By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO –Eighteen years ago tomorrow, March 8, 1998, the Winter Garden Theatre in New York, then home to the mega-hit Cats, had its lights go dim. The music stopped, the dancing halted as the news spread of the death of 44 year-old artiste, Laurie Beechman. For longer than anyone, she […]
A tribute on the yahrzeit of Laurie Beechman Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Before Holocaust Survivor Lou Dunst died last year, he and his wife Estelle commissioned art to enhance the Holy Ark at Ohr Shalom Synagogue at Third and Laurel Streets in San Diego. Four artists competed for the honor of designing the works, with architect Amy Reichert of Chicago,
Ohr Shalom dedicates Pillars of Cloud, Smoke Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California–The works of two great Jewish poets, Leah Goldberg (1911-1970) and Zalman Shneour (1887-1959) will be featured at the Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m. program of Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices in the Astor Judaica Library of the Lawrence Family JCC. All the poems will be read in their original language as
Large cast to read, sing Goldberg, Shneour works Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego CalendarLA JOLLA, California — San Diego Jewish Film Festival audiences were bestowed a gift of immeasurable delights as Flory’s Flame was shown on On Friday, February 12, in the JCC’s Garfield Auditorium. Before the airing of the hour-long documentary, we were treated to five live heart-rending pieces sung by Elizabeth Schwartz, accompanied by guitarist and professor, Fred Benedetti.
‘Flory’s Flame’: Jewish history through Ladino music Read More »
Eva Trieger, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO– Two gifted teenagers shone as soloists in The Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra’s concerts January 31 at the First United Methodist Church of Chula Vista and February 2 at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. Violinist Ilana Hirshfeld, 15, and Violist Jonathan Sussman, 18, combined their talents in a memorable rendition of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. Their ensemble
Two teen performers leave TICO audience breathless Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM — To mark both the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Israel Museum and fifty years of German-Israeli diplomatic relations, the Museum is currently presenting an exhibition of masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The exhibition, entitled ‘Twilight over Berlin’ and showing works from the period between 1905 and 1945, provides
German arts on exhibit in 50th year of Israel relations Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsSergei Prokofiev: A Soviet Tragedy by Victor Seroff, Funk & Wagnalls, 1968 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — Anton Rubenstein. a composer and one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the 19th century was born to Jewish parents in the vicinity of Odessa. Though he and Prokofiev never met – indeed Prokofiev was only three
From the Jewish library: ‘Sergei Prokofiev’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
By David Amos SAN DIEGO –The program is titled just that, “A Strictly Classical Concert”. After all, you could hardly have a more conservative program of traditional music which has stood the test of time. By the time Beethoven composed his “Symphony No. 8”, he was famous and well recognized; when publishers approached him for
A strictly classical concert with two prodigies Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — As Itzhak Perlman entered the stage, seated on a motorized scooter, steering with one hand and holding his violin and bow with the other, I recalled the cherub-faced 12-year-old Israeli prodigy when he first appeared in the USA on the Ed Sullivan show. I have followed his career ever
Perlman and Ax played like musical siblings Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy David Amos SAN DIEGO — Following are a few events of Music and Judaism which have recently crossed my life that are worth sharing with you. YAKOV SMIRNOFF’s recent stand-up at the California Center for The Arts provided me with a few surprises. It was titled “Happily Ever Laughter”,and I expected his usual routine of
A medley of notes from the world of music Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I know I’ve written before about Verdi’s Requiem, the role it played in my childhood and musical education in general, about the impression made on me when I read of its performance by prisoners in Theresienstadt and finally being privileged to attend a performance of the reconstruction of
Book of the Dead, Yom Kippur and Verdi’s Requiem Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
By Mimi Pollack SAN DIEGO — Yale Strom may be a multitalented man and a well known musician both locally and internationally, but he is also refreshingly down to earth and modest, answering my questions at his rustic, comfortable home in Mission Hills with his loving dog, Olive, snuggled on his lap. Where to begin?
Yale Strom: a man of many talents, projects Read More »
Mimi Pollack, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — The opening program of the eighth season of Jewish Poets- Jewish Voices will be held on Tuesday evening, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m., in the Teen Lounge at the Lawrence Family JCC. Three poets will be showcased, Nancy Sandweiss, Simon Menkes, and the late Tony Kunewalder. Nancy Sandweiss’s
‘Jewish Poets – Jewish Voices’ begins 8th season Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsIsaac Stern: My First 79 Years, written with Chaim Potok, Alfred Knopf Publisher, 1999 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — On any list of the outstanding violinists of the twentieth century, one would surely find the name of Isaac Stern. Born in 1920, in the city of Kreminiecz, which, as he states in this
From the Jewish Library: ‘Isaac Stern’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts