Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.
By Eileen Wingard LONG BEACH, California — The Long Beach Opera Company’s staging of Ernest Bloch’s Macbeth was an unusual production, taking place in San Pedro’s World Cruise Center. With bleacher seating on two sides of a center aisle, there were no set changes, costumes were minimal, and the three acts were telescoped into 105 […]
Opera company cruises through Bloch’s ‘MacBeth’ Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — The decorated French-born violinist, Jacques Israelievitch, who served as assistant concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony, then concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony followed by a two-decade stint as concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony, undertook a marathon performance challenge: playing three violin concerti in one evening! The three concerti, performed
This violin concert was a musical marathon Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Last month, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra (SDSO) concluded its Chamber Music Series at the Scripps Research Institute Auditorium with a program featuring an unusual instrument for classical chamber music concerts, the mandolin. That plucked folk instrument, in the hands of the Israeli-born mandolin virtuoso, Avi Avital, combined with string
Avital’s mandolin featured in unique concert Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Although there was a notable sigh of disappointment when it was announced that the scheduled soloist for the evening, 92-year-old jazz cellist Fred Katz, was ill and unable to perform, the audience was well-compensated with two outstanding substitutes, woodwind jazz artist Norbert Sachel, who flew in from New York
Despite substitution, Klezmer Summit wows the audience Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard PORTLAND, Oregon –For the first time in its seven-year history, I was able to attend the opening program of “A Journey Through the Generations” at the Oregon Jewish Museum in Portland. This is no ordinary exhibit. On view from April 23-May 7, it was created by fifth graders, twenty-two students from my
Discovering ourselves through our ancestors Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard EL CAJON, California — Jazz violinist, pianist and composer, David Morales Boroff, was clearly the star of the Gala Fundraiser for the Music Department of Grossmont College. This attractive, talented 19-year-old, the recipient of a President’s Scholarship (four years of free tuition and housing) from the Berklee School of Music in Boston,
Gala fundraiser for Grossmont College Music. Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Rachel Barton Pine informed us, as she opened her recital at San Diego State University, that she was not Jewish. In fact, with the exception of the Nigun by Bloch and the Hebrew Melody of Achron, she had never played any of the selections on the Jewish Studies program
Pine demonstrates universality of ‘Jewish music’ Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO–As a teenager growing up in her native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Myrna Cohen was already soloing with the Conservative Synagogue Choir where her mother, Goldie, an opera singer, was a hired professional. Myrna was the soloist at her confirmation and went on to teach music at religious schools and Jewish camps. The
Temple Emanu-El to salute singer Myrna Cohen May 4 Read More »
Eileen Wingard, San Diego CountyBy Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — The fifth season of “Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices” concluded last month at the Astor Judaica Library in the Lawrence Family JCC. During its first five seasons, the series featured local poets and song writers expressing themselves not only in English, but also in Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino, Russian, Spanish and
A potpourri of Jewish poetry Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO –Yale Strom expresses pride for his latest documentary, Letter to Wedgewood, which will be screened at 4:00 p.m. this Sunday, March 10 at Tifereth Israel Synagogue, 6660 Cowles Mountain Blvd., San Diego. It not only features extensive interviews with Gabriella Labson, the subject of the film, but it has photos, letters
‘Letter to Wedgewood’ latest Strom documentary Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — An amazing letter written by 21-year-old Gabriella Labson from Munkarcs, Czechoslovakia, to Lord Josiah Wedgewood in London, resulted in the rescue of Gabriella and her younger brother from the Nazi scourge. Lord Wedgewood was a member of the British House of Lords, a gentile Zionist who had visited Munkarcs,
Documentary on San Diegan saved by Lord Wedgewood Read More »
Eileen Wingard
By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — For over a decade, the renowned American conductor, Murry Sidlin, has been consumed by his Defiant Requiem project. Sidlin strongly identified with the zealous conductor of Terezin, Raphael Schaechter, and wanted to bring to life the unique cultural resistance which took place in the Nazi show ghetto of Terezin.
‘Defiant Requiem’ a sacred collaboration Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — The Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO), under the direction of David Amos, featured two impressive artists: composer, Mark Donnelly, introducing his engaging three-movement Hawai’ian Rhapsody, Ho’omaka Ana, and internationally-recognized guitarist, Gregg Nestor, performing selections by Joaquin Rodrigo and Luigi Boccherini. Donnelly, who plays oboe and English Horn in the
TICO concert offered classical music with Spanish, Hawaiian flavors Read More »
Eileen WingardBy Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — “Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices” hosted an exciting array of poets Saturday evening, Jan. 19, at the Astor Judaica Library. The three featured poets, Rabbi Patti Haskell, Ysmael Escudero Tisnado II and Joni Gurstein, attracted an audience of 40 listeners. Below are two examples from each of the talented presenters. Ysmael writes
Selections from three Jewish poets Read More »
Eileen Wingard