JOCHSBERGER, Tzipora

Having escaped the Holocaust on the strength of her musical talents, Tziporah H. Jochsberger went on to use music to instill Jewish pride in her students. Jochsberger’s 1939 acceptance to the Palestine Academy of Music in Jerusalem offered her an escape from Nazi Germany. While studying at Juilliard in 1947, Jochsberger was shocked to find how little American Jews studied or explored their heritage. In 1950, with a grant from the Jewish Agency, she began teaching Israeli folk melodies to Hillel students at colleges. In 1956 she began teaching and studying music at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Even after retiring to Israel in 1986 she remained involved in the field, founding the Israel Music Heritage Project to preserve and cultivate knowledge of Jewish musical traditions.

In addition to her teaching and administrative responsibilities, Jochsberger found time for an active career as a composer. She combined her love for the songs of the Jewish people with her desire to reach children through music. In much of her work, she gathered, edited, and arranged traditional folk melodies for recorder or piano in settings appropriate for young players. As a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), she also published a variety of choral compositions. Her numerous unpublished compositions included works for voice and various instrumental combinations. Jochsberger’s compositions have been performed in major concert halls throughout the United States and Israel. Four Hebrew Madrigals, commissioned and recorded by the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, was broadcast by Voice of America as part of Bicentennial celebrations in 1987. Jochsberger herself conducted the Hebrew Arts Chamber Singers in a recording of her A Call to Remember: Sacred Songs of the High Holidays. Jewish Choral Music, the first of a set of three compact discs of her choral and instrumental music.