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Music

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Miriam Gideon

Prolific composer Miriam Gideon took inspiration for her compositions from great poetry and Jewish prayers. In addition to her career as a musical educator, her works have been widely performed, honored, and published.

Edith Gerson-Kiwi

Edith Gerson-Kiwi was a world-renowned musicologist and a pioneer in the research of the music of the Jewish communities in Israel. In 1970 she received the Engel Prize of the Tel Aviv Municipality for her scholarly work in Jewish music.

Lillian Fuchs

Born to a musical family, Lillian Fuchs was a talented pianist, violinist, violist, and composer who toured the United States and Europe. Fuchs was the inspiration for some of the greatest composers of the twentieth century and was a popular teacher at the Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard, and Mannes College of Music.

Recha Freier

German-born Recha Freier founded Youth Aliyah in 1933, which assisted in sending Jewish European teenagers to Palestine prior to World War II to be trained as agricultural pioneers on kibbutzim. Although she was responsible for saving the lives of many thousands of Jewish youth, Freier’s efforts were not officially acknowledged until 1975, when she was eighty-three years old.

Jeanne Franko

Jeanne Franko was a violinist and pianist who performed with her four siblings and had a solo career. After making her debut in Paris before she was fourteen, Franko went on to tour most of the United States with her siblings and later with the Jeanne Franko Trio, perform with many orchestras as a violin soloist, and teach music in New York. 

Helen Forrest

Despite an unhappy childhood, Helen Forrest achieved great success as a singer in several big bands. She was one of the first singers in the big band era whose vocals were featured throughout a full band arrangement, and one of the only women vocalists who had the courage to ask for individualized arrangements.

Vera Fonaroff

Vera Fonaroff was an extraordinary violinist and member of the all-female Olive Mead Quartet. Fonaroff immigrated to America from Kiev at age seven and debuted as a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera House Orchestra at age nine. She toured the world performing with the Olive Mead Quartet and as a soloist and eventually became the director of the violin at the New York Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School).

Sylvia Fine

Humorous composer Sylvia Fine created unique and influential music in her partnership with Danny Kaye. Fine wrote over 100 songs for Kaye to perform, including the music for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Inspector General, and On the Riviera. She taught musical comedy at the University of Southern California and Yale and made philanthropic contributions to universities and Jewish organizations.

Film Industry in the United States

Jewish women have played crucial roles in the United States film industry. Despite sexism and sometimes anti-Semitism, they have worked both behind the scenes, as writers, directors, and producers, as well as on-screen as both Jewish and non-Jewish characters.

Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields wrote songs for a wide variety of musicals that became classics of American culture, from “Hey Big Spender” to “A Fine Romance” and “The Way You Look Tonight,” which won an Academy Award in 1936. In 1971, when the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame held its first annual nominations, Dorothy Fields was the only woman named to the ballot.

Mary Jacqueline Fabian

Mary Jacqueline Fabian was a talented soprano who toured throughout the United States in Europe in the twentieth century. Fabian’s primary legacy to the arts lies not in her performances, her versatility on stage, or her popularity behind the microphone, but rather in her organizational skills and her unswerving conviction that opera and music education are not just for the elite.

Rosa Eskenazi

Roza Eskenazi was a renowned Greek singer who had a long and influential career. She recorded hundreds of songs throughout her life, and her powerful range and unique voice continue to inspire generations of listeners.

"Mama" Cass Elliot

A folk singer with a gift for turning formerly up-tempo tunes like “Dream a Little Dream of Me” into unforgettable torch songs, “Mama” Cass Elliot helped define the sound of her generation as a member of the Mamas and the Papas, as well as during her prolific solo career.

Judith Kaplan Eisenstein

The first American girl to publicly celebrate a bat mitzvah, Judith Kaplan Eisenstein went on to become a Jewish educator, composer, and musicologist. Her accomplishments included studying at the school that would later become Julliard, teaching at the Jewish Theological Seminary Teacher’s Institute, and writing a songbook for children.

Jacqueline du Pre

Jacqueline du Pré was a world-renowned cellist whose career was sadly cut short due to multiple sclerosis. Du Pré gave concerts worldwide in the second half of the twentieth century and was particularly known for her recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor.

Louise Dresser

Louise Dresser was a celebrated singer in vaudeville and musical comedy, as well as a star in early motion pictures. Known largely for her rendition of Paul Dresser’s song “My Gal Sal,” she also sang his “On the Banks of the Wabash.” After vaudeville, Louise Dresser found success on Broadway, before moving to Hollywood to star in films opposite Will Rogers. 

Selina Dolaro

A determined and talented performer, Selina Dolaro raised four children alone while pursuing an illustrious acting and singing career in late nineteenth-century England and America. Dolaro performed in various London operas, most notably as the title role in the first English version of Carmen. She made her American debut as Carmen in 1879.

Edis De Philippe

Opera in Israel owes its creation primarily to singer, director, producer, and impresario Edis De Philippe. De Philippe made her New York opera debut in 1935 before performing with the Paris Opera and touring Europe and South America. She then founded the Israel National Opera Company in 1947 and ran it until her death in 1979.

Ruby Daniel

Ruby Daniel’s 1995 book, Ruby of Cochin: An Indian Jewish Woman Remembers, combines recounting of historical events with engaging storytelling. The book endures as a significant contribution to Jewish history and ethnography.

Shoshana Damari

Shoshana Damari’s lush voice and her fusion of Eastern and Western musical aesthetics made her the voice of a generation in Israeli music, recording dozens of albums in her career. She made several movies, was known for her song “Kalaniyot” (Poppies), and was awarded the Israel Prize in 1988 for her contributions to Israeli music and culture.

Betty Comden

Betty Comden wrote lyrics and librettos for enduring and beloved musicals like Singin’ in the Rain and Peter Pan, winning some of the industry’s highest honors. Comden worked with her writing partner, Adolph Green for almost fifty years on different musicals, winning their final Tony Award together for The Will Rogers Follies in 1991.

Cochin: Jewish Women's Music

For many centuries, Cochin Jewish women have sung Jewish songs, both in Hebrew and in the Malayalam language of Kerala, their ancient homeland on the tropical southwest coast of India. Kerala Jews are unusual among halakhically observant communities in the complex intertwining of female and male knowledge and performance throughout their musical repertoire.

Cantors: American Jewish Women

Women’s vocal leadership in synagogue music began with zogerin (women prayer leaders) in the women’s gallery. In the nineteenth century, women began participating in mixed choral and community singing, and some opera singers acted as cantors in important Reform congregations. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Reform and Conservative movements began formally investing women as cantors, and today a plurality of cantors in liberal movements are women.

Tullia Calabi-Zevi

Born in Milan, Tullia Calabi-Zevi began working as a journalist during World War II and wrote prolifically for a number of publications over the next few decades. In her later life she held many public leadership positions, including several in organizations specifically concerning Jewish life in Italy.

Claire Brook

Claire Brook was a writer, editor, and composer whose career was most distinguished by her work in publishing. After retiring from W.W. Norton, she founded Pendragon Press, a small press focused on musicological books, with her husband and brother.

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