By Mimi Pollack LA MESA, California — Herb Alpert and Lani Hall do not rest on their laurels. At 81 and 71, they are still going strong and sound as fresh as ever. As a child in Mexico City in the 1960’s, I remember my older siblings listening to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana’s […]
Herb Alpert and Lani Hall: A Whipped Cream Life Read More »
Mimi Pollack, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” –Hillel By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — If you want to break into showbiz, you have to put yourself out there. You have to stand before judges and audiences with poise and confidence even though your insides are churning with nervous insecurity. That was
Musical stars light up our college campuses Read More »
Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By David Amos SAN DIEGO — If you ring the doorbell at our home, you will not hear the traditional “buzz” or “ding-dong.” Instead, you will hear Paganini’s 24th Caprice for solo violin. This is by far not an obscure tune. I am sure that you have heard it played in various arrangements and transformations.
All Rachmaninoff concert set by TICO Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts
By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, under their California-bred conductor, Kent Nagano, performed a virtuoso program at the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Music Center last Wednesday evening. Because the printed programs of the sponsoring La Jolla Music Society did not include biographical notes on the performers, Kristin Lancino, the new President and
Montreal Symphony program had French connections Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — I don’t write about every concert I attend, or even every book I read, for that matter. That would be boring and repetitive. However, there are some concerts (and some books) that I feel I really must share with anyone out there who might be slightly interested in
Bach’s ‘St. Matthew Passion’ stirs Jerusalem audience Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsBy Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Fascinating black and white film footage of New York City accompanied Gotham, by Michael Gordon, the opening work on the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus’ March 12 concert in Mandeville Hall at UCSD. Gordon, a Miami-born Jewish-American composer, has often teamed up with film-maker Bill Morrison to create
Multi-media ‘Gotham’ well received in La Jolla Read More »
Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsSAN DIEGO (SDJW)– Jonathan Valverde, the pastor’s son with an operatic voice who founded Latinos for Israel, has returned from a trip to Israel where he performed with Israeli signer David D’Or. Valverde was invited there by the Israeli singer after an appearance in San Diego at which Valverde also sang. Here is a video
Valverde sings with David D’Or in Haifa Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy 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