Press Releases
The Milken Archive of Jewish Music, in conjunction with the Theodore Bikel Legacy Project, releases a mini-documentary on “The Singer of His People”
July 17, 2018Theodore Bikel’s hope was to be remembered as “the singer of his people.” He was that—and a lot more besides. The Emmy winning, Oscar and Tony-nominated actor, singer, and peace activist defined iconic roles in “The Sound of Music” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” released dozens of albums of folk songs, was co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival, took a lead role in the Civil Rights Movement, was a long-time president of Actor's Equity, and helped secure the survival of Yiddish cultu...
Jewish American Heritage Month In May 2018 Celebrates American Jews And Music
May 02, 2018Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) is a national commemoration of the contributions that American Jews have made to the fabric of our nation's history, culture, and society. The theme for May 2018 is American Jews and Music which focuses on the rich and deep influence of American Jews on American music across decades and genres. The JAHM website, www.jahm.us, offers interactive content and educational resources to facilitate nationwide engagement. First established by presidential proclamatio...
UCLA receives $1.5 million from Lowell Milken Family Foundation to advance American Jewish music
April 06, 2017Gift is largest donation made to a university to support Jewish music research and performance
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music has received a $1.5 million gift from the Lowell Milken Family Foundation to establish the Lowell Milken Fund for American Jewish Music. The fund will enable the school to build on the work of the Milken Archive of Jewish Music, a collection of recordings, scores and historical materials that document the Jewish experience in America over the past 350 years.
The Mil...
Milken Archive of Jewish Music Unveils New Interactive Multimedia Experience
September 13, 2016The Milken Archive of Jewish Music: The American Experience has launched an ambitious new website (www.milkenarchive.org) that allows visitors to seamlessly experience virtually every piece of music and every composer that the Archive has recorded since its founding in 1990.
“This new site is a vast repository of a musical culture that has continually redefined and reinvented itself as it has responded to the opportunities and challenges of life in a land of freedom,” according to Milken Arc...
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Mussaf Service for Rosh Hashanah
November 17, 2015The Milken Archive’s Volume 3—SEDER T’FILLOT—provides a broad overview of Jewish liturgical music in the United States as it pertains to the three main branches of Judaism. Previous releases include a traditional S’lihot service according to Orthodox ritual, Sabbath evening and morning Torah services from the post-Classical Reform era (1940s–1960s), and a post-1970s Yom Kippur afternoon, memorial and concluding service according to Gates of Repentance prayerbook, also in the Reform f...
From Carnegie Hall to Casablanca Disco
October 20, 2015For centuries Jews residing on the Iberian Peninsula enjoyed a prolonged period of tolerant Islamic rule that enabled an efflorescence of Jewish culture. Sephardi Jews who were expelled from modern-day Spain and Portugal at the height of the Spanish Inquisition spread from Amsterdam and London to the far reaches of the old Ottoman Empire and beyond, absorbing and influencing the many musical traditions they encountered along the way.
Yet for many years, the rich tradition of Sephardi music remai...
The Complete Cycle
October 06, 2015Like many other faiths and belief systems, Jewish religious life is marked by a regular, recurring rhythm, one of prescribed dates and hours comprising the daily, weekly, monthly, annual, and human life span observances, rituals, liturgical occasions, and ceremonies, all of which may be understood as part of the overarching cycle of Jewish life.
The Milken Archive’s Volume 4: Cycle of Life in Synagogue and Home surveys the musical component of this life cycle with music that is sacred and se...
Three New Albums from the Milken Archive
August 11, 2015Diverse repertoire highlights various ways in which composers and worshipers connect to faith and heritage.
The Milken Archive continues building out its comprehensive collection with three new albums featuring vocal and choral works, chamber music, and liturgical settings for the Sabbath day.
From Samuel Adler and Ralph Shapey, Volume 17, Album 8: Choose Life and The Covenant, comprises two extended works: one a mediations on choice and responsibility; the other a painful inquiry on the crisis...
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Spirits Unconquered
June 23, 2015Musical memorials to the Holocaust tread on sensitive ground. On one hand, they perform a crucial function for humanity’s collective memory. On the other hand, there is significant risk of belittling the topic in the name of artistic expression. Two composers who have successfully navigated the risky waters of this endeavor to produce musically significant works with dignity and veneration are Charles Davidson and Sheila Silver. A newly released album from the Milken Archive of Jewish Music’...
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Woe to Jerusalem, Praise to God
June 09, 2015For composers, Jewish history and the bible are gifts that keep on giving. Case in point: two very different but equally engaging recordings recently added to the Milken Archive of Jewish Music: The American Experience in Volume 17, Odes and Epics: Dramatic Music of Jewish Experience.
Leading off is Robert Starer’s six-movement dramatic cantata, Ariel: Visions of Isaiah. Comprising settings of selected verses from the Book of Isaiah, the piece presents a condensed narrative of Isaiah’s visio...
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