Courtney Beck, executive director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, was so intrigued by the story of 17th-century Italian Jewish composer Salamone Rossi that she created an entire series examining the work of Jewish musicians from Rossi’s era to today. Over the past three years, Philharmonia’s Jews & Music Initiative has grown into a regular feature for the S.F-based ensemble that performs on period instruments and focuses mostly on music composed before 1830.

But the initiative also has evolved to include contemporary musicians. Globally acclaimed British Jewish cellist Steven Isserlis will be playing as part of a February performance at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, and a new work commissioned for 2020 will feature a cantata set to poems by Holocaust survivor Paul Celan.