The Jewish Studies Program and Beverly August Host Scholarship Concert Fundraiser

The Jewish Studies Program at CSULB welcomed well over 100 guests to “Rediscovered Beauty: Suppressed Composers”, a concert/lecture featuring CSULB graduate student Ryan Hugh Ross, the 2010 George R. and Beverly August Peace Education Prize recipient.  The event was held on Saturday, March 19^th at the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall.

Over the past eighteen months, Ross has researched the lives and works of composers who were suppressed by the Nazi regime from its rise to power in 1933 until its demise in 1945. Ross’s research began after having been directed to the OREL Foundation, where he stumbled upon an entire generation of composers, musicians, artists, and intellectuals who had been exiled or suppressed. The August Prize funded travel to Austria, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic where Ross conduct further research on suppressed composers.  Among the various repositories in which he conducted research was Vienna’s Schoenberg Centre.  During his trip, Ross began compiling his research into a concert performance, creating a concert/lecture series about the lives of these composers.

The Jewish Studies Program was established in 1998. In 2002, the program began offering a major and a minor, and launched CSULB’s first Jewish Studies Scholarship in 2006.  Now under the leadership of Dr. Jeffrey Blutinger, the Barbara and Ray Alpert Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies, the program is widely recognized for its dedication to advancing interdisciplinary analysis of Jewish history, religion, thought, culture, and literature.  The program also works with many Jewish organizations, such as the Long Beach Jewish Film Festival, local synagogues, and other religious and cultural organizations.

All proceeds from the concert and reception benefited student scholarships offered by the Jewish Studies Program.