Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Judy Nelson Drucker was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928 and moved to Miami Beach in 1941. Drucker established the Great Artists Series at Temple Beth Sholom under Rabbi Leon Kronish's guidance in 1967. Drucker was inspired musically by her mother, Lillian Nelson, a Metropolitan Opera singer, pianist, and teacher. As a child musical prodigy, Drucker studied piano at the New York College of Music and voice at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music. She sang coloratura soprano with the Coral Gables Philharmonic Symphony, and performed on Broadway in New York City and with the Greater Miami Opera. Drucker's Great Artists Series was so successful that in the 1980s, she expanded the cultural series and formed the award-winning Concert Association of Florida (CAF). At the helm of CAF, she garnered international attention as a presenter of the world’s greatest classical music orchestras, conductors, soloists, opera stars, and ballet and dance companies. Judy Nelson Drucker’s many accolades include two honorary degrees: a Doctorate of Fine Arts from the International Fine Arts College and a Doctorate of Music from Florida International University. Her motto: “I need culture to live.”