Eileen Wingard

[caption id="attachment_9359" align="alignright" width="100"] Eileen Wingard[/caption]

Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.

San Diego Symphony Orchestra Features Fantasies for Children in Opening Performance

In 1913, Debussy was asked to write a piece based on Andre Helle’s children’s book, The Box of Toys. Although he first planned for the score to accompany a puppet show, he later decided to write it for human dancers. The SDSO performed the music with illustrations from Helle’s book projected on the screen above the orchestra. [Eileen Wingard]

San Diego Symphony Orchestra Features Fantasies for Children in Opening Performance Read More »

Eileen Wingard, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Ohr Shalom Concert Honors Ana Galicot

Ten years ago, Ana Galicot, the dynamic leader of the Mexican-Jewish Community in Mexico City, Tijuana and San Diego, recruited Elisheva Edelson to form a choir at Ohr Shalom Synagogue. To mark that anniversary, the choir, under Elisheva’s direction, presented a concert Monday evening, September 15, in Ohr Shalom’s Social Hall to honor their beloved founder. [Eileen Wingard]

Ohr Shalom Concert Honors Ana Galicot Read More »

Eileen Wingard, International, Israel, Jewish History, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

No Histrionics from Violinist Asi Matathias, Just Superb Playing

There were no histrionics or choreography in his playing, only sincere, concentrated musical beauty, performed with the confidence of a seasoned artist. Matathias injected these qualities into all four movements of the Cesar Franck Sonata which followed. [Eileen Wingard]

No Histrionics from Violinist Asi Matathias, Just Superb Playing Read More »

Eileen Wingard, International, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Israeli Violinist Asi Matathias to Give Recital Sept. 11 at the JCC

The native Israeli has traveled the globe performing to great acclaim. The Beijing Music Weekly wrote, “his audience was enraptured;” the Kolner Stadt Anzeiger reported that he “created magic with an immense richness of sound and color;” and Ha’aretz called his performance, “wonderous playing.” [Eileen Wingard]

Israeli Violinist Asi Matathias to Give Recital Sept. 11 at the JCC Read More »

Eileen Wingard, International, Israel, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Recorded Performances of 12 Great Jewish Violinists to Be Heard

Great Jewish Violinists: the first of this coming season’s “Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library” presentations, will take place Thursday, Sept. 4, 2:00-3:30 p.m. in the library of the Lawrence Family JCC. I will be introducing the twelve artists who will be heard in recorded selections from the violin repertoire. [Eileen Wingard]

Recorded Performances of 12 Great Jewish Violinists to Be Heard Read More »

Eileen Wingard, International, Israel, Jewish Celebrities, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Final Summerfest 2025 Concert Featured Works by Montgomery, Mendelssohn and Brahms

Opening the concert was Starburst, a short, glistening work by Jessie Montgomery, the festival’s composer-in-residence. Next on the program was the Concerto for Violin and Piano, a rarely programmed composition by 14-year-old Felix Mendelssohn, and concluding the evening was Brahms’ glorious Serenade in D major for Orchestra in its original nonet version. [Eileen Wingard]

Final Summerfest 2025 Concert Featured Works by Montgomery, Mendelssohn and Brahms Read More »

Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Summerfest Offers Delightful Program of Musical Contrasts

With the opening strokes of her bow on the lower strings, Alisa Weilerstein drew us into the moody world of Brahms’ Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, the first work on Summerfest’s August 13 program at the Conrad. [Eileen Wingard]

Summerfest Offers Delightful Program of Musical Contrasts Read More »

Eileen Wingard, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA

Varied TICO Concert Features Light Classical and Pop Selections

Assistant conductor Robert Zelickman led the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) in a crisp, nuanced and energetic reading of Saint-Saens’ March Militaire Francais to start off the matinee Pops Concert in the Synagogue’s Cohen Social Hall. [Eileen Wingard]

Varied TICO Concert Features Light Classical and Pop Selections Read More »

Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Surprising Summerfest Concert Features International Selections and Women Composers

Two selections, originally listed as Chopin works and the Clarke Viola Sonata, to be performed by the Russian Pianist, Yulianna Avdeeva, 2010 first prize winner of the Chopin competition, required a substitute pianist. Avdeeva was not able to secure a visa to enter this country. [Eileen Wingard]

Surprising Summerfest Concert Features International Selections and Women Composers Read More »

Eileen Wingard, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Violin Soloist Zina Schiff Dedicates Latest Album to Her Sister, SDJW Music Columnist Eileen Wingard

How thrilled I was this week to receive my sister, violinist Zina Schiff’s latest CD, Alan Hovhaness, part of NAXOS’s American Classics, and to read on page 4 of the liner notes, “This release is dedicated to my first violin teacher, my sister Eileen, who encouraged me to explore and promote American music.”[Eileen Wingard]

Violin Soloist Zina Schiff Dedicates Latest Album to Her Sister, SDJW Music Columnist Eileen Wingard Read More »

Eileen Wingard, Jewish Celebrities, Lifestyles, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, News Media, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Original Klezmer Piece Delights Mainly Mozart Audience

It was the Fidl-Fantazye: A Klezmer Concerto, that was the starring centerpiece of the program. Written and performed by Noah Bendix-Balgley, concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the piece dazzled with heart-warming folk themes and brilliant violin virtuosity. [Eileen Wingard]

Original Klezmer Piece Delights Mainly Mozart Audience Read More »

Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors

Varied TICO Program Delights JCC Concertgoers

TICO opened with a spirited reading of Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, under the baton of their founder and conductor, David Amos. The violins scampered up and down the fingerboard in rapid runs and the cellos sang out their Slavic folk melody with confidence. [Eileen Wingard]

Varied TICO Program Delights JCC Concertgoers Read More »

Eileen Wingard, Holocaust, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Staff and Bylined Contributors