L’Chaim! To Life!
The Jewish Music Series at Sonoma State is a presentation of the Department of Music and the Jewish Studies Program. Now in its 9th year, the series is widely acclaimed for its breadth, depth, and musical excellence as it poses the eternal question of “What makes music Jewish?”
The concerts, a component of the “Survey of Jewish Music” class, are at 5:30 p.m. in Schroeder Hall at the Green Music Center, are Free and open to the public, $5 parking fee applies.
For more information contact the Department of Music at 707-664-2324 or Jewish Studies Program Director Brian S. Wilson.
If you would like to donate to the Jewish Music Series, please go to our DONATION PAGE and write "For the Jewish Music Series" in the comments. Thank you for your consideration!
Past Jewish Music Series Performers
The logo of the Jewish Music Series combines musical notation with Hebrew letters in a modern representation of "L' Chayim!" (To Life!). Concept and graphic design by Jerry Wilson.
Thursday, September 7, 2023
Jewish Music Series: Trio Gesher Presents: Diaspora
Trio Gesher Presents: Diaspora
The Jewish population in Israel arrived from the four corners of the earth, bringing with them styles, flavors and influences they absorbed while living for centuries next to local communities. The music that comes from Israel reflects a mixture of cultures, a collage of sounds brought over in waves of immigration from around the world, before and after WWII. The members of Trio Gesher, Achi Ben Shalom, Noa Levy and Asaf Ophir who grew up in Israel, will perform songs that represent influences of world Jewish diaspora on modern Israeli music....View Event Details
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Jewish Music Series: Scott Gerber: The Singing Jewish Cowboy and The Gravenstein Mandolin Ensemble
SCOTT GERBER
The “Singing Jewish Cowboy,” Scott comes from a secular left-wing Jewish agricultural community near Petaluma, where Yiddish culture and activism for social justice were very important. He has worked in agriculture all his life, mainly on cattle ranches. Sings country, folk and cowboy songs, but Yiddish “shtetl folksongs,” sung to him by his mother and grandmother, are closest to his heart. Accompanies himself on guitar and available for most any venue.
https://klezcalifornia.org/acadp_listings/gerber-scott/
https://www.bonnieburtproductions.com/song-of-a-jewish-cowboy
GRAVENSTEIN MANDOLIN ENSEMBLE
The Gravenstein Mandolin Ensemble...View Event Details
Thursday, September 28, 2023
Jewish Music Series: The Big Galute
Winner of the Simcha Prize at the 2017 International Jewish Music Festival in Amsterdam, Big Galut(e) has been described as "soulful and unselfconsciously poignant," “jubilant," "a band with vigor and a sense of humor,” and "a real treat for open minds." Big Galut(e) performs a unique repertoire of Jewish music spanning five continents and six centuries, including klezmer traditional and originals, Sephardic and Levantine favorites, and music that inhabits the borderlands between classical and folk.The ensemble has appeared as soloists with orchestra, with dancers at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, on chamber music series from Tennessee...View Event Details
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Jewish Music Series: Veretski Pass
Veretski Pass is a trio of Jewish Music veterans who have been at the forefront of the klezmer revival for over 25 years. Their output spans the ultra-traditional to the avant garde. Taking their name from the mountain pass through which Magyar tribes crossed into the Carpathian basin to settle what later became the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Veretski Pass offers a unique and exciting combination of virtuosic musicianship and raw energy that has excited concertgoers across the world. The trio plays Old Country Music with origins in the Ottoman Empire, once fabled as the borderlands of the East and...View Event Details
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Jewish Music Series: Alon Nechushtan
Israeli jazz pianist Alon Nechushtan absorbed a melting pot of styles within the vast Jewish Ouvre growing up in Tel-Aviv. Playing original music inspired by new interpretations of Klezmer, Middle Eastern grooves and North African Rhythms, both Ashkenaz and Serphardic his music has influences of Levantine, Judeo spirituals, Nigunim and ‘Old School’ Piyyutim.
“A talent to watch, with a surfeit of ideas, an unbridled spirit and bold, two-fisted sense of Architecture" - (Down Beat magazine), his music adventures has brought him to far corners such as the Yokohama Festival Japan with his contemporary compositions, The Sao-Paolo Brazil Jewish...View Event DetailsThursday, November 16, 2023
Jewish Music Series: Bloch Party! Co-Production with Sonoma Musica Viva
A concert of the music of Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch, featuring students from the Instrumental Repertoire class, SSU Symphony Orchestra, Young People's Chamber Orchestra and Sonoma State Faculty.
Program to include his Second Concerto Grooso, Prayer from Jewish Life, Hebraic Suite and Suite Modale.
Ernest Bloch was one of the most original composers of the 20th century. His music was regularly performed during his lifetime, particularly in the USA, the UK and Italy. He was so admired in his heyday that many considered him the fourth ‘B’ after Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. He won...View Event Details