Items in today’s column include:
*Many Jewish contributions to Jacobs Masterworks 2019-2020 Season
*A Sukkot Beatles Parody
*Political byes
*On a personal note
*In Memoriam
Many Jewish contributions to Jacobs Masterworks 2019-2020 Season
SAN DIEGO — The Jacobs Masterworks 2019-2020 season of the San Diego Symphony will be imbued with Jewish talent.
Pianists Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, and Inon Barnatan will headline concerts respectively on Jan. 10-12, May 8-10, and May16-17. Ax will be performing in an all-Beethoven program conducted by Edo de Waart. Bronfman’s program, conducted by Jahja Ling, will include works by Respighi, Sibelius, and Brahms. Barnatan, with Rafael Payare conducting, will headline a concert featuring works by Boulanger, Ravel, Dukas, and Debussy.
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein will appear Nov 15 and 17 with Chi-Yuan Chen, viola, in a Payare-conducted program of Bach, Bloch, Bach/Webern, and Strauss. Bloch is the Jewish composer Ernest Bloch, whose “Shelomo” will be performed.
Composers Gustav Mahler and Felix Mendelssohn both were born into Jewish families but later converted to Christianity, Mendelssohn as a child. According to our music critic Eileen Wingard, Mahler converted to Catholicism as an adult in order to be eligible for appointment as the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Mahler’s “Ruckert Lieder” will be performed Nov. 8 and 10 under the baton of Payare, and Mendelssohn’s Trumpet Overture will be conducted on January 31 and February 2 by Jun Markl.
If there are other Jewish performers or composers whom we have missed, we’d be happy to hear from our readers.
This article would be incomplete without offering congratulations to Joan and Irwin Jacobs, who have underwritten this series of concerts.
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A Sukkot Beatles Parody
Every year at Purim, like many other congregations, Tifereth Israel Synagogue presents a purimshpiel, typically telling the story of Queen Esther, Mordecai, King Ahaushuerus, and Haman (boo!) with parodies of songs by today’s popular artists. It was a delight to see, in the video above, that enjoyable song parodies are also possible for Sukkot. As a longtime Beatles fan, I enjoyed it; I hope you will too.
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Political bytes
In a column for the October issue of the Mission Times Courier, Congresswoman Susan Davis says that as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, a priority has been to ensure “that our men and women in uniform and families have the resources and support they need [and] the Trump administration’s effort to take money from our military to build his border wall puts that support in jeopardy. Nearly $3 billion in military construction projects are targeted to lose funding.” So far though, none are in San Diego County. … The San Diego Reader notes that Qualcomm millionheiress Sara Jacobs, who is campaigning to succeed Davis, has vowed not to accept a dime from corporate political action committees. The Reader contrasts this with Davis having received contributions from various defense contractors including Cubic Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation PAC, Raytheon Company PAC, Lockheed Martin Corporation Employees PAC; Boeing Company PAC, and SAIC Voluntary PAC; BAE Systems Inc, PAC and Leidos PAC. The Reader also reports that Mel Katz has contributed $10,000 to an independent expenditure group called “San Diegans from Every Community in Support of Todd Gloria for Mayor,” which raised $190,000 through the end of June … Times of San Diego contributing editor Ken Stone reports that a Native American spokesman, Benjamin Prado, has called for the removal of an 8-foot statue of Christopher Columbus in Chula Vista’s Discovery Park, likening its presence on what was once Kumeyaay land to having a statue of Adolf Hitler in a Jewish community … The Mission Times Courier reports that politically conservative Jewish comedian Eric Golub will be the featured luncheon speaker Nov. 12 for the California Republican Women-Navajo Canyon at La Mesa Brigantine. About Golub, the paper reports that he “wants you to know that if he ever says anything that offends you in any way ‘you probably deserved it.’” …The San Diego Union-Tribune reported the death Oct. 3 of former San Diego City Councilman Floyd Morrow, who is survived by his wife Marlene and three children.
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On a personal note
Mimi Pollack wrote for Times of San Diego a review of my book Schlepping and Schmoozing Through San Diego County, Vol. 1. I thank her for writing it, and the Times of San Diego for running it. Volume 1 is an anthology of stories written about Jews in the City of San Diego. Volume 2 contains stories from the surrounding cities and communities in the county. I’ll be talking about San Diego Jewry to the Beth Israel Men’s Club at a 6:30 p.m. deli buffet on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
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In Memoriam
The San Diego Unon-Tribune reports the death Oct. 2 of Lawrence ‘Lory’ Sadick, 92, a World War II veteran who had graduated from the University of Washington. He is survived by four children, Lesly Schmid, Claudia Davis, Greg Sadick, and Scott Sadick, six grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
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San Diego area obituaries are sponsored on San Diego Jewish World by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg … Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com