A Maestro's Mind and Musings on Jewish Music
October 06, 2020
When maestro Kenneth Kiesler worked on the Milken Archive recordings with composers like David Schiff, David Amram and Paul Schoenfield, he couldn't anticipate the many profound effects it would have on his life and career.
For music lovers, these collaborations resulted in definitive recordings of important Jewish operas like David Schiff's Gimpel the Fool and Abraham Ellstein's The Golem, as well as sacred services and choral works by Marvin David Levy, Jacob Weinberg, and Sholom Secunda. For Kiesler, they also resulted in lifelong friendships, numerous subsequent collaborations, and a change in his own awareness of Jewish music.
"I honestly had only thought of programming very few [Jewish music] works prior to this. … So I became more conscious of it, and I think I became more conscious of it in teaching my students, many of whom are out there in the world doing the music now."
Discover more about Kenneth Kiesler in his own words, watch videos and, of course, listen to the music.
