Lord Grade, who made a TV documentary on klezmer music for the BBC last year, has been appointed joint president of the Jewish Music Institute.
The former chairman of both BBC and ITV will share the role with Lady Solti.
Lord Grade has hosted an annual jokes lunch for a number of years to bring in funds for the institute’s coffers.
He said that since becoming involved with the institute, “I have come much closer to the music which is at the heart of Jewish culture. I have been really surprised how relevant the range of musical influences is to today’s music lovers, Jewish or gentile.”
JMI chairman Jennifer Jankel — the daughter of bandleader Joe Loss — said her own and the Grade families had been “interwoven down the generations.
“Leslie Grade, Michael’s father, and his uncles Lew Grade and Bernard Delfont — together with my father Joe Loss — must be smiling seeing the two of them working together now.”
