Arts Editor

This evening's concert at the Kennedy Center will mark the beginning of an attempted revival of Jewish classical music that has been neglected or lost ‹ a project close to the hearts of syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer and his wife, Robyn.

The concert, featuring Itzhak Perlman and performers from The Julliard School of Music, is being sponsored by Pro Musica Hebraica, an organization founded by the Krauthammers as a vehicle to promote that music.

"My wife had the idea that there was a range of Jewish music that hadn't gotten the attention it might have," says the Chevy Chase resident. "To most people, Jewish music is 'Hava Nagila' or 'Kol Nidre,' but there is a rich trove of Jewish classical music" that needs to be brought to the public's attention.

"It is Jewish music that is extremely beautiful aesthetically and important to Jewish culture," explains Robyn Krauthammer. "What struck me is that you don't see this Jewish music presented in the concert halls."

"There are many musical stories" involved here, says James Loeffler, assistant professor of European Jewish history at the University of Virginia and Pro Musica Hebraica's research director.

"Some [works] are actually lost, some forgotten or neglected and others are still waiting to be rediscovered and brought back to life," he explains.

He believes that beyond reviving the music, the project will help clarify the reality of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. The image of that life is negative, he notes, based largely on tragedy and defined by nostalgia.

"It is important to demonstrate to Jewish audiences and beyond that there is this vital creative culture that did emerge in Eastern Europe and had a legacy of Jewish music that was on par with the other classical traditions of Europe," says Loeffler, who with Robyn Krauthammer selected the works to be performed.

The concert will focus on works by early 20th-century Russian Jewish composers who were members of the Society for Jewish Folk Music. Founded in 1908, that group tried to create a new kind of Jewish music that would weave together folk and liturgical music with modern classical style. However, with the triumph of Stalinism after the Russian Civil War, the group fell into disfavor and disbanded in 1929.

Included in the concert will be works by Alexander Krein ("Jewish Sketches"), Joel Engel ("Dybbuk Suite"), Leo Zeitlin ("Eli Zion"), Solomon Rosowsky ("Fantastic Dance") and Mikhail Gnesin ("Requiem Trio"). In addition, there will be a performance of a contemporary piece by Osvaldo Golijov ("The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind").

Supplementing the older music with a piece composed in 1994 is consistent with Pro Musica Hebraica's goal to "reintegrate the Jewish musical past and present into the mainstream repertoire of chamber and symphonic musical performance," as stated in the organization's mission statement on its Web site, www.promusicahebraica.org.

The program also was slated to be performed in New York on Tuesday.

Krauthammer says he plans two concerts annually at the Kennedy Center. More than that, he hopes to initiate related programs, including lectures in Washington and elsewhere, recording the music and even commissioning new works.

At present, the effort is being financed by the Krauthammer Foundation. However, he says he hopes to expand its source of funding, perhaps making it into a membership organization.

The Pro Musica Hebraica Inaugural Concert will be onstage at the Terrace Theater in the Kennedy Center in the District at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $50.