Composing Jewish Music: Yiddish, Archives, and Memory

 

This talk examines composer Alex Weiser’s evolving understanding of “Jewish music” and the role of the “Jewish composer,” shaped by his creative work, research in Yiddish language and archives, and his position at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Tracing his trajectory from early musical training to his engagement with Yiddish culture and historiography, Weiser situates his compositions within broader traditions of Jewish art music.

 

He will discuss works including the song cycles And All the Days Were Purple, which was a 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist, In a Dark Blue Night, and Coney Island Days; his operas The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language and Tevye’s Daughters; and his clarinet concerto Tfiles, examining how each engages with Jewish intellectual and cultural traditions. He is currently developing the opera Tevye’s Daughters with librettist Stephanie Fleischmann (American Lyric Theater) and recently premiered The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language with librettist Ben Kaplan (American Opera Projects).

 

Alex Weiser also serves as Director of Public Programs at the YIVO Institute, where he has commissioned more than fifteen new works from leading composers for concerts he has curated.

 

 

---

Please click here to RSVP
Please email spevents@hunter.cuny.edu with any questions.

---

 

For more information on all events and to support the Jewish Studies Center at Hunter College please visit https://www.hunter.cuny.edu/artsci/jewish-studies-center/