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the top echelon of European art music, among them: F. Mendelssohn, G. Meyerbeer, J. Halevy, J. Offenbach, K. Goldmark, Ch. Alkan and A. Rubinstein. The 20th Century paved the way for the development of the Jewish National School of Music, and the Festival will focus, amongst others, on the Composers of the School. Both the School and the Society for Jewish Music were founded in St. Petersburg in 1908 as a result of the activities of Yoel Engel, together with M. Gnessin, A. Krein, J. Achron and others. A great number of outstanding writers, poets, musicians, scientists and "Haskala" (Illumination) leaders brought fame to Odessa, which became an important centre of world Jewry. Jews lived in the Ukraine for the past millenium; they settled in Kiev and in many other towns of the Kievan-Rus State. Ukraine, which was the boundary beyond which no Jews were allowed to settle down, was the homeland for many composers, like L. Saminsky, S. Feinberg, M. Milner, A. Veprik and J. Stutschewsky (some of whom were born in Odessa). Compositions by internationally-recognized composers like G. Mahler, A. Schoenberg, M. Castelnuovo-Tedesco, D. Milhaud, A. Copland, L. Bernstein, shall also be performed in the Festival, as well as those of Israeli composers, among them representatives of the Mediterranean School and its present-day disciples. We are returning Jewish Art Music to Odessa. Prof. Dr. Joseph Dorfman Artistic Director