National Jewish Music event set for New Orleans

The American Society for Jewish Music is holding its first-ever Jewish Music Forum in the South, March 3 and 4 at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Now in its ninth season, the forum is held in New York City and other venues across the country. The March 4 conference will be “Jewish Music in New Orleans.”

The conference will have three main sessions in Rogers Memorial Chapel. After a welcome from Michael Leavitt, president of the society, there will be an exploration of the European roots of American Jewish Music. The 9 a.m. session will feature Tulane historian Brian Horowitz and Hebrew Union College musicologist Mark Kligman.

At 11 a.m., Michael Cohen of Tulane and Judah Cohen of Indiana will speak about American adaptations of the European experience.

The final session, at 2:30 p.m., will explore the New Orleans experience vis-à-vis the European roots and general American experiences. Brandeis historian Stephen Whitfield will be joined by local historian Jack Stewart, who will speak on Jewish musicians in New Orleans in the jazz era.

On March 3, there will be a concert of Jewish Music in New Orleans, at 8 p.m. in the Dixon Performing Arts Center annex. The concert is co-sponsored by the Newcomb Music Department, and is open to the public without charge.