Sholom Secunda’s Anniversary in New York

On September 14, 2024, the Merkin Hall of the Kaufman Music Center in New York hosted the concert Sholom Secunda: A 130th Anniversary Spectacular, staring the Swedish singer Idun Carling, the ex-Soviet singer-songwriter Alexander Gorodnitsky, the jazz band of the Grammy-nominated saxophonist Yaacov Mayman, and other prominent musicians.

Sholom Secunda (1894 – 1974) was an American composer of Ukrainian-Jewish descent, known for some of the most popular Yiddish songs, including “Bay mir bistu sheyn“. Although he emigrated from Russia in 1907, his tunes remain well known in post-Soviet countries as well as in the US, where he is considered one of the greatest 20th century composers of New York’s historical Yiddish Theater District.