Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Poretzky electrifies with Habanera encore

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Russian-born Susana Poretzky, an outstanding mezzo soprano, who sang in Israel for many years, was the soloist with the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) at its January 30 concert at Tifereth Israel Synagogue. I have heard Poretzky on several occasions and was thrilled by her rendition of Mahler’s Lieder Eines […]

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

Segal’s Holocaust exhibit is gateway to museum art

Editor’s Note:  This inaugurates a new series of stories where a Jewish writer searches out Jewish art in museums, galleries and libraries. (c) Oliver B. Pollak  SAN FRANCISCO –We joined San Francisco’s De Young Museum and the Legion of Honor. On Thursday between Christmas and New Year we spent an afternoon at the much applauded exhibited

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Oliver Pollak

For over 90 years, this Holocaust survivor’s art has kept him alive

When you step inside artist Kalman Aron’s modest apartment in Beverly Hills, a lifetime of creation surrounds you. The walls are covered in paintings and finished canvases are stacked on the floors, a dozen deep. The paintings range from portraits to landscapes to abstract works. They’re just a fraction of the roughly 2,000 pieces Aron

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International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Bravos for guest conductor, pianist at TICO concert

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Robert Zelickman, professional clarinetist and retired UC San Diego Wind Ensemble Conductor, served as guest maestro for the  Nov. 12 and 14 concerts of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO). He substituted for TICO’s music director, David Amos, who had suffered an injured ankle in an accidental fall. The

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Saudi Arabia Allows First Public Concert by a Woman

Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji made history by becoming the first female musician to perform a public concert in Saudi Arabia. Thousands of young women attended the sold-out event on Wednesday, stripping off their abayas—the floor-length robes women in Saudi Arabia are obligated to wear in public—shaking out their hair and dancing to covers of songs

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Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Saudi crown prince bought $450 mn Da Vinci: report

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the actual buyer of a painting by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci that sold for a record-breaking $450 million at auction last month, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The young and dynamic crown prince, known by his initials MBS, used an intermediary to buy the much-sought-after painting

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International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

The arts mean opportunity, former Klezmer musician Merryl Goldberg teaches at Cal State San Marcos

By Donald H. Harrison SAN MARCOS, California – Arts professor Merryl Goldberg of California State University at San Marcos declares that arts equal opportunity. She explains that the more that arts are incorporated into a child’s life, the better career prospects he or she will have as an adult. A former saxophonist with the Klezmer

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Jerome Crowe, the FBI agent who delivered the ransom money in the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping, dies at 93

LOS ANGELES — Jerome Crowe, a former L.A.-based FBI agent who delivered the ransom money in the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping and led a SWAT team in the bloody SLA shootout, has died after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. A lifelong law enforcement officer who is credited with assembling the FBI’s first SWAT team

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

‘French Elvis’ Johnny Hallyday dies aged 74

Veteran French rocker, Johnny Hallyday, who achieved iconic status during a career spanning over half-a-century, has died following a battle with lung cancer, his wife said Wednesday. He was 74. “Johnny Hallyday has left us. I write these words without believing them. But yet, it’s true. My man is no longer with us,” Laeticia Hallyday,

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International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

Met Opera suspends Levine after sex abuse allegations

New York’s Metropolitan Opera said Sunday it was suspending its famed longtime music director James Levine after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. The premier US opera house said Levine would no longer appear at the Met this season and that it had hired a former US prosecutor to investigate the accusations. “Based on these new

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Ultra-Orthodox singer tapes eyes shut to avoid seeing women dancing in audience

By TOI staff An ultra-Orthodox singer caused a stir when he covered his eyes with masking tape in the middle of a concert in order not to see women who were dancing in front of the stage. Yonatan Razel was playing his keyboard and singing at Jerusalem’s International Conference Center on Sunday night when he

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Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts