 |
|||||||||||
                     |
|
Photo by Marie Ruggiero Hebrew College counts among its graduates one of the most recognized—and recognizable—voices in classical music today. His name is not Pavarotti or Placido Domingo, but as the commentator for PBS's Live From Lincoln Center for nearly 30 years, Martin Bookspan P'43, has presented those and numerous other great performers to television viewers across America. Bookspan's musical expertise and the urbane, Boston-inflected voice that have become hallmarks of the program are equally familiar to audiences of the New York Philharmonic, for which he provided the radio broadcasts from 1975 to 1988. Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) listeners will remember him as the host for WQXR's radio broadcasts of the BSO concerts from 1957 to 1970, and for the local BSO Tanglewood broadcasts in the 1990s and as recently as last August. The recipient of several prestigious honors for his 60-year career and contributions as a musicologist, journalist, critic and broadcaster, he received, in 2002, the Fine Arts Radio International Lifetime Achievement Award.
The host for many years of The Eternal Light, an NBC radio and television program produced with the Jewish Theological Seminary, Bookspan is currently involved, as a member of the editorial board of the Milken Family Foundation, with the compilation of the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, a series of 50 CDs being issued, through 2006, by Naxos American Classics. Bookspan, a graduate of Harvard University, has also authored several books, including 101 Masterpieces of Music and Their Composers (Doubleday & Company, 1968) and Consumers Union Reviews Classical Recordings (Consumers Union, 1978) as well as two biographies written with Ross Yockey, Zubin: The Zubin Mehta Story (Harper Collins, 1978) and Andre Previn: A Biography (Doubleday, 1981). He and Janet are the parents of David, Rachel Sobel and Deborah Margol, and have six grandchildren. |
|||||||||
And still, says Bookspan, who splits his time between New York and Florida, he is "always working, always researching." So it was a rare evening of repose this past fall, when he and his wife, Janet, met with President David Gordis for dinner in New York. Sharing reminiscences of Hebrew College and news of the latest developments on campus, their discussion also touched on the possibility of Mrs. Bookspan, who is a stage director and drama and communications coach, bringing her expertise to the College's Rabbinical School to enhance students' communication and voice projection skills.