Biography

Michael Alpert has been a pioneering figure in the renaissance of East European Jewish music and Yiddish culture since the 1970s and is the recipient of a 2015 National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. A native Yiddish speaker and one of the only contemporary singers adept in the traditional style of prewar East European generations, he is also a celebrated innovator in Yiddish song, with original compositions on social and political themes. Mr. Alpert was musical director of the Emmy and Rose D’Or–winning PBS special Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler’s House, and is featured in film and broadcast media worldwide. An important link to Old World Jewish musicians, he has documented Jewish music and dance throughout the globe, is a leading teacher and scholar of the Yiddish cultural arts, and has played a central role in the trans- mission of Ashkenazic music and dance to younger generations. A longtime research associate of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, he is currently a Senior Research Fellow at New York City’s Center for Traditional Music and Dance, and has taught at Oxford, Columbia, Indiana University, and the New England Conservatory.