Benjy Fox-Rosen is a research fellow in the project The History of Minority Music Research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
As a scholar, performer, and composer, he specializes in Yiddish music and its contemporary transmission. His scholarly work includes collaborative research into Yiddish music, with an emphasis on the challenges and possibilities of its modern performance. In 2022, he co-directed with Isabel Frey the Artistic Research Pilot Project Challenging the Theater of Memory: Yiddish Song Beyond Kitsch and Stereotype at the MMRC. This project interrogated the representational practices surrounding Yiddish music, advocating for approaches that move beyond nostalgic or stereotypical portrayals.
Fox-Rosen studied liberal arts and jazz and contemporary music at the New School in New York City (BA, BFA, 2007). In 2012, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to Chișinau, Moldova, where he explored the transcultural aspects of Yiddish and Moldovan vocal music. From 2017 to 2024, he served as conductor of the nearly 200-year-old Vienna Stadttempel Choir. His 2023 master’s thesis (University of Vienna) examined this choir, employing ethnographic methods to address questions of musical practice, continuity and change.
In addition to his academic work, Fox-Rosen maintains an active career as a singer, bassist, and composer. He is recognized for his innovative engagement with Yiddish musical traditions.