About Anselm
Anselm Rothschild is an American composer who was born in New York City in 1950 and died in Los Angeles in 1990. He graduated from New York's High School of Music and Art and went on to the preparatory division of the Julliard School of Music. At the University of New York in Buffalo, Anselm earned a degree in International Development and studied piano. He was awarded a Master's Degree in piano from the California Institute of Arts where he also studied composing and conducting.
Throughout his lifetime, Anselm’s work in human rights was intertwined with his work as a producer, composer and musician. He believed in the power of music to perform the work of promoting justice. Anselm was inspired by Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts and forged his own outreach to young people by becoming involved with the Jewish Camp movement. The composer's well known work "A Light in Israel" was written for the National Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) conference held in Toronto in 1979. As artist in residence for Camp Kutz, Anselm composed dozens of songs that were performed by the campers, including The Messengers, his last musical work for NFTY, which was performed for the 50th anniversary celebration in New Orleans in December of 1989.
The life work of Anselm includes credits as a composer, producer, educator, and, most importantly to him, as a humanitarian. Anselm was a person with indefatigable energy and great passion. He directed these qualities to the task of connecting people and inspiring them to create together a better world. In the program notes to "A Light in Israel" Anselm wrote, “We all want to contribute, to mean something. So how can we experience making a difference and can we communicate to other people how they can experience making a difference?”