Jewish Culture Day on the South Bank
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350 years of British Jewish Music
26 November 2006, 10.00am - 12.00 Riverside Room

An Illustrated talk by Dr Malcolm Miller surveying the creativity of Jewish musicians and the music used for Jewish worship and celebration over the last 350 years. £5

This lecture explores the wealth of musical styles, secular and sacred, produced by Jewish immigrants and by their descendants from the time of Oliver Cromwell. The recent revivals of Klezmer, Yiddish and Ladino styles is a reflection of a growing interest in multi-culturalism and stylistic hybridity which permeates the wider global cultural arena, evident in a growing interest in world musics. Jewish Music in Britain provides a fascinating crucible in which to reflect on such issues of identity, in particular the synthesis of ancient traditions and the varied experience of the Jewish Diaspora. The discussion will cover sacred music on both Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions in Britain , namely in the work of cantor-choirmasters such as De Sola, Mombach, Saqui and Alman. Jewish art music of the 18 th-19 th centuries will be illustrated through consideration of composers and performers such as Cervetto, Abraham Aguilar, Isaac Nathan, Sir Julius Benedict, Henry Russell and others. The burst of creativity of Jewish art music in the 20th and 21 st centuries is reflected in contributions of composers such as Goldschmidt, Goehr, Horovitz, Saxton, Singer, Elias, performers such as Myra Hess. Within the contemporary global social context – Anglo Jewish music in all its forms stands as, and promises to be, a major force for building an enriching cultural tapestry in Britain and beyond. Malcolm Miller © 2006.

Malcolm Miller is a musicologist and pianist, currently Research Associate and Associate Lecturer in Music with the Open University. He received a doctorate from King's College, London, with a study of Wagner, and is a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd edition), the Routledge Companion to Modern Jewish Culture (Taylor & Francis 2004), and other major publications as well as journals including Musical Opinion, Tempo, The Jewish Chronicle, Musica Judaica. He is Editor of Arietta, Journal of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe, and Assistant editor of EPTA Piano Journal. He was recipient of a Millennium Award from the Jewish Music Institute for his project on ‘Israeli Piano Music’ and is Director of the JMI’s recently formed ‘Forum for Israeli Music’. Malcolm Miller’s articles ‘Between Two Cultures: An Interview with Sulamit Ran’ and ‘Psanterin: Anthology of Israeli Piano Music’ appear in Vol 58, nos.227 & 230, January & September 2004.

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Box office

T: 08703 800 400
www.rfh.org.uk
Concessions - £2.50 off each ticket if booking more than one show (except Jewish Schools Choir Festival)

Presented by JMI and Central Synagogue
Supported by the Jewish Chronicle

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