A Musical Journey from Russia

Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series Presented by YIVO and American Society for Jewish Music Watch the video

With the encouragement of Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, a group of young Jewish musicians at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory were inspired to organize the Society for Jewish Folk Music in 1908. Its main purpose was to create a modern national style of Jewish concert music. This growing interest in Jewish nationalism and Yiddish folk culture resulted in the study of Jewish folk music from the Pale of Settlement through fieldwork, public lectures, publications, and concerts, and eventually the branches of the Society were founded in other parts of Russia. Among the Society's prominent members were Lazare Saminsky, Aleksandr Krein, Solomon Rosowsky, Mikhail Gnesin, Moyshe (Mikhail) Milner, Joel (Yo'el) Engel, and Joseph Achron. But by the mid-1920s and early 1930s, politics and economic realities, as well as World War I and the Revolution in Russia, caused many of them to immigrate to Europe, Palestine, and the United States. This concert highlights their wonderful music and follows their journey.

The Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series is made possible by a generous gift from the Estate of Sidney Krum.