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In Their Own Words

Leo Kraft

Explore the life and legacy of the composer through his 1999 interview with the Milken Archive

 

FEATURED MUSIC
VOLUME 1

Jewish Voices in the New World

The Song of Prayer in Colonial and 19th-Century America
VOLUME 2

A Garden Eastward

Sephardi and Near Eastern Inspiration
VOLUME 3

SEDER T'FILLOT

Traditional and Contemporary Synagogue Services
VOLUME 4

Cycle of Life in Synagogue and Home

Prayers and Celebrations Throughout the Jewish Year
VOLUME 5

The Classical Klezmer

Rebirth of a Folk Tradition
VOLUME 6

Echoes of Ecstasy

Hassidic Inspiration
VOLUME 7

Masterworks of Prayer

Art in Worship
VOLUME 8

Sing Unto Zion!

In Praise of a Jewish National Home
VOLUME 9

The Art of Jewish Song

Yiddish and Hebrew
VOLUME 10

Intimate Voices

Solo and Ensemble Music of Jewish Spirit
VOLUME 11

Symphonic Visions

Orchestral Works of Jewish Spirit
VOLUME 12

Legend of Toil and Celebration

Songs of Solidarity, Social Awareness, and Yiddish Americana
VOLUME 13

Great Songs of the American Yiddish Stage

Yiddish Theater, Vaudeville, Radio, and Film
VOLUME 14

Golden Voices in the Golden Land

The Great Age of Cantorial Art in America
VOLUME 15

Swing His Praises

Jazz, Blues, and Rock in the Service of God
VOLUME 16

Heroes and Heroines

Jewish Opera
VOLUME 17

Odes and Epics

Dramatic Music of Jewish Experience
VOLUME 18

Psalms and Canticles

Jewish Choral Art in America
VOLUME 19

Out of the Whirlwind

Musical Reflections of the Holocaust
VOLUME 20

L'DOR VADOR

A Celebration of Youth

EXPLORE MUSIC

HIGHLIGHTS

MILKEN ARCHIVE RECORDING

Danse de Salomé

SHORT DOCUMENTARY

Spotlight Series: Theodore Bikel

MILKEN ARCHIVE RECORDING

Chants and Elegies for Tisha b'av

TABLET

Yiddish Folk Song in Classical Music

UCLA MAJE

Secret Chords Concert Series

Short concerts from celebrated Jewish musicians representing a broad range of styles, heritages, and histories. Recorded live in front of intimate audiences in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

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FEATURED CONTENT
MILKEN ARCHIVE ARTIST

Artist Spotlight: Cantor Ida Rae Cahana

Cantor Ida Rae Cahana was raised in Pittsburgh, where at age seventeen she became the first woman in the tri-state area to be featured in a synagogue as a cantorial soloist.

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COMPOSER INTERVIEW

Leo Kraft on the Proverb of Solomon

Leo Kraft discusses the inception and various versions of his Proverb of Solomon, composed in 1953 for the chorus of the Hillel Foundation at Queens College.

Watch
VIRTUAL EXHIBIT

Great Songs of the American Yiddish Stage, Part 1: Abraham Ellstein

Abraham Ellstein was born on New York’s Lower East Side in 1907. Serving as a boy chorister in local synagogues exposed him early on to the intricacies of cantorial art, or hazzanut. He received his early musical training at the Third Street Settlement House and sang in the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. He is said to have written a short opera at the age of eight.

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FEATURED ARTISTS
CANTORS

Robert Abelson

Born in Brooklyn, baritone Robert Paul Abelson has long been a noted cantor and cantorial...
INSTRUMENTALISTS

Pablo Aslan

Living in the United States since 1980, Argentine-born bassist and composer Pablo Aslan is recognized...
COMPOSERS

Ofer Ben-Amots

Ofer Ben-Amots, who was born in Haifa, Israel, gave his first piano concert at age...
COMPOSERS

Aaron Bensoussan

Born in Mogador (now Essaouira, near Agadir), Morocco, Cantor Aaron Bensoussan is the scion of...
SINGERS

Joanne Borts

A contemporary Yiddish theater performer, Joanne Borts made her Broadway debut in Fiddler on the...
SINGERS

Julianna Gondek

Juliana Gondek studied at the University of Southern California.
ENSEMBLES

Iris Orchestra

Iris Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the Germantown Performing Arts Center in Germantown, Tennessee...
COMPOSERS

Flory Jagoda

Flory Jagoda is one of the most recognized musicians in Sephardi music today, and one...
CONDUCTORS

Sir Neville Marriner

Sir Neville Marriner was born in Lincoln in 1924 and studied the violin first in...
CONDUCTORS

Jorge Mester

The American conductor Jorge Mester was born in Mexico City in 1935 to parents who...
INSTRUMENTALISTS

Elmar Oliveira

The son of Portuguese immigrants, American violinist Elmar Oliveira was nine when he began studying...
COMPOSERS

Shulamit Ran

“Shulamit Ran has never forgotten that a vital essence of composition is communication,” proclaimed critic...

MORE ARTISTS

DISCOVER MORE
SPECIAL FEATURE

Musical Echoes of Ukraine in the American Jewish Experience
ORAL HISTORY

The Malavsky Sisters
MILKEN ARCHIVE ALBUM

Dave Brubeck
SPOTLIGHT SERIES

Dr. Noreen Green
SPECIAL FEATURE

Getting Started with the Milken Archive
DOCUMENTARY

Klezmer Concertos and Encores

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