Eileen Wingard

Eileen Wingard

Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.

Jewish Poets Thall, Gottleib, Salovey give Zoom readings

Three talented poets read their works over Zoom last Tuesday evening for the opening program of Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices’ 12th season. Hosted by Lawrence JCC’s staff member, Melanie Rubin, and MCed by Joy Heitzmann,  the three outstanding presenters were Lorraine Thall, June Gottleib and Todd Salovey. There were 70 audience members, including some from outside of San Diego. All three poets read with dramatic expressiveness and clear pronunciation, revealing their onstage talents. June Gottleib, a veteran Slam poet, was particularly entertaining. Samples of their poetry are included in this article. [Eileen Wingard]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard

Jewish Poets, Voices to Feature Salovey, Thall, Gottleib

Todd Salovey, Lorraine Thall and June Gottleib are the three local poets to be featured in Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices’ opening program of its  2020-21 season. The virtual event will be streamed on Zoom Tuesday evening, December 8 at 7 p.m. There is no cost for this Astor Judaica Library offering. [Eileen Wingad]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard

‘A Paris Love Story’ is an Art de Triumph

A Paris Love Story, Hershey Felder’s one-man play, streamed from Florence, Italy, takes its place beside his other memorable dramas with music based on the lives of famous composers. This time, the main character is the French Impressionist, Claude Debussy. In addition to the life of Debussy, Felder manages to weave two additional threads into the story, his personal Paris Odyssey, pursuing Debussy’s footsteps, and Felder’s love for the City of Lights. Much of the story takes place as the 19- year-old Felder strolls along the Champs Ellysees, and the Seine River, to beyond the Arc de Triomphe, in pursuit of the residence where Debussy once lived. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Symphony, San Diego Rep give socially distanced performances

Two San Diego downtown theaters were illuminated last weekend, with live performances streamed from their audience-less venues. All the players, except the vocalists and wind players, were masked when performing, and all were seated at least six feet from one another. On Friday evening, in Copley Symphony Hall, the San Diego Symphony, under the direction of its Music Director, Raphael Payare, presented Together Apart: Strings, Winds, and Brass, featuring the orchestra in smaller groups; and Saturday evening, at the Lyceum Theatre, the San Diego Rep’s Lipinsky Jewish Arts Festival presented Jews, Jazz and Justice, curated by Yale Strom. Both programs are still available for viewing. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

SD Rep Lineup: Strom, Feldshuh, Felder

The San Diego Repertory Company is presenting two remarkable virtual music events this month.

JFest (Lipinsky Jewish Arts Festival) will be hosting  the 19th Annual Klezmer Summit at 7 p.m., Thursday evening, Nov. 19  featuring Yale Strom’s band, Hot Pstromi, in their first concert as a full band since the onset of Covid-19. Hershey Felder will be featured in Paris Love Story, streamed  from his home in Florence, Italy, for four performances, at 5 p.m., Sunday, Nov.22, and at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 23, through Wednesday, Nov.. 25. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Diverse lectures on tap at Tapestry

This year’s Tapestry, sponsored by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture’s  JLearn, promises to be more diverse, exciting and interesting than ever before. Experts have been tapped from all over the world to contribute to this extraordinary Jewish Learning event.

The first session, the keynote address on Saturday evening, November 7,  at 7:30 p.m.,  will feature David Meltzer, named one of Forbes’ 10 best Motivational Speakers. Meltzer will discuss how to “Stabilize Your Mindset and Stay Grounded. Focus on Your Core Values Through a Jewish Lens. “ [Eileen Wingard]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Baal Shem Suite evokes Jewish Holy Days

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Ernest Bloch’s Baal Shem Suite is music that fits the High Holidays. The first movement, Vidui, is the Yom Kippur confessional prayer; the second movement, Nigun, encompasses cantorial pleading with the Heavenly Power; and the final movement, Simchat Torah, reflects the joy of receiving the Torah. My sister, concert

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

IPO on YouTube an experience in musical mastery

The past three Sundays, the Israel Philharmonic Chamber Music Series featured some of their leading players: principal oboist, Dudu Carmel, on September 6; principal flutist, Guy Eshed, on September 13 and four principal string players — violinists David Radznisky and Dumitru Pocitari, violist Miriam Hartman and cellist Emanuele Silvestri — with their new conductor, Lahav Shani, at the piano, September 20. All these programs, as well as the first two, August 23 and 30, are still available on YouTube. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

The volume of Jewish music in America

As I read this comprehensive, engaging book about Jewish Music in America, I kept thinking about the extensive music collection we have in our Astor Judaica Library of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center and what a wonderful course we could develop, using this volume as the textbook and our library’s lp records, CDs and DVDs for illustrations. We have most of the music Fruhauf writes about in her book. [Eileen Wingard]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

With theaters dark, all the world must now be a stage

Growing up, Judaism always took center stage, but when I moved to Pittsburgh to study directing at the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, suddenly theater was in the spotlight. For the first couple of years, it felt like I had to give up practicing Judaism in order to pursue theater full time. Choosing rehearsals over Shabbat or having to miss High Holiday services for class felt like I had opted to practice the religion of theater over Judaism. [Adira Rosen]

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Eileen Wingard, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

IPO’s music is together, but players are socially distant

The concerts take place on the stage of the new concert hall in Tel Aviv. I am pleased to report that in the first two concerts, the musicians were socially distanced, although they were not wearing masks. Of course, that would have been impossible for the clarinetist in the first concert, which featured Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Pianist Barnatan stars in LJMS Summerfest

The star of the first half of this year’s pared-down Summerfest of the La Jolla Music Society was indisputably, the Israeli-born director, pianist Inon Barnatan. He was featured in all the selections on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon. His playing was consistently well-calibrated and balanced with his string collaborators and musically distinctive in its beautiful phrasing and dynamic shadings. His string colleagues were no less distinguished. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts