Eileen Wingard

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Armando Pesqueira, the young Mexican conductor, who was on the podium for the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) concert Tuesday evening, November 20, proved to be an expressive maestro who brought the orchestra to new heights. In the challenging Brahms Symphony #1, the upper strings played with good intonation […]

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — Two outstanding vocal talents, Becca Myers, 16, and Celia Tedde, 15, joined forces for the first Musicians in the Making program under the auspices of the J Company. It took place in a packed Rehearsal Room of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Jacobs Family Campus Sunday, November

    By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — The Ha’aretz  headline of November 5, which my daughter Tamara Schiff forwarded to me, stated: “Yoav Talmi named new director of Israel Chamber Orchestra.” I was excited to read the news. Tamara and I had just returned from a nine-day trip to Israel where we saw the

By Eileen Wingard JERUSALEM — The State of Israel pulled out all the stops to welcome the Hadassah Convention in Jerusalem October 15-18, celebrating the women’s Zionist organization’s centennial and the dedication of Hadassah Hospital’s new Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower. There were banners and signs displayed everywhere, and on Ben Yehuda Street, the stores all

By Eileen Wingard PORTLAND, Oregon–Swiss-born composer, Ernest Bloch, is considered to be the greatest 20th century figure to incorporate Jewish motifs into his music.  One may safely say that every recognized violinist, today, knows his Baal Shem Suite; every violist has studied the Suite Hebraique; and every cello soloist includes Bloch’s inspiring Shelomo in his

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Guitar virtuoso, recording artist, and arranger, Gregg Nestor, has moved back to San Diego after living a number of years in London and Los Angeles. He has recently released five CDs. One of them, Dancing On Air, is a delightful collection of works based on folksongs. The recording opens

By Eileen Wingard   SAN DIEGO –At the Tifereth Israel Community Orchesta’s Pops Concert last Sunday afternoon, KUSI-TV’s charming weekend weather anchor, Dave Scott, was the featured soloist. The dapper, mellow-voiced Scott demonstrated his versatility as vocalist and trombone soloist in a selection of his own compositions and a medley of Frank Sinatra favorites. Both

By Eileen Wingard SANTA MONICA, California –Since its inception in 1955, under the visionary leadership of Sylvia Kunin, the Young Musicians Foundation has nurtured a long list of outstanding concert artists and conductors. In the past several weeks, I personally attended performances by four YMF competition winners, Violinist Zina Schiff in recital in San Francisco,

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Awaiting the performance of Victor Ullmann’s one-act opera, Der Kaiser Von Atlantis, on Friday evening, June 2,  I recalled the other performances in San Diego of music created in the Nazi’s Show Ghetto of Terezin. On February 5, 1989, at the 54th Street Jewish Community Center, the JCC Music Committee

By Eileen Wingard SANTA BARBARA, California–During a bright, sunny afternoon on May 6, the Santa Barbara Music and Arts Conservatory’s 28th Annual Young Soloists Showcase took place in the charming Granada Theatre on State Street.   The guest conductor, leading a 33-piece professional orchestra to accompany the young performers, was my niece, Avlana Eisenberg. The nine

By Eileen Wingard SAN FRANCISCO — Two distinguished musicians were honored by my sister Zina Schiff at her violin recital in Temple Emanu-El’s concert series in San Francisco last Monday evening. She dedicated her program to the memory of violinist Israel Baker, one of her former teachers and life long friends, and she gave premiere performances to

By Eileen Wingard SAN DIEGO — Yoav Talmi, former conductor of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, performed his final concert with the Orchestre Symphonique du Quebec last May, 2011, after a 13-year tenure. He is succeeded by the French conductor, Fabien Gabel. Talmi’s final concert included his own composition, De Profundis, a work in three