Adrienne Cooper 1946-2011

Adrienne Cooper was a major catalyst in the 1970s-80s revival of Yiddish culture that flourishes to this day. She taught and inspired generations of performers who went on to revitalize and revolutionize the world of contemporary Yiddish music, and it is not hyperbole to say that her influence can be heard in the work of nearly every Yiddish singer and klezmer artist currently active. She embraced Yiddish for its “hard-to-describe delights, for the rage it brings to injustice, for its wonderful weight on the tongue, for the arc it forms between poles of Jewish identity — from otherworldly to this worldly, from grit to grace —and for the astonishing  ushpizn, unexpected guest spirits, who show up and have what to say.” The New York Times called her “a pioneer in the effort to keep the embers of Yiddish smoldering for newer generations.” As writer-director Jenny Romaine put it, “Adrienne had the voice of a diva and the soul of a bundist.”

To learn more, please click this comprehensive entry in the Jewish Women’s Archive written by Jeffrey Shandler.