Baron Award Winner Lecture: 'Undesirables in the Diamond Horseshoe: A Jewish History of the New York Opera Industry'

Winner of the Salo Wittmayer Baron Dissertation Award, Samantha M. Cooper presents research from her award-winning dissertation on the overlooked role of Jews in New York's opera industry. Drawing on archival sources, oral histories, and the contemporary press, she traces Jewish involvement in shaping the city's operatic world between the founding of the Metropolitan Opera House in 1880 and its sale to the public in 1940. Her talk offers a fresh perspective on the intersection of Jewish history, immigration, culture, and the performing arts. 

About the Lecturer: Samantha M. Cooper is the Robert M. Beren Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Kansas. She completed her Ph.D. in Historical Musicology at New York University (NYU) in 2022, and subsequently held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard University (2022-2023), the University of Pennsylvania (2023-2024), and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2024-2025). Her research explores Jewish cultural identity in late nineteenth and early-twentieth century American opera and popular music.