By Eileen Wingard
SAN DIEGO — “Songs of Home and Exile” is the title of the program Yale Strom will present at Smith Recital Hall, SDSU, Tuesday evening, April 9 at 7 p.m. The multi-talented artist-in-residence at San Diego State University’s Jewish Studies Department, has assembled an outstanding group of singers and instrumentalists for this concert.
Chloe Pourmorady, a Persian-Jewish violinist, vocalist and composer, and Ava Nahas, an Egyptian- Lebanese native, will be coming down from Los Angeles to join singers Elizabeth Schwartz and Coral McFarland Thuet. Strom, on violin, will perform with his local collaborators, Jiri Svoboda, guitar, and Jeff Pekarek, contrabass.
Pourmorady plays in ensembles in the Los Angeles area and is the winner of two “Voice of the People” awards at the 2014 Independent Music Awards. Nahas leads the popular Ava Nahas World Percussion Ensemble.
This free concert promises to be a timely presentation of music representing the hopes and longings of the multitude of displaced people around the world today.
Strom, whose film about Eugene Debs was part of the 2018 San Diego Jewish Film Festival, often uses his music and film skills to spotlight social needs.
“Songs of Home and Exile” is certain to be a memorable evening of world music and inspiring messages through song.
For further information: jewishstudies@sdsu.edu
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Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com