November 25, 1999

Flash! Handel’s Chanukah Oratorio in Yiddish

http://www.jewishjournal.com/ old_stories/article/flash_handels_chanukah_oratorio_in_yiddish_19991126/

This year the December dilemma got just a little easier, thanks to George Frederick Handel and the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony with help from the late, great Max Helfmann.

In a concert entitled "The Light of Helfman-Generations of Music from the Brandeis-Bardin Institute", which celebrates Max Helfman, founder of Brandeis Bardin's Summer Arts Institute, the LAJS will inaugurate its sixth season with a performance of Handel's triumphant "Judas Maccabeus" in a Yiddish translation by Helfman.

Drawing on the drama of the Hanukkah Story, Helfman's unique adaptation brings new life to this holiday classic. The concert will mark the first performance that combines Handel's original orchestration with the Yiddish text.