List of Jewish American composers

Last updated December 25, 2023

This is a list of Jewish American composers. For listings of Jewish American songwriters, musicals writers, and film composers, see List of Jewish American musicians, which shares some names with this list. For other famous Jewish Americans, see List of Jewish Americans.

Larry Adler (1914–2001), composer^[1]
Samuel Adler (b. 1928), composer, conductor, educator^[2]
Lera Auerbach (b. 1973), naturalized American, Russian-born composer
Milton Babbitt (1916–2011), composer^[3]^[4]
Irving Berlin (1888–1989), composer and lyricist^[5]
Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990), composer and conductor^[4]^[5]
José Antonio Bowen (b. 1952), jazz musician and president of Goucher College
Herbert Brün (1918–2000), naturalized American, German-born composer, pioneer of electronic and computer music.
David Burger composer of choral music, including Tefliah Lishlom Medinat Yisrael^[6]
Aaron Copland (1900–1990), composer and conductor^[5]
Morton Feldman (1926–1987), composer^[4]^[5]^[7]
George Gershwin (1898–1937), composer and songwriter^[7]^[8]
Philip Glass (b. 1937) composer, often associated with Minimalism ^[7]^[8]
Yossi Green (b. 1955), Hasidic Jewish composer of contemporary Jewish religious music ^[9]
Judd Greenstein (b. 1979) composer, often associated with the Indie Classical movement.
Michael Isaacson (b. 1946) composer of Jewish synagogue music.
Bronisław Kaper (1902–1983), naturalized American film score composer of Polish-Jewish origin.
Jerome Kern (1885–1945), composer and songwriter^[8]
Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962), violinist and composer, one of the most famous of his day^[10]
Ezra Laderman (1924–2015) composer, former Dean at the Yale School of Music.
David Lang (b. 1957) composer, founder of Bang on a Can.
Leo Ornstein (1893–2002), modernist composer and pianist, Russian-born^[5]
Tobias Picker (b. 1954), American composer, artistic director, and pianist ^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]
Lou Reed (1942–2013), songwriter, composer and guitarist, a member of the Velvet Underground^[8]
Steve Reich (b. 1936) composer, often associated with Minimalism.^[8]
Richard Rodgers (1902–1979), composer, songwriter, lyricist
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951), naturalized American, Austrian-born composer^[5]
Michael Jeffrey Shapiro (b. 1951), composer and conductor^[8]
Nicolas Slonimsky (1894–1995), naturalized American, Russian-born composer, conductor and author^[4]^[8]
Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021), composer and lyricist^[8]
Morton Subotnick (b. 1933), composer of electronic and other music, husband to Joan LaBarbara^[5]^[7]
Kurt Weill (1900–1950), naturalized American, German-born composer and songwriter, who wrote orchestral music and "show music"^[8]^[15]
John Zorn (b. 1953), composer and saxophonist^[8]

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Adler is a surname of German origin meaning eagle. and has a frequency in the United Kingdom of less than 0.004%, and of 0.008% in the United States. In Christian iconography, the eagle is the symbol of John the Evangelist, and as such a stylized eagle was commonly used as a house sign/totem in German speaking areas. From the tenement the term easily moved to its inhabitants, particularly to those having only one name. This phenomenon can be easily seen in German and Austrian censuses from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Since Biblical times, music has held an important role in many Jews' lives. Jewish music has been influenced by surrounding Gentile traditions and Jewish sources preserved over time. Jewish musical contributions on the other hand tend to reflect the cultures of the countries in which Jews live, the most notable examples being classical and popular music in the United States and Europe. However, other music is unique to particular Jewish communities, such as klezmer of Eastern Europe.

Rudolf Wagner-Régeny was a composer, conductor, and pianist. Born in Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, since 1920 Romania, he became a German citizen in 1930, and then East German after 1945.

Kurt Adler was an Austrian classical chorus master, music conductor, author and pianist. He was best known as the chorus master and lead conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1943 to 1973. He conducted orchestras in Europe, North America, Canada and Mexico.

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References

↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
↑ The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music Editor Don Michael Randel, Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, 1996 p. 6 ISBN 0-674-37299-9
↑ JINFO (1994-11-04). "Jewish Songwriters and Composers". Jinfo.org. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
1 2 3 4 Alan Rich, American Pioneers: Ives to Cage and Beyond (1995)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nicolas Slonismky, Music Since 1900, 5th edition, Schirmer Books (1994)
↑ "David Burger". Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018.
1 2 3 4 Kyle Gann, American Music in the 20th Century (1997)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century
↑ Bleich, Chananya. "A Time to Sing: Well-known Chasidic musicians share some of the high points of their careers". Ami , November 27, 2013, p. 138.
↑ Archived October 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Biography". Tobiaspicker.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2009.
↑ Matthew Gurewitsch (October 25, 2001). "A Soap Opera in Song". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved September 21, 2020. "Which has also attracted the notice of Tobias Picker, our finest composer for the lyric stage."
↑ Andrew Porter (November 13, 1978). "Musical Events". The New Yorker . Retrieved September 21, 2020. A genuine creator with a fertile, unforced vein of invention.
↑ Michael Kennedy and Joyce Bourne Kennedy (2007). Picker, Tobias. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920383-3 . Retrieved September 21, 2020.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
↑ Ronald Sanders, The Days Grow Short: The Life and Music of Kurt Weill (1980)

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[1] Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

[2] The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music Editor Don Michael Randel, Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, 1996 p. 6 ISBN 0-674-37299-9

[3] JINFO (1994-11-04). "Jewish Songwriters and Composers". Jinfo.org. Retrieved 2013-12-09.

[rich-4] 1 2 3 4 Alan Rich, American Pioneers: Ives to Cage and Beyond (1995)

[nick-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nicolas Slonismky, Music Since 1900, 5th edition, Schirmer Books (1994)

[6] "David Burger". Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018.

[kyle-7] 1 2 3 4 Kyle Gann, American Music in the 20th Century (1997)

[Ross-8] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century

[9] Bleich, Chananya. "A Time to Sing: Well-known Chasidic musicians share some of the high points of their careers". Ami , November 27, 2013, p. 138.

[10] Archived October 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine

[11] "Biography". Tobiaspicker.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2009.

[12] Matthew Gurewitsch (October 25, 2001). "A Soap Opera in Song". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved September 21, 2020. "Which has also attracted the notice of Tobias Picker, our finest composer for the lyric stage."

[13] Andrew Porter (November 13, 1978). "Musical Events". The New Yorker . Retrieved September 21, 2020. A genuine creator with a fertile, unforced vein of invention.

[14] Michael Kennedy and Joyce Bourne Kennedy (2007). Picker, Tobias. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920383-3 . Retrieved September 21, 2020.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

[15] Ronald Sanders, The Days Grow Short: The Life and Music of Kurt Weill (1980)

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