Jewish Music Commission of Los Angeles, p. 4
From 1992 until 2000 the JMCLA recognized the best in contemporary Jewish music with the annual American Jewish Song Festival. Produced and directed by Sam Glaser, this song competition attracted several hundred entries each year, vying for thousands of dollars in prize money and the chance to be part of the live concert at VBS. The judges for the competition were recruited from the most respected and qualified composers in Southern California, all of whom served pro bono. A soundtrack album was released annually, featuring the top stars in the Jewish world singing the entries of the fifteen finalists.These and our other competitions have served as stepping stones for numerous composers on their way to important careers, i.e., a composer who won first prize in 1998 is now professor of music and head of the department in a Canadian university.
JMCLA has also worked to record and preserve Jewish music and education. We released our first recording in 1990, a cassette featuring Hallel and Torah Service, major works for chorus and orchestra composed by Aminadav Aloni. In 1993, Mr. Aloni was commissioned to write thirteen works for a cappella mixed chorus, S′fatai Tiftach, which has been published, recorded and released. In memory of Ami Aloni, who passed away in August 1999, JMCLA released a CD of these compositions, the proceeds from which support the Aminadav Aloni Music Foundation. In 1998, we released a ten-cassette program, Ten Lessons in Composing Jewish Music, the audio version of the seminar given for advanced composers at the University of Judaism by Dr. Michael Isaacson. We provided funding for the release in 2010 of Dr. Isaacson's Audiobook, "Jewish Music as Midrash.
Since 2002, we have sponsored annual interfaith symposia and concerts highlighting sacred texts shared by the Jewish and Christian communities. Topics have included Creation, Revelation, the Psalms and other major elements of writings shared by the two faiths. Speakers for the symposia have included the most prominent clergy, academics and artists in the Los Angeles area. Following the symposia, a concert of music is performed by leading choral and instrumental groups, comprised of works composed throughout the centuries relating to the symposium’s topic of the day.
Establishing the Max Helfman Institute for Jewish Music in 2010 has been an important initiative to create new music for the synagogue.
JMCLA has also worked to record and preserve Jewish music and education. We released our first recording in 1990, a cassette featuring Hallel and Torah Service, major works for chorus and orchestra composed by Aminadav Aloni. In 1993, Mr. Aloni was commissioned to write thirteen works for a cappella mixed chorus, S′fatai Tiftach, which has been published, recorded and released. In memory of Ami Aloni, who passed away in August 1999, JMCLA released a CD of these compositions, the proceeds from which support the Aminadav Aloni Music Foundation. In 1998, we released a ten-cassette program, Ten Lessons in Composing Jewish Music, the audio version of the seminar given for advanced composers at the University of Judaism by Dr. Michael Isaacson. We provided funding for the release in 2010 of Dr. Isaacson's Audiobook, "Jewish Music as Midrash.
Since 2002, we have sponsored annual interfaith symposia and concerts highlighting sacred texts shared by the Jewish and Christian communities. Topics have included Creation, Revelation, the Psalms and other major elements of writings shared by the two faiths. Speakers for the symposia have included the most prominent clergy, academics and artists in the Los Angeles area. Following the symposia, a concert of music is performed by leading choral and instrumental groups, comprised of works composed throughout the centuries relating to the symposium’s topic of the day.
Establishing the Max Helfman Institute for Jewish Music in 2010 has been an important initiative to create new music for the synagogue.
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