MIRA SPEKTOR

1928 - 2021

SPEKTOR--Mira Josefowitz, born Berlin November 8, 1928, died New York City, November 28, 2021. We are heartbroken that our remarkable Mira has passed away. Mira was a life force, a woman whose passion found expression in her music and poetry. She astonished and inspired us with her creative energy, which only increased with each passing year. A prolific composer whose career spanned decades, languages, and disciplines, Mira was a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, and she began her career as a singer and composer. Her early recordings include an acclaimed album of French chansons and a collection multi-language lullabies. This year, 2021, saw the release of two albums of her own Art songs. Through her leadership of The Aviva Players Mira became an internationally known champion of women composers. Her own works as a composer include the chamber operas The Villa Diodati (frequently broadcast on PBS All Arts), Lady of the Castle, Giovanni the Fearless, and the groundbreaking feminist revue The Housewives' Cantata. Mira's poetry, in both French and English, has been widely published, and collected in The Road to November and the forthcoming Fractured Time. A Jewish refugee to America in 1939, who frequently recalled her own terror adrift in a lifeboat, Mira remained an active advocate for the underdog: refugee children who were in need, women whose voices had been suppressed, and all those who suffered the discrimination of racism and ageism. Mira was the daughter of Charles and Fenja Josefowitz, beloved wife of the late Eryk E. Spektor, the cherished mother of Charline Spektor and Alexander Spektor, the adored grandmother of Gabriel Nussbaum (Elizabeth Wood) and Lily Claire Nussbaum (Kiyoshi Matsuyama) and the perfect great- grandma to Wolfie and Rosco. Funeral services were private because of Covid. The family can be reached at mirajspektor@gmail.com. We are planning a memorial service for Spring which will be a music-rich remembrance of Mira.