Eileen Wingard

Eileen Wingard

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

One Poet Mourns Earth; Others Sing Songs of Immigration

The 14th season of Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices launched last Monday evening with an outstanding program that attracted 70 attendees on Zoom. It opened with poetry read by local psychologist and poet, Richard Alan Schere. A sample of his offerings, Echo, can be read below. It is a poem that should be on the desks of all politicians as they contemplate their actions regarding climate change. Other Schere poems showed a lighter side with a fine-tuned sense of humor. Schere has made recordings and his work is in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. We were fortunate to have such an accomplished poet open our series.  [Eileen Wingard]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eileen Wingard, San Diego County

Visit to Holocaust Exhibit Impresses Mother and Daughter

During my daughter Harriet’s recent visit from Portland, Oregon, I suggested we visit the Chula Vista Public Library to see the Holocaust Exhibit arranged by our friend, Sandra Scheller. Harriet teaches Middle School Humanities at the Portland Jewish Academy and one of her classes is learning about the Holocaust. The drive down from University City was under 25 minutes. Both of us found this visit profoundly worthwhile. Sandra met us there and gave us a private docent tour. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Middle East, USA

Francois Chouchan brings Le Salon de Musiques to La Jolla

There is a new chamber music series in town, taking place at the La Jolla Women’s Club. The inaugural opening concert, scheduled for this Sunday at 4:00 p.m., is sold out. The founder and director of the series is the French-Jewish pianist, Francois Chouchan. He is moving his nine concert series, Le Salon de Musiques, to La Jolla after an eleven year run in Los Angeles. [Eileen Wingard]

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

Tzimmes Offers Full Array of Jewish Music in ‘The Road Never Travelled’ CD

Tzimmes, the Vancouver-based Jewish band under the direction of Moshe Denburg, has just released a two-disc recording, The Road Never Travelled, celebrating  its 35th anniversary. This is the group’s fourth album.
Denburg figures prominently in all the selections, as vocalist, guitarist, composer or arranger. The Montreal native, son of Orthodox Rabbi Chayim Denburg and Yiddish singer Miriam Denburg, attended Yeshivah University, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother, Judah Denburg. There, along with religious studies and academics, Moshe learned to read and notate music. Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Jerusalem’s Music Academy furthered his Judaic and musical education. World music then beckoned, with time spent in India and Japan. In addition to forming Tzimmes, in 1986, a band frequently hired for British Columbia’s Jewish simchas, Denburg, 15 years later in 2001, founded The Vancouver International  Cultural Orchestra, an organization for which he still composes and with which he remains affiliated. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

‘Self and Sound’ Theme for La Jolla Music Society’s Summer Programs

Exploring the theme, Self and Sound, this year’s Summerfest once again bears the stamp of the creative vision of Inon Barnatan, the music director of the La Jolla Music Society.   The concert pianist/head organizer has put together a 16-concert festival, with many ancillary free events, that promises to be pleasurable and challenging for its listeners. [Eileen Wingard]

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

Is JFest’s Programming Really ‘Jewish’?

This year’s JFest had many unusual highlights. Some events seemed more fitting than others to be part of a Jewish Arts Festival. Although I savored the Hershey Felder offering, Nicholas, Anna, and Sergei –I love Rachmaninoff’s music–( reviewed in the May 19th San Diego Jewish World), I did not understand its place in a Jewish Festival, given that the subjects were all authentic or pretending Russian aristocrats, the class that often helped perpetrate pogroms. [Eileen Wingard]

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

Holocaust music showcased during ‘We Are the Tree of Life’ Programs

A pair of ‘We Are the Tree of Life’ programs, May 27, with Ali Viterbi interviewing Francesco Lotoro, and June 1, with Nuvi Mehta and Kate Hatmaker introducing nine Holocaust composers, were both impressive and informative. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Rachmaninoff’s musical biography portrayed by Felder

The life of Sergei Rachmaninoff is the subject of actor/writer/ pianist Hershey Felder’s play with music, Nicholas, Anna and Sergei. Seen under the auspices of JFest, the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Lipinsky Jewish Arts Festival, the virtual production, streaming from Florence, Italy, and available through May 23, features other participants, in addition to Felder. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard

Lipinsky Family S.D. Jewish Arts Festival Schedule Announced

The 28th Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival, Jfest 2021, promises to be sparkling with more stars from all corners of the globe than ever before, thanks to the virtual platform for all but one of the 15 offerings. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

CD Compiles Music from Jewish and Other Ghettos

Frank London, jazz trumpeter, band leader, co-founder of the Klezmatics, founder of the Klezmer Brass Allstars and co-founder of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, is one of the most important figures in the Klezmer Renaissance. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, majoring in Afro-American Music, he is also well schooled in World Music. Currently, he serves on the music faculty of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts