ROSSI IN MORAVIA: CANTORS IN CZECH LANDS (1500-1750)
Talk by Cantor Matt Austerklein
This talk will share new research and musical examples which illuminate a dynamic era in Jewish music history. During the early modern period, Bohemia & Moravia were the sites of a dramatic transformation of Ashkenazic cantors into music professionals. Expanding beyond their traditional synagogue functions, cantors sang with instrumental accompaniment, organized into study groups, added choral singers to the synagogue, and experimented with Western musical notation. These changes contributed to the awakening of cantors as musical artists and formed many of the norms of the cantorate still around today.
Cantor Matt Austerklein
Cantor Matt Austerklein received his cantorial ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2011, and serves as the Cantor of Temple Beth Sholom in Sarasota, FL. He is also a PhD Candidate in Jewish Studies at Halle-Wittenberg University, where he is writing his dissertation on Ashkenazic cantors in Early Modern Europe. Cantor Austerklein is the editor of three books and numerous articles on Jewish music, and serves on the faculty of the European Academy of Jewish Liturgy & L'École Rabbinique de Paris. He was recently awarded the Samuel Rosenbaum Award for Scholarship and Creativity, the Cantors Assembly's highest honor. mattausterklein.substack.com
Suggested donation: $15
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The event will be filmed and accessible later on the SHCSJ YouTube channel.
The event is organized by the Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Consulate General of the Czech Republic in New York, Consulate General of the Slovak Republic in New York, and Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association.
