Music and historical talks bridge communities this Jewish American Heritage Month at UCLA

From free world-class orchestra performances to conversations with award-winning writers, Bruins and the greater community have many opportunities this month to celebrate Jewish American heritage at UCLA. Below is a calendar of public events in May that elevate narratives and histories of Jewish American identity in Los Angeles, on campus and beyond.

This lineup is just a sample of the programming the Bruin community has to offer throughout the year. Be sure to check out campus units such as Hillel at UCLA, Chabad House at UCLA, the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experienceand the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, as well as their affiliated faculty, for even more research, events and opportunities.

May 1, 2:00 p.m.

Book talk: "Haredi Women in the Arts in the Digital Age: Contradictions and Paradoxes of a 21st-Century Phenomenon"

Join the Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience and the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies for a reading and discussion with Jessica Rhoda. The ethnomusicologist and anthropologist will discuss her groundbreaking novel, "For Women and Girls Only," which focuses on ultra-Orthodox women - and women who have left the community but maintain ties to it - who are using the digital era to create modest public spaces across North American and on the Internet for performance, music and film.

The event will be held at 314 Royce Hall. Admission is free with registration. Seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

May 4, 4:00 p.m.

From Vienna to L.A.: UCLA Philharmonia Celebrates the Milken Archive

As part of Schoenberg 150, the worldwide celebration of Arnold Schoenberg's sesquicentennial, the UCLA Philharmonia will perform alongside distinguished faculty and alumni soloists. Four revolutionary pieces will be featured from the comprehensive Milken Archive of Jewish Music: The American Experience.

The event will be held in Royce Hall. Admission is free and seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis. No RSVP required.

May 6, 10:00 a.m.

Book talk: "Citizen Azmari: Rethinking Blackness, anti-Blackness and Ethiopian music in Israel"

For decades, Ethiopian-Israelis have put music at the center of communal and public life, using it alternatingly as a mechanism of protest and as appeal for integration. Scholar Ilana Webster-Kogen, author of "Citizen Azmari," will reflect on her extensive fieldwork in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem among Ethiopian immigrants and newer Eritrean asylum seekers to better understand new genres of Ethiopian-Israeli music - including Ethiopian-Israeli hip-hop, Ethio-soul and eskesta dance.

The event will be held in Lani Hall at the UCLA Schoenberg Music Building. Admission is free with registration.

May 7, 5:00 p.m.

"Driven into Paradise": Schoenberg in Los Angeles

Join the Herb Alpert School of Music for a discussion about Arnold Schoenberg's complex relationship with Los Angeles, featuring a nationwide panel of historians, musicologists and composers: Sabine Feisst from Arizona State University, Kenneth Marcus from the University of La Verne, Tod Machover from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UCLA's William Kinderman, the Leo M. Klein and Elaine Krown Klein Professor of Performance Studies. Robert Fink, UCLA professor of musicology and special academic senior associate dean in the Herb Alpert School of Music, will moderate.

The panel will be held over Zoom. Free registration is required.

May 8, 4:00 p.m.

"Final Verdict: The Holocaust on Trial in the 21st Century" with Tobias Buck

The Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies will host a discussion about the book Final Verdict: The Holocaust on Trial in the 21st Century" with its author, Tobias Buck. "Final Verdict" explores the trial of 93-year-old Bruno Dey, a former guard who was charged with aiding the murder of over 5,230 people at Stutthof, the Nazi concentration camp in present-day Poland. Buck also examines his own family's experience during the Nazi period, and his grandfather's role and responsibility. UCLA history professor Jared McBride will moderate the event, which is part of The Annual 1939 Society Program in Holocaust Studies.

The event will be held at 314 Royce Hall. Registration is free.

May 13, 2:00 p.m.

"Between Two Worlds: Jewish War Brides After the Holocaust" with Robin Judd

Join the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies and the Ohio State University's Robin Judd for a talk on the professor's book, "Between Two Worlds: Jewish War Brides After the Holocaust." An intimate portrait of Holocaust survivors who wed post-war military personnel, the book captures their romances, guilt and impact on Jewish repopulation. UCLA history professor Jared McBride will be moderating the event, which is part of The Annual 1939 Society Program in Holocaust Studies.

The event will take place at 314 Royce Hall. Free registration is required.

May 18, 4:00 p.m. / May 19, 7:30 p.m. / May 20, 7:30 p.m. / May 22, 7:30 p.m

"Schoenberg In Hollywood": West Coast premiere at UCLA Nimoy Theater

The Lowell Milken Center for Music of American Jewish Experience and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music will present the West Coast premiere of Tod Machover's chamber opera at the UCLA Nimoy Theater. As part of Schoenberg 150, "Schoenberg In Hollywood" will pay operatic homage to the legendary UCLA professor's greatest compositions through vignettes from Schoenberg's life.

The event will be held at the UCLA Nimoy Theater. Tickets can be purchased online.

May 22, 2:00 p.m.

Landscapes of Print: Jews, Arabs, and Judeo-Arabic in Colonial North Africa with Noam Sienna

The Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies will host a talk with Dr. Noam Sienna, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, about 19th-century North Africa's Judeo-Arabic community. Investigating their history from French colonial occupation, European Jewish assimilatory philanthropy, Ottoman imperialism, Arab nationalism, Zionism and more, Sienna will draw on his forthcoming monograph on Maghrebi Jewish book history. The talk will be moderated by UCLA anthropology professor Aomar Boum.

The event will be held at 314 Royce Hall. Registration is free.

May 27, 7:00 p.m.

Music Performance by Miqedem

Miqedum,the ancient Hebrew word for "of old" or "from the east," is a band hailing from Tel Aviv, Israel, whose music can be described as sacred Hebrew folk. With influences stemming from Middle Easternand North African genres, the band often utilizes microtonal scales, irregular time signatures and regional Middle Easterninstruments in their music. Artists include UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israeli Studies' 2024-25 Harry C. Sigman graduate fellow Yaron Cherniak, Shai Sol, Jamie Hilsden and Leat Sabbah.

The event will be held in Lani Hall at the UCLA Schoenberg Music Building. Admission is free with registration.