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As one of the first Hebrew Union College students who moved to Hudson County upon enrolling in the school, Sharon Kunitz was already a pioneer. Her senior cantorial recital was no different, bringing music that hadn't been heard in 60 years to life.

Kunitz performed the capstone project of her cantorial investiture, titled "Building a Nation Through Music: The Songs of Elly Helperin," last month in front of an audience of about 75 friends, family, and colleagues at HUC's Manhattan campus.

Helperin studied singing while learning to play violin, piano, and the harmonium during her childhood in Germany, before moving to pre-state Israel as part of the fifth aliyah in 1936. She mastered the Hebrew language and dedicated herself to composing both nationalistic and religious music until her death at age 45 in 1942. During what she called a "serendipitous meeting" in November 2006 at a joint cantorial conference between HUC and the Jewish Theological Seminary, composer Burton Zipser suggested Helperin as a good topic for Kunitz's senior thesis and recital.

From there, Kunitz delved into music that was never previously heard in the United States and wasn't played at all anywhere since Helperin's death. Kunitz pieced together Helperin's life through interviews with her son Mordehai, who is 79 years old and lives in Flushing, N.Y. Mordehai also transcribed his mother's music for Kunitz and provided her with concert programs, obituaries, correspondence with Israeli leaders, and other critical documents for research.

"The idea of bringing something to the public that people don't know about and sort of resurrecting this person and her music really interested me," Kunitz said.

"This is a woman who had an amazing vision for the future of what would become Israel," she continued. "She fervently believed that music was the thread that would bring together the diverse people from different cultures who built this new nation, and she devoted herself to that."

During her five years as an HUC student, Kunitz has also developed a special regional connection -- to Hudson County. A native of Alabama who had previous careers in music therapy and clinical psychology, she made Jersey City her new home and spent a summer as a student-cantor at Temple Beth El on Kennedy Boulevard.

"Once she moved to Jersey City, we started having more student-cantors looking at Hudson County as an option," said Beth El Rabbi Kenneth Brickman. "She was good publicity for the easy commute (to New York City) and she developed a very warm relationship with the congregation."

Accompanied by the flute, cello, reed organ, and an 8-person choir during the recital, Kunitz sang 19 of Helperin's pieces interspersed with narration from a classmate. The first set included "Shir Ha'olim," the first song Helperin wrote in pre-state Israel, and "Psalm 126," a work Helperin dedicated to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands on her 60th birthday.

Kunitz then moved on to a set of holiday songs, including "Shoshanat Ya'akov" (Purim), "S'vivon Sov-Sov-Sov" (Chanukah) and "B'tu Bish'vat," as well as the Shabbat song "Menucha V'simcha."

The next group contained songs Helperin composed with lyrics from poets, ranging from the famous Chayim Nachman Bialik in "Ro'at Hakochavim" to one of Helperin's 10-year-old students in "Hayaldah Basadeh." Kunitz followed with love songs such as "L'lo Milim" before ending with nationalistic pieces that first reflected the despair of immigrants due to Arab violence in "Gam Charashnu," but shifted to feelings of hope and redemption in "Yerushalayim."

At a falafel lunch following the performance, Mordehai Helperin reflected on the virtual disappearance of his mother's music after her death.

"The music was played for two-three years on the radio, and then it wasn't performed," Mordehai said, explaining that he unsuccessfully tried to secure publishers for the music upon moving to New York in the 1950s.

"This (recital) brings me back to the 1930s and ‘40s, it's a forgotten time for me," he added. "After 60 years or more, it's really something that I thought was never going to happen in my lifetime."

For Kunitz, the project was both an educational and inspirational journey that she will not soon forget.

"One of the things I have really learned is that somebody who is a composer is not limited to one style, but rather can draw from many resources as influences and create a wide variety of music," Kunitz said. "I think the biggest thing I have learned from (Elly Helperin) is to take what really matters and put that into what you create."