Adrienne Cooper (September 1, 1946 – December 25, 2011) was a

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

singer, musician and activist who was integral to the contemporary revival of

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

music. In addition to her work as a Yiddish singer she was the assistant director at the

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word '' ...

, program director for the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, and executive officer for programming and executive officer for external affairs for the

Workmen's Circle The Workers Circle or Der Arbeter Ring ( yi, דער אַרבעטער־רינג), formerly The Workmen's Circle, is an American Jewish nonprofit organization that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education, including Yiddi ...

. She co-founded

KlezKamp KlezKamp was a yearly Klezmer music and Yiddish culture festival in New York State. Produced by ethnomusicologist and award-winning record and radio producer Henry Sapoznik from 1985 - 2015, the program created an innovative and intensive environm ...

. She was a member o
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice's Board of Directors
until the summer of 2011, when she was diagnosed with cancer. Cooper won the Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk Taker Award from the

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) is an American left-wing non-profit grassroots Jewish organization. JFREJ describes itself as a "movement to dismantle racism and economic exploitation" and is based in New York City. It operates bot ...

in 2010, as well as

KlezKanada KlezKanada () is a Canadian organization for the promotion of klezmer music and Yiddish culture. Its principal program is a week-long Jewish music festival founded in 1996 that takes place annually in August at Camp B'nai B'rith in Lantier, Quebe ...

's Lifetime Achievement Award in Yiddish Arts and Culture. She died of adrenal cancer at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan on December 25, 2011, aged 65. She had been diagnosed in July 2011 and underwent surgery in August 2011. Cooper is survived by her daughter
Sarah Mina Gordon
a vocalist and co-leader of the band "Yiddish Princess", as well as her mother, two brothers, and her partner
Marilyn Lerner
a pianist-composer. A memorial service was held on the morning of December 28, 2011, at Congregation B'nai Shalom in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek ser ...

. The service was followed by a graveside funeral at Oakmont Cemetery in

Lafayette, California Lafayette (formerly La Fayette) is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 25,391. It was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer of the American Revolutionary War. ...

. A memorial service in New York City was held on January 1, 2012 a
Congregation Ansche Chesed

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

was held at Cooper's daughter's apartment in New York City. "A Kholem/Dreaming in Yiddish: A Concert in Tribute to Adrienne Cooper" was organized for December 22, 2012, at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College in New York CIty. More than 50 Yiddish and klezmer musicians and global colleagues performed songs that Adrienne taught, sang, and recorded – these include the Klezmatics, Michael Wex, Shura Lipovsky, Dan Kahn, Theresa Tova, Zalmen Mlotek, Eleanor Reissa, Wolf Krakowski, Michael Alpert, Michael Winograd, Sarah Gordon. The Adrienne Cooper Fund for Dreaming in Yiddish has been set up. The Foundation holds an annual concert in her memory, where a financial award presented "to an individual pursuing the timeless, boundless, utterly unexpected advantage of working in Yiddish."

Discography

Solo Recordings

* Enchanted (2010) * Dreaming in Yiddish (1995)

Recordings

* Ghetto Tango nowiki/>Zalmen_Mlotek.html" ;"title="Zalmen_Mlotek.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Zalmen Mlotek">nowiki/>Zalmen Mlotek">Zalmen_Mlotek.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Zalmen Mlotek">nowiki/>Zalmen Mlotek(2000) * Mikveh [Alicia Svigals, Margot Leverett, Lauren Brody, Nicki Parrot] (2001)Yiddish Revived! New and Old Recordings, June 2001
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References

External links

Adrienne Cooper's website

2010 Interview with Adrienne Cooper
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Adrienne 1946 births 2011 deaths Yiddish-language singers Klezmer musicians Bundists Musicians from Oakland, California Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from adrenocortical cancer