Bonnie Abrams and Allen Hopkins perform acoustic folk music. Bonnie writes and sings new songs. A CD called A Sudenyu of Yiddish offers traditional and contemporary folk and theater songs in Yiddish.

http://dynrec.com/bonnieabrams/

English. Composer and soprano. Born,(ca) 1758. Died, 1822. Studied with Thomas Arne. Stage debut in October, 1775 in May Day as little gypsy. She appeared in London concerts, provincial festivals, and a series of Handel Commemoration concerts in 1784. Charles Burney praised “the sweetness and taste of her singing.” Composed vocal works. She also wrote two- and three-part songs. Occasionally her sisters sang with her. Haydn presided at the piano for her benefit concerts held in 1792, 1794 and 1795. She organized the Ladies Concerts, held in the private houses of their aristocratic lady directors, in the early 1790s. More information is available in the Norton/Grove’s Dictionary of Women Composers.

Paulina Achkinaz-Shepherd
see: POLINA SHEPHERD

Israeli-born singer (1969), pianist and percussionist, of Yemenite descent. She grew up in Bronx, NY, but moved after high school to Israel. After the army, she attended the ‘Rimon’ School of Music, meeting Gil Dor who became her musical   collaborator and accompanist. Her music reflects both her Yemenite heritage and the jazz and rock infused music of Gil Dor.  Her career launched with him, completing several international and Israeli albums and hundreds of concerts. Noa has performed for presidents, popes and prime ministers as well as working with some of the outstanding musicians of popular culture in the United States, such as Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Quincy Jones, and Sheryl Crow. Site contains a biography, discography, photos, news and political statements. Noa is especially known for her peace work and concerts promoting understanding between Israelis and Palestinians.…
CONTINUE READING >

American-born Israeli. Tziona Achishena provided this autobiographical sketch: “Tziona’s Achishena’s rich and soulful voice weaves its way through her new disc, “Miriam’s Drum”, created in collaboration with percussionist Shani Ben Canar. The album features original melodies to ancient Hebrew prayers “received” through her intuitive musicianship, and enlivened by world class percussion, transcendent harmonies, and inspired vocal improvisation. The album’s release marks the culmination of years of musical and spiritual searching. Interestingly, this process began, not through music training, but through dance. From early childhood to her first years in college at Berkeley, Tziona spent much of her time in the dance studio, studying all the major western dance forms from Ballet to Modern dance. At home, however, she was singing; and experiencing through her voice the beginnings of a sense of the revelation of soul.…
CONTINUE READING >

American. Born Constantinople, Turkey. grew up in Seattle in a bilingual Ladino and English household. Developed an interest in the scholarly study of Ladino culture, including linguistics and music. Wrote a master thesis in 1935 at Univ. of Washington on A study of the Linguistic Characteristics of Seattle Sefardi Folklore. She incorporated an audio section which was field work and recorded Sephardic women from the Seattle community, including Spanish canticas and romansas, Turkish songs and Ladino songs. The University of Washington had the recordings transferred to better archival storage in 1981.

Israeli. Jerusalemite singer and song-writer, the descendant of a Hassidic family from Karlin who arrived from White Russia to Israel as early as 1846. She has published a CD, Hassidic Shabbath Songs and Nigunim of Karlin.Many of these Chasidic tunes were, according to tradition, “passed down through the generations, from the time of the great Hassidic Rebe, Reb Araleh Hagadol of Karlin, who was part of the circle of the Baal Shem Tov.” Miriam has also published a CD of her songs “Miriam Ahuvatel sings Psalms”, which appeared at the Shalshelet competition. “Ways of Peace” is another CD. Miriam has put her CDs for sale on CD baby http://cdbaby.com/cd/miriamae.Miriam’s CDs dress the melodies in some modern garb, including jazz and modern musical elements. Miriam has a very pleasant voice which I like very much, and the songs are all well done.…
CONTINUE READING >

Chava Alberstein: First Lady of Israeli Song

Website for Israeli musical superstar Chava Alberstein with brief biography, photos and discography.
http://www.aviv2.com/chava/

American. Jewish educator and songwriter, specializing in music for young children. Graduate of Boston University with a Bachelor’s degree in Music. She earned her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education at Arcadia University. “Ellen began her formal piano studies at the age of five, studied flute through elementary and high school, and learned to play acoustic guitar while a student in college. After graduating with a degree in music education, she taught elementary vocal music, grades K – 6. Pursuing further graduate studies under the tutelage of renowned Orff teacher Joseph Wuytack, she brought a strong Orff component into her music teaching. The Orff method continues to be a significant influence on Ellen’s teaching, performing, and songwriting.” Together with husband Peter Allard, Ellen put together the Bring The Sabbath Home song book
http://www.peterandellen.com/…
CONTINUE READING >

Born, October 19, 1930 in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Composer, pianist and teacher. Studied at Tel-Aviv Music Teachers Seminary and at Israeli Academy of Music. Brief online biography available through the Israel Music Institute
http://www.aquanet.co.il/vip/imi/bios/alotin.htm

Violin Soloist, Chamber Musician and Leader of Professional Orchestras in Italy and UK, Ms. Amato is now dedicating much of her Research into Jewish Music Study, with major interest in the arrangements of traditional Italian and Askenazy Music. She performed in major National and International Festivals. Purcell Room debut 1994; Teatro Francesco Cilea debut 1996; Teatro Bellini debut 1989. Winner of National and International Music Awards. Recorded for Radio France, Radio Swisse Romande, BBC and Rai radio and TV. CD recordings include 28° and 29° Tibor Varga Festival, Sion, Switzerland. Plays a French violin 1780 Paris School. Contact:aulos@paipai.net
http://www.supportimusicali.it/musicisti/scheda.asp?n=Angela%20Amato

Born 1934. nee Lotti Kalev. Pianist and composer living in Israel. Piano and harmony teacher. Graduated from the Rubin Music Academy in Tel Aviv in 1957. Music program editor in the 1950s at IDF radio station ‘Galey Tzahal’ in Tel Aviv. Compositions are listed at the Israeli Music Center: http://www.geocities.com/israelcomposers/works/amit.htm
http://www.geocities.com/israelcomposers/amit_kalev.htm

American. Cantorial soloist. Songwriter. Robin has performed and recorded her original music as one half of the duo B’shert and now solo, with the release of her recording “Ta’amod–Stand Up!” Winner of the American Zionist Movement’s First Annual Song Competition in 1994, Robin’s unique style of storytelling through song, MidraShir, has been acclaimed nationwide. Robin’s liturgical compositions have been sung in synagogues across the United States and her Adonai Mah Adam was recently published through Transcontinental Music Publications. Ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion, Robin is the cantor at Temple Beth Shalom in Hastings-in-Hudson, NY.
www.robinannejoseph.com

Born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1921. Composer. Studied later in life with Leon Schidlowsky. Lives in Israel on Kibbutz Hamapil.
Works published by Israeli Music Center

American born singer. Aroeste’s family roots are Greece and Macedonia– her family came from Salonika, Greece before going to the US. Sarah trained in classical opera at Westminster Choir College and Yale University. She later studied with Nico Castel in Tel Aviv and in the US. Aroeste sings primarily in Ladino, in a musical genre originating from Spain. The Aroeste’s sound combines and updates aspects from her ‘unique family background with influx of Latin-based music in America over the past few years.’ To date, Sarah Aroeste has released four recordings, A la Una: In the Beginning (2003), Puertas (2007), Gracia (2012) and most recently, Ora de Despertar (2016),
http://www.saraharoeste.com

Canadian. Singer, Songwriter. Successful career in Israel with Susan Cogan, creating great Israeli standards. Children’s songwriter. Successful career for over 20 years writing Jewish religious songs for children, including holiday songs and songs about Jewish life today.
http://www.franavni.com/

Born in Jaffa, Israel in 1904. Composer.

American Reform cantor and opera singer. Born in New York City. Attended Manhattan High School of Music & Art. B.A. in vocal performance, Manhattan School of Music. Master of Sacred Music, 1986, Hebrew Union College. Also attended SF School of Psychology. Made Carnegie Hall debut with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of New York. 1974-77, Israel National Opera. 1987 began as Cantor of the Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Won Liederkranz Award and the Minna Kaufman Ruud Foundation prize. CD: “The Jewish Soul”.
http://www.emanuelsf.org/about_staff_barak.htm

American. Composer. “Marion Bauer (15 August 1882-9 August 1955), daughter of French Jewish immigrants in Washington state, was a member of what scholars have called the “forgotten vanguard” of modernism…” Musicologist Dr. Melissa De Graaf has written a biographical sketch of Marion Bauer for the Jewish Music WebCenter, which can be viewed here as a pdf file.

Dr. De Graaf’s work is copyrighted. Pleasecontact JMWC if you need more information about the use of this article.

Israeli ethnomusicologist. Born in 1928 in Bingen, Germany. Her contributions were made at the Jewish Research Centre of Hebrew University. She wrote about the music of ancient Israel, based on archaeology.

Israeli born clarinetist Michal Beit-Halachmi graduated from Givatayim Conservatory, where she studied with Eva Wasserman-Margolis. She continued her musical studies in the United States at Indiana University and Duquesne University, receiving her Bachelor of Music Degree in 1999. In 2002, she received her Master of Music degree from State University of New York at Stony Brook, under the tutelage of Charles Neidich. She has been a scholarship recipient of the America- Israel Cultural Foundation since 1997. She has toured Russia and Armenia with the American- Russian Young Artist Orchestra, performances at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (Germany) and a concert in the Salzburg Festival with members of the Vienna Philharmonic. Other festival appearances include the Sarasota Chamber Music Festival, and Domaine Forget in Quebec, Canada. Ms. Beit-Halachmi has concertized extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Israel and in Russia, Belgium, Hungary, Germany and the United States.…
CONTINUE READING >

Question: What’s a small-town-Israeli-Jewish girl jazz-fusion violinist doing playing hip-hop with Jay-Z, in a Twista video, on MTV, or supporting top pop with Janet Jackson? Answer: Having a super rocket ride career up in pop music, that’s what. To read more about her, see her website.
http://www.miriben-ari.com/main.html

Raizie is a singer who has fused traditional lyrics with modern rhythms, singing in four languages (English, Hebrew, French and Spanish). Raizie has performed for women audiences in Venezuela, Israel and Canada and has produced a CD for Jewish women.
http://www.raizie.com/

American. Vocalist specializes in Jewish music in Yiddish and Hebrew. Lives in Boston area.

Lauren Bernofsky is a composer and violinist living in Baltimore, MD, and educated at Hartt College, Boston University and the New England Conservatory. Her music has been published by several houses including Boosey & Hawkes.
http://laurenb.home.sprynet.com/index.htm

Cantorial soloist, songleader, music educator, composer of Jewish liturgical music. Grew up in Mt. Vernon, NY. Currently at Temple Beth Shalom in Austin, TX., formerly at Sha’aray Shalom in Hingham, MA (1997-2003), and at Congregation Beth Israel in Austin, (1994-1997). Bachelor, Psychology, Yale University. Masters, Speech-language Pathology from the University of Texas at Austin.
http://www.bethshalomaustin.org/leadership/music.asp

American. Born January 22, 1898. St. Louis, Missouri. Founded the El Dorado Conservatory of Fine Arts in El Dorado, Arkansas. Papers held in the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati.

Cantor. Operatic Vocalist. Educator. Bachelor of Music, Vocal Performance Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington, IN; Masters of Music, Vocal Performance Florida State University School of Music, Tallahassee, FL; Certification & Investiture as Cantor Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion-School of Sacred Music, New York City. Performances include: Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Piccolo Spoletto in Charleston SC; and tours in concert in Sicily and England. She has won operatic competitions such as the West Palm Beach Civic Opera Competition and was a finalist at The Dallas Dealey Awards Competition. She has sung with symphony orchestras such as The Las Vegas Symphony, The Pittsburgh Symphony and The Austin Symphony. Her performances have taken her from Toronto to Beverly Hillsto New York and many cities in-between. Her repertoire spans from Puccini and Verdi operas to Brahms Lied and Faure Chanson to Bach and Handel arias.…
CONTINUE READING >

American. Born July 16, 1863 in Bielitz, Silesia. Died, August 20, 1927. Moved to US in 1867. Concert pianist, teacher. Studied piano in US and then in Vienna with Leschetizky between 1879-1883. Professionally debuted at Chicago Beethoven Society in 1884. Concertized throughout the United States, in recital and with orchestras, promoting the works of contemporary American and European composers in addition to a vast standard repertoire.

Vocals, keyboards, and the occasional nose flute or comb-and-waxed-paper. Currently singing and playing with a band called South of Delancey.

French-born mezzo-soprano Sylvie Braitman graduated from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and has performed with various regional companies. She is a performer in the fields of opera, art song, folk and popular music. Braitman focuses on 20th century music– she has premiered opera roles such as Mrs. Vallejo in David Conte’s The Dreamers (Sonoma Opera), Anja in Philippe Manoury’s 60th Parallelconducted by Kent Nagano (Berkeley Symphony). Other roles include Marcellina in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Madame Larina in Eugene Oneguin, Thisbe in Cenerentola and Mercedes inCarmen. She is a regular feature of the Berkeley Jewish Music Festival and has conceived various one-woman-shows that tell the story of her family’s Holocaust experience through the use of Yiddish music, acting and story telling.…
CONTINUE READING >

American. Yiddish singer. Performs with her ensemble, using varied Yiddish programs of holiday songs, children’s songs and folk and theater favorites at festivals, concerts, schools, at simkhes.

American klezmer musician. Madison, Wisconsin.

Jewish singer/songwriter. Her song about Israel, SOULS IN THE BREEZE is on the Jewish Agency for Israel website. Clips of her singing are on her website.  I have always felt that writing came through me; it was a gift given to me by some higher power, especially the words. If I had the choice, I don t think I would have chosen this path for myself; I feel it chose me. Jackie s song  You Are My Anchor” was #2 on the charts under Elton John s Circle of Love in Holland. He website includes a bio, photos, clips and links.
http://www.jackiecarlyle.com

Born 1896 in Proskurov, Russia. Died, May 27, 1984 in New York City. Casman came to US in early 1900s. She began in the Yiddish theater as a child star. She performed in Yiddish theater in South America, Europe and throughout the US playing comic Yiddish roles. Nahama Sandrow, in her bookVagabond Stars, refers to Casman as “one of the rare female kuplétists, tiny and round…” The kuplét was a comedic patter song that had little to do with the action of a show. In some shows Casman combined this with the “red hot mama” style where she “starts to shake her bosom, which makes one cozy curve from shoulder to waist. She vibrates all over, till even the absurd red flower sticking up on top of her head jiggles, too and she looks down at her own chest with such childlike surprise and satisfaction that the audience roars with delight.” She performed in shows such as “The Girl from Argentina” and “The Drunkard”.…
CONTINUE READING >

Born Dec. 15, 1891 in Vienna. Died Dec. 22, 1977. Soprano. AKA Lotte Schöne Classical music and opera. Concertized widely after WWII.

Israeli. Born, Kibbutz Ein Harod. Studied piano in Jerusalem. Wrote several piano pieces, children’s songs, popular songs, such as “Iti Milvanon”, and ‘folk songs’, including the world famous “Dodi Li”, which many people today think of as a genuine folk tune. The tune is often used for choirs, but has received many arrangemenets, such as this one available online at the Boosey and Hawkes website:
http://www.boosey.com/pages/making/composer/sample_detail.asp?sampleid=10287
A pdf score of the music appears at:
http://members.aol.com/gabrielaw9/dodi.pdf

Born Toronto, Canada. Moved to Jerusalem, Israel in 1966 where she began singing at the age of 15. In the 1970s in the duo Susan & Fran, these Canadian women achieved fame, with their songs now standards in Israel. Recorded, “Susan Cogan o-n-e”, a collection of her original folk and soft-rock songs. Toured Canada in 1981. In 1991 Susan created the indie label and recording studio “Nomad Music” together with producer Paul Brosseau. Released CD “Space-Age Primitives” (1993). CD “Gypsy Hill(1999) CD “Mayim” (2001), a collection of popular Israeli songs ranging from the 1920’s to the 1970’s, in Hebrew. Song “Israel Shemah”.
http://www.susancogan.com/

American violinist. Plays Klezmer, Sephardic, Israeli, Middle-Eastern and some Romani music and other ethnic music.

British pianist. Born 2 Dec 1895 and died London 13 Nov. 1967. Eldest daughter of Florence White and Joseph Woolf Cohen. Studied with Tobias Matthay at the Royal Academy of Music (1912-1917). Known for her performances of Bach. Ralph Vaughan Williams dedicated a Concerto to her, which she premiered in 1933. Lover of the composer, Arnold Bax, but they were never married. She made the first recodings of his music. In 1948, she injured her hand, but continued to play for a time with one hand. Her memoirs areA Bundle of Time (1969).

Canadian ethnomusicologist and performer of Sephardic, Crypto-Jewish, Judeo-Spanish (“Ladino”)and Medieval music. Born in Montreal 1949, Dr. Cohen received her PhD from Université de Montréal in 1989 with a dissertation on Sephardic music in Canada. She travels widely researching medieval and Crypto-Jewish music in Spain and Portugal. She gives lecture-recitals, often accompanied by her daughter Tamar. Her CDs include: “GERINELDO: Chansons traditionnelles jud’o-espagnoles” (1994) and “Empezar quiero contar: Canciones de Sefarad,” (2000). Her website Judith Cohen includes a vitae, list of publications and lectures and discography. Dr. Cohen has published online articles and bibliographies including:A short bibliography of Sephardic Music

Contains information about Dr. Judith R. Cohen of Canada and samples of Sephardic music. She performs and lectures and is a founding member of “Gerineldo, the internationally acclaimed Moroccan Judeo-Spanish ensemble, and is the founder-director of Nova Tradicija, an a capella ensemble specializing in Balkan singing.”
http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/judithc/judith_cohen.htm

American. Cantorial Soloist at Temple Emanu-El in San Diego, California, composer and singer. “Myrna received her Bachelor of Science degree in Education and Music from the University of Pittsburgh, and was employed as a counselor and youth advisor at the Irene Kaufman Center, as well as being a music specialist at the Beth Shalom Synagogue Sunday School.” Albums by Myrna Cohen include: Special Days & Lullabies and Quiet Time, Special Days: Songs for Children, and Swinging Chai. Easy to learn songs for very young children.
http://www.soundswrite.com/swmc.html