New Sounds from the West: Jewish Music in California

Judah Cohen, Indiana University

Francesco Spagnolo, University of California, Berkeley

Mark Kligman, University of California, Los Angeles

Most innovations of Jewish music in American synagogue music are focused on synagogues, cantors and musicians in New York. This panel will focus on the music of Jewish life in California focusing on innovations in the 19^th, early and mid 20^th centuries. New opportunities emerged for musicians to focus on establishing new traditions that negotiate traditions and innovation. The commissioning of new music, establishment of new synagogues and developing of communities were all new for Jewish in Southern and Northern California. This panel will represent the work of three active scholars of Jewish music showing new research to provide a parallel narrative to the growth of Jewish music in New York by highlighting materials not yet studied.