Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Students Engage With Art to Understand the Holocaust, Discrimination, and Hatred

SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — “The David Labkovski Project creates a bridge from the lessons of the Holocaust to the realities of today’s world. The rise in antisemitism, bigotry, and hatred makes Holocaust education even more crucial,” shares Leora Raikin, Founder & Executive Director of the David Labkovski Project. The David Labkovski Project (DLP) uses […]

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Holocaust, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

‘Witnesses’ Brings Voices of Teenage Holocaust Victims Back to Life

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — The musical Witnesses was conceived by Jordan Beck a decade ago, after his reading of Jacob Boas’ book, We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died In the Holocaust. Of the five diarists quoted in the book, Beck was familiar with only one, Anne Frank. He found the

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Eileen Wingard, Holocaust, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

After 2 Years, Full Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra Plays Together Again

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — What a special treat to hear the entire Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) playing together again. Under conductor David Amos, TICO undertook an ambitious All-Beethoven program for their first full-orchestra concert after COVID forced their suspension for some two years. Prior to this concert, they have had two

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

Ishay Ribo Elevates Disability Care With Benefit Concert for ADI

(JNS) As spring gives way to summer, the live music scene is heating up in Jerusalem, and the first must-see concert of the season had an empowering twist. On Monday evening, June 6, international superstar Ishay Ribo played a sold out show at the Jerusalem Theater to benefit ADI Jerusalem, ensuring that the residential, rehabilitative

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Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Inspiring Music From the ‘Dean of Afro-American Composers’

By Eileen Wingard   LA JOLLA, California — I was thrilled to discover, in my mailbox last week, the long-awaited CD of music by the American composer, William Grant Still, with my sister Zina Schiff as violin soloist and my niece Avlana Eisenberg conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Zina and Avlana recorded this magnificent

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Harmonious Magic: JMW Turner at the Boston Museum of Fine Art

By Sam Ben-Meir NEW YORK — Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), the English Romantic artist who lifted landscape and seascape painting to new and enthralling heights will never cease to amaze, inspire and make us question what we thought we knew about painting, about what colored pigment on canvas can do. “Turner’s Modern World” at

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA

Jewish Musician and Cultural Leader Eileen Wingard Reminisces About Her Career

Violinist Eileen Wingard was never the star of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Such billings belong to conductors like Zoltan Rozsnyai, Peter Eros, David Atherton, Yoav Talmi, and Jung-Ho Pak, all of whom she played under during a career stretching from 1967 through 2004. Or perhaps the stars are donors like Irwin and Joan Jacobs, who in 2002 gave the San Diego Symphony an amazing gift of $120 million, the largest ever given to an orchestra in America. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

Charles Ray at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

By Sam Ben-Meir Charles Ray (b. 1953) — undoubtedly one of the most conceptually and visually breathtaking sculptors alive today — is enjoying something of cultural moment at present, with four exhibitions on two continents, including “Charles Ray: Figure Ground” at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Throughout his career, Ray has been engaged in

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA

May 25 Program to Showcase JCC’s Klezmer Treasures

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Klezmer Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library will be presented Wednesday evening, May 25, 7 p.m. Register here. This third program from the three-part series, Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library, will once again be hosted by me, Eileen Wingard,

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

A Jewish Tour of Balboa Park

The San Diego Zoo is known as one of the world’s premier institutions for the conservation of endangered wildlife species. Along with its sister San Diego Safari Park, located in the San Pasqual Valley, the San Diego Zoo is considered one of the best, if not the very best, zoos in the world. Of particular Jewish interest is the fact that the San Diego Zoo has served as a big brother to the Tisch Family Zoo in Jerusalem, which also is known as the Jerusalem Zoo. Many of the exhibits in Jerusalem are modeled on those in San Diego and both zoos have received generous financial contributions from San Diegans. {Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Frida Kahlo Loved Jews So Much She Invented Jewish Ancestry

The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is the subject of several murals at Chicano Park. Modern genealogists say that she was the daughter of a mother of mixed indigenous and Spanish descent, Mathilde Calderon y Gonzalez, and a German Lutheran father, Guillermo Kahlo. However, Frida herself always insisted that her father, who was an important influence on both her life and her art, was actually Jewish. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, California, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

The Art of Transformation: Vasily Kandinsky at the Guggenheim

By Sam Ben-Meir NEW YORK — The Russian-born artist Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was one of the early pioneers in the field of abstract painting – along with Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, and Hilma af Klint, among others. Through September 5, New York’s Guggenheim Museum is hosting “Around the Circle,” an immense retrospective of this extraordinarily

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International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA