The Joan Beckow Legacy Project

The Joan Beckow Legacy Project

Joan Beckow grew up in music in an era when female composers/instrumentalists weren’t really given a platform, Beckow’s undeniable ability to convey complex emotion in melody, and her mastery of harmony, has so far, fallen under the radar.

Growing up in suburban Chicago, Joan moved to Los Angeles with her dad. Joan was exposed to a variety of music from a young age and she enrolled in the Music Program at UCLA. She composed many musicals during her time there and eventually moved to the west coast of Canada with her husband, Jack.

Beckow’s work has been performed on-stage hundreds, even thousands of times, but never in her 50+ year career was her music professionally recorded in-studio.

Later, Joan earned a Music Therapy degree from Capilano College and became a long-time faculty member. She continued to build her prolific catalogue of musicals, choral works and stand-alone pieces inspired by Jewish liturgical text.

In celebration of the contributions of Joan Beckow, the Joan Beckow Legacy Project was launched including 22 songs; 30 musicians, recorded live off the floor on both sides of the country to produce a double-disc album, under the mother/daughter music-direction duo, Wendy Bross Stuart (Vancouver, via New York), and Jessica Stuart (Toronto, via Vancouver). Joan has been adjacent to exceptional artists-turned-celebrities throughout her career, starting with her long-time musical collaboration with best friend and 1950s UCLA roommate, Carol Burnett, but remained modest in the pursuit of her own work.

Holy Blossom has always been a supporter of Jewish Music. We continue to celebrate composers of Jewish Music of various genres and are thrilled to partner with The Joan Beckow Legacy Project for the Toronto debut of this incredible collection of music on Saturday, November 19th at 7:30 pm following our congregational Shabbat Mincha service. The evening will include a short film outlining the life and musical contributions of Joan Beckow followed by an incredible concert. I am thrilled to be joined by a cadre of various vocalists, including Temple Singers and cellist, Beth Silver.

Please enjoy this trailer for Joan’s piece, “May the Words.”

We hope to see you on November 19th at 7:30 pm for this spectacular program, which was recently featured on CBC radio. Click here to register: holyblossom.org/joan-beckow/