As Jews left Eastern Europe and the shtetls, their
klezmer music spread throughout the globe, especially
to the US. But the American Jewish musicians who were nurtured on klezmer and Yiddish would create a uniquely American musical form and leave their mark on the
history of music.

Many Jewish composers who gained mainstream success, such as Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, were influenced by the klezmeric idioms heard during their youth. Gershwin's opening of "Rhapsody in Blue" was born in the klezmer clarinet tradition. Gershwin's Porgy and Bess has been called the greatest opera written
by an American. Aaron Copland was widely known as "the dean of American composers." Leonard Bernstein, pictured above, was the first conductor born in the United States of America to receive world-wide acclaim. Interestingly, almost all the popular Christmas songs were written by Jewish composers.

This lecture surveys the contributions of the greatest American Jewish musicians, composers and singers with great photos, audio, and movieclips.