Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Violin is the Centerpiece of a Holocaust Story

Nazis pounded on the door and confiscated the treasured violin, throwing it onto a flatbed truck, breaking its string, and then putting it in storage in a cellar, where dust filled its body and extreme weather warped and cracked it.  In the years after the Nazis’ defeat, the cellar was found, and the violin located.  A luthier lovingly repaired it. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Holocaust, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Jewish Biography: Leonid Pasternak, Father of Boris, Wrestled with his Jewishness

Leonid Pasternak, a painter and professor at the Moscow College of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, a master of portraiture and book illustrations, went down in history in the shadow of his son Boris, a poet and Nobel Prize winner in literature, whom he loved and with whom he diverged in his attitude toward common ancestry. [Alex Gordon]

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Alex Gordon, Antisemitism, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors

50-Year-Old Takács String Quartet Performs Here with One Original Member

Of the original four student members at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, only the cellist, 75-year-old András Fejér, remains. But the uncanny melding of their instrumental voices into a unified whole continues to characterize their playing … [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Kinky Friedman

Courtesy of Wikipedia Kinky Friedman (November 1, 1944 – June 27, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician, and columnist for Texas Monthly. He styled himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain. Friedman was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election. Receiving 12.6% of the vote, Friedman placed fourth in the six-person

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Adam Schlesinger

Courtesy of Wikipedia Adam Schlesinger (October 31, 1967 – April 1, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was also a member of the band Fever High. He also wrote songs for television and film, for which he won three Emmy Awards,

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

Emanuel Ax Flawlessly Performs Mozart in San Diego Symphony Concert

Ax is a no-nonsense player, performing flawlessly, with elegance and grace. There were no histrionics, no dramatic gestures, there was just honest perfection.  And the orchestra, with reduced strings, one timpani, one flute and pairs of oboes, bassoons, trumpets and horns, provided beautiful, nuanced support under Raphael Payare s direction. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at Historic Church in Abu Ghosh a Welcome Respite from War’s Impact

Suddenly this year, in the midst of the war and tragedy that has befallen us, there was a beam of light. The Israel Barrocada Ensemble, which plays on period instruments and has been giving concerts in Tel Aviv, announced that it was returning to Abu Ghosh, and would start with a performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah.’ The sublime music, using texts taken from Isaiah, Psalms and other books of the Bible, has always inspired me and uplifted my spirit. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Israel, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Simchat Torah: Should We Dance or Cry?

As we approach the one-year anniversary [on the Hebrew calendar] of the devastating attack on Simchat Torah, a day celebrated as one of the most joyous in the Jewish calendar, we are confronted with a profound paradox. Over 1,200 people were murdered, and hundreds more were taken hostage. How can we reconcile such joy with such deep sorrow on this powerful day? [Rabbi Shmuly Begun]

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Holocaust, International, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Zukerman Performance and Schoenberg Composition Showcase Jewish Musical Talent

With a Jewish soloist, violinist Pinchas Zukerman, in the first half of the program and a tone poem by a Jewish composer, Arnold Schoenberg, in the second half, last Sunday’s San Diego Symphony concert seemed tailored for this Jewish holiday season. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Jewish Biography: Sam Glaser, Musician and Author

If you were to walk into a JCC or visit a Camp Ramah in virtually any city in this country and utter the name Sam Glaser, you would likely receive a smile of recognition and maybe even be treated to a few bars from a track of one of his 26 albums. [Eva Trieger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Eva Trieger, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Glaser, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Richard Meier

Courtesy of Wikipedia Richard Meier (October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings including the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and San Jose City Hall.

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Today's Jewish Birthday, Wikipedia

Germany Establishes Arbitration Process for Claims Arising from Nazi-Looted Art

Previously, both parties had to agree to go to an advisory commission for looted Art. Now state-owned museums will be required to participate in an arbitration process when no agreement between the victims’ side and museums can be found. The decisions of the arbitration body will be binding. [Press Release]

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Holocaust, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Press Release, USA