chief media critic for the ''Washington Post'', as “an intimate and engaging concert” with a “refreshingly intriguing program.” She wrote: “Hamelin did an outstanding job bringing across a lot of unfamiliar music to the audience,” adding: “Hamelin proceeded to play he second encoreso engagingly that the audience was laughing along with some of the more extreme variations…and jumped to its feet when he was done.” Music critic Stephen Brooke called the Fall 2012 concert "a blazing, larger-than-life performance that seemed to celebrate the triumph of the human spirit, even from the depths of chaos." Reviewing PMH's first ever winter-time concert featuring Cantor Netanel Hershtik, Joan Reinthaler "A superstar cantor opens Pro Musica Hebraica with strength and agility.... The program ranged from music for the liturgy to music for the theater, but all of it embodied that potent combination of sinuous, Eastern modality and heart-on-the-sleeve 19th-century romantic operatic drama that can convey both sorrow and exultation with so much dramatic juice."

Composers

Joseph Achron Joseph Yulyevich Achron, also seen as Akhron (Russian: Иосиф Юльевич Ахрон, Hebrew: יוסף אחרון) (May 1, 1886April 29, 1943) was a Russian composer and violinist, who settled in the United States. His preoccupation with ...

(1886-1943) *

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, amon ...

(1780–1855) * Anonymous (Dio Clemenza e Rigore, Hoshana Rabbah in Casale Monferrato, 1733) *

(1897-1984) *

(1919-1995) *

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (; ; July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. Several of his most no ...

(1880-1959) *

(1882-1954) * Abraham Caceres (fl. 1740) * Julius Chajes (1910-1985) *

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

(1810-1849) * Joel Engel (1868-1927) * Meir Finkelstein (born 1951) *

Osvaldo Golijov Osvaldo Noé Golijov (; born December 5, 1960) is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work. Biography Osvaldo Golijov was born in and raised in La Plata, Argentina, to a Jewish family ...

(born 1960) *

Mikhail Gnesin Mikhail Fabianovich Gnessin (; sometimes transcribed ''Gnesin''; 2 February .S. 21 January18835 May 1957)Sitsky, Larry. (1994) ''Music of the Repressed Russian Avant-Garde, 1900–1929,'' pp. 242–243 & 247 Westport, CT: Greenwood Press was a R ...

(1883-1957) *

Yossi Green Yossi Green (born May 30, 1955) is a Hasidic Jewish composer of contemporary Jewish religious music. he has written more than 1000 melodiesBleich, Chananya. "A Time to Sing: Well-known Chasidic musicians share some of the high points of their car ...

(born 1955) *

Erich Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (; May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian composer and conductor, who fled Europe in the mid-1930s and later adopted US nationality. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential compo ...

(1897-1957) *

(1883-1951) * Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894) * Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (1686-1739) *

Michel Michelet Michel Michelet (July 14, 1894 – December 28, 1995) was a composer of film scores.Mayer & McDonnell p.129 Born as Mikhail Isaakovich Levin to a Jewish family in Kyiv (then in the Russian Empire), he moved to Western Europe before settling in Fra ...

(1894-1995) *

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

(1892-1974) *

Julius Oscar Julius may refer to: People * Julius (name), a masculine given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) * Julius (nomen), the name of a Roman family (includes a list of Ancient Romans with the name) ** Julius Caesar (100– ...

(1903-1986) *

Moishe Oysher Moishe Oysher () (March 8, 1906 – November 27, 1958) was an American cantor, recording artist, and film and Yiddish theatre actor.Zalmen Zylbercweig, ''Leksikon fun Yidishn teater'', Book 3, 2407. During the 1940s and 1950s he was one of the to ...

(1906-1958c) *

(1891-1953) *

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

(1875-1937) * Solomon Rosowsky (1878-1962) *

Salamone Rossi Salamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi () (Salamon, Schlomo; de' Rossi) (ca. 1570 – 1630) was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Italian Renaissance period and early Baroque. Life As a young ...

(c. 1570-1630) *

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

(1797-1828) * Jacob Schoenberg (1900-1956) *

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

(1874-1951) * Yisroel Schorr (1886-1935) * Yehuda Sharet (1901-1975) *

(1906-1975) *

Erwin Schulhoff Erwin Schulhoff (; 8 June 189418 August 1942) was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germ ...

(1894-1942) *

Joachim Stutschewsky Joachim-Yehoyachin Stutschewsky (, ; 7 February 1891, Romny, Russian Empire – 14 November 1982, Tel Aviv, Israel) was a Ukraine-born and Israeli cellist, composer, musicologist. Biography Joachim-Yehoyachin Stutschewsky was born on 7 February ...

(1891-1982) *

Alexandre Tansman Alexander Tansman (, French: Alexandre Tansman; 12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish composer, pianist and conductor who became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. One of the earliest representatives of neoclassicism, associated with ...

(1897-1986) * Alexander Veprik (1889-1958) *

Jacob Weinberg Jacob Weinberg (1 July 1879 – 2 November 1956) was a Russian-born American Jewish composer and pianist who composed over 135 works for piano and other instruments. He was one of the founders of the Jewish National Conservatory in Jerusal ...

(1879-1956) * Mieczsław Weinberg (1919-1996) * Juliusz Wolfsohn (1880-1944) *

Mordechai Yardeni Mordecai (; also Mordechai; , IPA: ) is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He is the cousin and guardian of Esther, who became queen of Achaemenid Empire, Persia under the reign of Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). Mord ...

(1908-1992) *

Leo Zeitlin Lev Mordukhovich Tseitlin (, "Leyb Tseytlin", born 1884, in Pinsk – July 8, 1930, in New York City), known as Leo Zeitlin, was a Russian-Jewish composer. In 1923, he emigrated to the United States. His best-known work is ''Eli Zion'', a par ...

(1884-1930) * Aleksandr Zhitomirskii (1881-1937)

Musicians

* Amernet Quartet *

Apollo Ensemble of Amsterdam Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

* Ariel Quartet *

ARC Ensemble of Toronto Arc may refer to: Mathematics * Arc (geometry), a segment of a differentiable curve ** Circular arc, a segment of a circle * Arc (topology), a segment of a path * Arc length, the distance between two points along a section of a curve * Arc (pr ...

Julian Arp Julian may refer to: People * Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363 * Julian, of the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots * Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints * Julian (given name), people ...

Biava Quartet Biava is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Fabrizio Biava (born 1983), Italian footballer *Giuseppe Biava (born 1977), Italian footballer *Vincenzo Biava (1916–2004), Italian sport shooter *Pier Mario Biava, Italian ca ...

Rachel Calloway Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her a ...

Michael Caterisano Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect), English 13th-century Bishop of Hereford elect * Michael (Khoroshy) ( ...

Tibi Cziger Tibi can refer to: * Tibi (fashion brand), an American fashion company * Tibi, Alicante, a municipality in Spain * Tibi (footballer) (1951–2021), Portuguese footballer * Ahmad Tibi (born 1958), Israeli Arab politician * Bassam Tibi (born 1944), ...

* Alexander Fiterstein * Mark Glanville * Hampton Synagogue Choir * Netanel Hershtik * Alexander Knapp * Alexander Lipowski * Alan Mason *

Margaret Mezzacappa Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Old Iranian. It has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became le ...

* N-E-W Trio *

* Robert Pomakov * Frank Reinecke * Andrew Roitstein *

Rohan De Silva Rohan De Silva is a Sri Lankan pianist. De Silva initially studied at Isipathana College, Colombo and later he migrated abroad to study at the Royal Academy of Music, London and The Juilliard School, New York, while working with violinist Doroth ...

* Konstantin Soukhovetski * Alexander Tall *

Orion Weiss Orion Weiss (born November 8, 1981) is an American classical pianist. Academia Weiss began his musical studies at thPreucil School of Music in Iowa City, Iowa When his family moved to Lyndhurst, Ohio, he continued his piano studies with Carol Lube ...

References

External links

* *{{cite news , url=http://forward.com/articles/12988/post-columnist-starts-jewish-music-project-by-ezra-/ , title=Post Columnist Starts Jewish Music Project , first=Ezra , last=Glinter , date=March 20, 2008 , newspaper=The Jewish Daily Forward , accessdate=May 25, 2012 Organizations established in 2004 2004 establishments in the United States Music of Washington, D.C. Jewish music Music organizations based in the United States