ACC Announces the Dr. Jack Gottlieb Memorial Concert Fund and Choral Series
Schaumburg, IL -- The estate of Dr. Jack Gottlieb (z”l) through the Theophilous Foundation has bestowed a major gift of $270,000 to fund both a Dr. Jack Gottlieb Memorial Concert Fund and a Dr. Jack Gottlieb Memorial Choral Series, according to American Conference of Cantors (ACC) President Steven Weiss.
The purpose of this fund is to endow a regular concert to be performed at the Conventions of the ACC in honor of Dr. Jack Gottlieb’s years of dedication to the American Cantorate and as a living testament to his love of Jewish music. This Memorial Concert Fund will allow members of the ACC to learn and sing Gottlieb’s original and collected music and to expose this music to the larger Reform Jewish community.
The inaugural concert is being held on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at Congregation Ner Tamid, Henderson, Nevada. Dr. Gottlieb’s piece “Roll Call” (from the 1976 musical Sharing the Prophets) will be performed as part of the performance.
The fund will also endow the publication of an annual subscription of Jewish choral music through Transcontinental Music Publications (TMP), which will be named for Dr. Gottlieb. TMP, which has been publishing Jewish music since 1938, was acquired by the ACC in July 2015. Its industry-leading sheet music and songbooks include music for worship, informal settings, and concert performance by renowned Jewish composers. Long known for its choral publications, the establishment of the Dr. Jack Gottlieb Memorial Choral Series would ensure the continued publication of Jewish sacred music for generations to come.
“It is a tremendous honor for the ACC to be the recipient of such a generous gift from Dr. Jack Gottlieb,” said ACC President Cantor Steven Weiss. “Jack was a unique individual and a talented composer. To be able to perform and publicize his music on a regular basis will pay homage to his immense contributions to the world at large and will keep his legacy alive.”
Composer, teacher and author Jack Gottlieb, who died at age 80 in 2011, was an internationally renowned expert on the Jewish roots of American music. A past president of the American Society for Jewish Music and the first full-time director of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, he was perhaps most famous for his longstanding working relationship with the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. In addition to his memoir about working with Bernstein, Gottlieb’s 2004 magnum opus Funny, it Doesn’t Sound Jewish, remains a groundbreaking work in the field of 20th century American music history.
Gottlieb’s considerable catalogue of compositions include a strong emphasis on music for the synagogue in many genres, including Hebrew psalm settings, cabaret, song cycles, secular art songs to English and Hebrew texts, choral works, music for piano and symphony orchestra, operas and chamber works.
Through his relationship with the composer Max Helfman, he was inspired to write Jewish music that is sung in synagogues around the world. His other influences include Aaron Copland and of course, Leonard Bernstein. Dr. Gottlieb was an honorary member of the ACC and was a charter member of its affiliate, the Guild of Temple Musicians.
About the ACC:
Founded in 1953, the American Conference of Cantors is a thriving professional organization that currently represents over 500 cantors in North America and around the world as k'lei kodesh (holy vessels), serving the diverse needs of K'lal Yisrael (the Jewish people). The ACC exists to support its members in their sacred calling as emissaries for Judaism and for Jewish music. We draw upon the energies and aspirations of our members through a shared and dynamic vision of programs and initiatives that respond to the needs of the greater Reform community.
The ACC inspires its members to embrace a multi-faceted vision of the cantorate. This vision is realized through programs and initiatives that will ensure a strong and successful organization. Each such effort is conceived according to carefully determined goals and criteria. Through our members we provide our communities with a compelling experience of text, music, learning, relationship to one another and connectedness to God. We establish our organization as a self-assured and securely funded entity, acting in full partnership with other representational bodies of the Reform Movement and worldwide Jewry.
The Guild of Temple Musicians
Founded to support and encourage synagogue musicians and composers, is an affiliate of the ACC. The American Conference of Cantors is an affiliate organization of the Union for Reform Judaism, which represents almost 900 Reform Congregations in North America.