While the Violent Femmes traditionally play concert venues, colleges and festivals, benefit shows are not out of the ordinary for a group whose songs occasionally verge on the political.
When singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman steps in front of the class at the Reform movement’s cantorial school this fall, she’ll be crossing more than a physical threshold.
\”We used to develop and perform material after Shabbat dinner in our parents\’ house,\” recalls Erran Baron Cohen.
Classical virtuosos, like golden-age movie stars, are often thought to lead charmed lives in which the sundry benefits of celebrity accrue without cost. Lives of endless glamour are a fantasy, of course, yet the suggestion persists, in part because of musicians like Gil Shaham, the American Israeli violinist who comes to the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, July 10, to perform Tchaikovsky\’s Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and guest conductor Leonard Slatkin.
About 60 members of the orchestra at the Sinai Akiba Academy, ranging from second grade through eighth grade and joined by some alumni, were invited to play a short concert on June 20 as part of Carnegie Hall\’s World Projects Program.
Kenny G reads Hebrew, knows a thing or two about kabbalah and blows the shofar at shul annually. \”Because,\” he said, \”I am the only one who knows how.\”
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\”I want to take viewers through three different generations, to meet three of the greatest music-makers — actually musical inventors — who ever lived,\” says Felder. \”What connects these composers, thematically, is the price that each paid in order to create his work.\”
Only Rita could have pulled it off. Her famous \”One\” concert was the first time any Israeli recording artist has attempted such an extravagant, multimedia performance. With its crew of 50 tumbling dancers, grandiose costumes, pyrotechnics and video art, the $5 million production looked like it came right off the Las Vegas Strip.
So what is a Julliard-educated conductor doing teaching yoga in Venice Beach?
