By Eileen Wingard
SAN DIEGO — Cellist Julian Schwarz, an up and coming artist, was the featured soloist at the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra’s most recent program, performed April 1 at Ner Tamid Synagogue and April 3 at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. After two years of study at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the brilliant instrumentalist is currently a student at the Juilliard School in New York, working with Joel Krosnick, cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet. The young cellist made his debut at age 11, playing the Saint-Saens Concerto with the Seattle Symphony, his father, Gerard Schwarz conducting.
Julian Schwarz is no stranger to San Diego audiences. This is his second appearance with the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra under the direction of David Amos, and he shared a recital with the Italian flutist, Raffaele Trevisani at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center last year. Also, at the end of this season’s San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Pops, he is scheduled to be the featured soloist in the All-Tchaikowsky programs under Matthew Garbutt.
The gifted musician drew a full, resonant sound from his Benjamin Banks 1790 cello, performing Bruch’s Kol Nidre followed by Bloch’s Shelomo. Both were given heartfelt renditions, full of emotion and characterized by a broad spectrum of dynamic color. As a Jewish young man who grew up actively participating in his synagogue in Seattle, he often heard cantorial chanting. At thirteen, he had his Bar Mitzvah. Thus, he brought to these works a familiarity with Jewish liturgical music which leant authenticity to his interpretations. TICO, under the direction of David Amos, gave strong support to the soloist in these challenging scores. Schwarz was not only inspiring to the audience, but the orchestra members were deeply touched by his performance. One member described the entire concert as “an emotional, passionate musical experience.”
For the first half of the program, Amos chose Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes which featured admirable solos by principle clarinetist Joseph Stein; and Morton Gould’s Suite from the television miniseries Holocaust. Amos had recorded the Gould work with the Krakow Philharmonic. In his introduction, he described how he had conducted the Polish orchestra not far from the notorious death camp of Auschwitz, and how moved he was. Section titles included Crystal Night, Babi Yar and the Warsaw Ghetto and Surrender which incorporated the Hatikvah melody. Amos led his forces in the Gould suite with firm conviction. The concert was appropriately titled, “Hebraic Voices.”
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Wingard is a former violinist with the San Diego Symphony and a freelance writer on the arts. She may be contacted at eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com