New England Jewish Music Forum Records

The New England Jewish Music Forum was a non-profit organization created in 1958 committed to organizing and presenting performances of Jewish music in the Boston area. The mission of the Forum was to “promote interest in Jewish Music; elevate and maintain high standards of programming and performance; encourage writing of new works and to present young artists as well as established performers. Through a series of four varied concerts each season, featuring solo singers and instrumentalists, vocal and instrumental ensembles, operas, dancing groups, and lectures, the Forum reveals to its own eager and loyal membership as well as to the community at large, a rich treasury of Jewish culture.”

The founders of the Music Forum included Russian-born pianist and composer Lazar Weiner; his niece, Minuetta Kessler, a pianist, teacher and composer; her husband Michael Kessler; Cantor Alex Zimmer; Cantor Jack Seully; and his wife, Rose Seully; composer Herbert Fromm; and his wife, Leni Fromm. The concerts included performances by theater troupes, orchestras, concert choirs, and singers. Past presidents included Alex Zimmer, Cantor Michal (Michael) Hammerman, Mary Wolfman-Epstein, and Murray Coran. Most performances included spoken commentary on the work, and sometimes a small reception afterwards giving members an opportunity to meet the artists.

Concerts were held at various congregations including Temple Israel in Boston, Massachusetts, Congregation Kehillath Israel and Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts, and concert halls at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Audiences often numbered well over 1,000 people. The organization scouted and hired performers for the concerts and critiqued each performance at their meetings. Artists were from across the country and around the world. Those featured at the New England Jewish Music Forum concerts included David Bar-Illan, Theodore Bikel, Jan Peerce, Nico Castel, Minuetta Kessler, Shlomo Mintz, Judith Raskin, and Mary Wolfman-Epstein. The organization closed its doors in 1990 after thirty-two years due to financial hardship and low membership. They gave the remaining funds to the National Center for Jewish Film in order to help underwrite their production of Great Cantors of the Golden Age, a film which debuted in 2006 and featured rare performances of renowned cantors from 1910 to the 1940s.

1958

New England Jewish Music Forum created.

1958-1990

NEJMF held four to five performances annually.

1990

New England Jewish Music Forum closed.