fbpx
Category

world

Russian Singer Goes From Defector to Cantor

Ever since she was a little girl, Portnyansky dreamed of coming to the United States. \”My parents used to get a magazine called Amerika. It had photos and articles about the U.S. In my mind I was already there, from the first grade.\” The opportunity came in 1991, during the last throes of the Soviet Union: She received an invitation from the U.S government to do a concert tour.

A Young Violinist With a Lot of Pluck

As a 9-year-old violinist performing for world-renowned cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, Camilla Tsiperovich was told to call herself Camilla Gadjieva. Her headmaster at the Azerbaijan Conservatory considered this a more suitable name, one that reflected the Muslim heritage of her country. While representing Azerbaijan in international music competitions and spending her first year of high school at the famed Moscow Conservatory, she always understood that \”there was something wrong because you were Jewish.\”

Kosher Gospel — a Joyful Noise at Shul

And the fact that Jewish and Christian themes and theology overlap, especially in the black church — the story of Moses and the divinely aided deliverance of his people from slavery comes to mind — makes Nelson resonate that much more. All of which is fine by him.

Calendar

Calendar

Mizrahi Music Travels West

Business at Eitan Salman\’s music store has fallen 80 percent over the last decade, but it\’s not altogether a bad thing: Mizrahi music has grown so popular in Israel that it no longer is the exclusive domain of mom-and-pop shops like Salman\’s but is sold even at Israel\’s Tower Records outlets.

Clarinetist Finds His Klezmer Voice

\”I came to klezmer quite by accident,\” said virtuoso clarinetist David Krakauer.\n\nHe was a noted classical musician around 1987 when a chance encounter on a Manhattan bus changed the direction of his career.

Pearl’s Life, Articles Inspire Jam Session

\”Danny\’s sister, Michelle, asked, \’What would Danny have liked for his birthday?\” his father said. \”And the answer came naturally; he would have liked a jam session with all his friends. And where were all his friends? They were all over the world. So we began making phone calls.\”

For Love of the Dance

If it seems unlikely that a nice Jewish girl would become a flamenco dancer, consider her early role models. Or Nili Azulay\’s Syrian-born grandmother, Nona, defied her parents to wed the man she loved, then refused to remarry after he died several years later. Azulay\’s mother, Chaya, became one of Israel\’s first female barristers; her father died when she was a small child. \”The sadness of not having a father was tempered by growing up with these strong, independent women,\” she said.

7 Days In Arts

With the famous line: \”It matters nothing if one is born in a duck yard, if one has only lain in a swan\’s egg,\” Hans Christian
Andersen\’s play became a classic success.

New Articles

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.