By Eileen Wingard
LOS ANGELES — Dr. Noreen Green, the founder and conductor of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, was a student of Murry Sidlin at the Aspen Festival during the summer of 1993. The brilliant conductor and pedagogue encouraged and inspired Green to follow her dream to create an orchestra specializing in music with Jewish themes. In 1994, Green founded the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (LAJS). It performs several times each season.
On Sunday, August 25, 7:30 p.m., the LAJS will present a concert at the Ford Theater, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd., across from the Hollywood Bowl. Titled “Cultural Collaborations,” it will feature the US premiere of the Israeli composer, Benjamin Yusupov’s “Go Tango!” with Miriam Larici and Leonardo Barrionuevo, “So You Think You Can Dance,” tango winners performing to the music.
Other selections programmed include the Symphonic Suite, Reb Tevye, by Russian composer Eduard Fertelmeister, narrated by Theodore Bikel, and Israeli violinist, Kobi Malkin, recent winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation’s Aviv Competition, playing the world premiere of Sholom Secunda’s Violin Fantasy. Secunda, who wrote for the Yiddish Theatre, is best known by his hit, “Bei Mir Bist du Shein.”
The concert will continue with the Israeli Country Dances Suite by Marc Lavry. The work highlights ten different dance forms popular in Israel and will be interpreted by the Los Angeles contemporary dance ensemble, BODYTRAFFIC. The program will conclude with “Una Hora,” a Ladino song choreographed by Barak Marshall, one of the most innovative choreographers in the dance world today.
Conductor and Music Director, Noreen Green, was an Assistant Professor at Cal State University, Northridge before forming the LAJS. She served for two decades as Music Director at Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Encino and is renowned as a lecturer on Jewish music.
In addition to its yearly concerts, the LAJS provides educational outreach programming for over 1000 school children each season. The symphony believes in the life affirming value of music.
For more information and to purchase tickets for the August 25 concert, go to www.FordTheatres.org or phone: 323-461-3673.
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Wingard is a freelance writer and retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony. She may be contacted at eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com