This month, the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (LAJS) is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
In honor of this milestone, LAJS is hosting a concert at the historic Wilshire Boulevard Temple — where it all began.
LAJS founder and conductor Dr. Noreen Green has been the force behind the orchestra’s success.
“We’re hosting a celebratory concert in the room where it all started,” Dr. Green told the Journal.
The concert, on Sunday, April 14th, 2024, holds great significance for LAJS — it falls during the same week as the orchestra’s debut performance on April 10, 1994. The 30th anniversary concert will feature a program featuring the repertoire from the symphony’s early years, including a selection by Shony Alex Braun, a Romanian Holocaust survivor and violinist.
“The violin basically saved [Braun’s] life,” Dr. Green explained. “And part of that was him thinking or hearing melodies in his head while he was in the camp, and basically staying alive by practicing those melodies in his head, and then also playing for the commandants. So after he was released and he survived many years later, he became a famous violinist in L.A.”
Braun was the subject of a recent documentary, “Symphony of the Holocaust,” which LAJS participated in.
Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Cantor Lisa Peicott will be performing a piece by Israeli composer Sharon Farber. Cantor Ilan Davidson from Temple Beth El in San Pedro, who has performed with Green at Disney Hall for 20 years, will be performing some duets and solos. And the last 30 minutes of the will be honoring Israel and LAJS’ commitment to the music of Israel.
Looking back at the past 30 years, Dr. Green highlighted a few of her favorite LAJS milestones.
“I think we all need a reason to celebrate being Jewish, and music is a nonthreatening, non-controversial way to do it …And I think we all need to be in a room and feel good about being a Jew.” – Dr. Noreen Green
“In 2000, I premiered [Andrea Clearfield’s] ‘The Woman of Valor’ at Royce Hall, which has been a cantata that has stuck with me for many years,” Green said. “So that was a huge event to do this 60 minute oratorio commissioned by a woman composer about women of the Bible, and then to have it recorded and to be released on Albany Records. So that was huge. Also, the music of Eric Zeisel, who was a Holocaust survivor as well. And he was a lesser-known composer, and I was able to bring a lot of his music to life, and also did a CD of his music. Also, there’s our education program that has serviced over 20,000 kids using Sephardic music as a link between the Latinx community in L.A.”
Before the music, the evening will open with a prayer.
“It’s important to address the losses we’ve had, between the pandemic and the wars we’re experiencing, and just the loss of everything, so we’re starting with a prayer,” Green said. On a similar note, this year, LAJS is partnering with Israel Bonds. Green said that she’s proud to partner with Israel Bonds “happy to lend the money out for a year.”
Dr. Green has a message for anyone considering coming to celebrate the 30th anniversary of LAJS on Sunday.
“I think we all need a reason to celebrate being Jewish, and music is a nonthreatening, non-controversial way to do it,” Green said. “And I think we all need to be in a room and feel good about being a Jew.”
For more information and ticket details about attending, go to the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony website: https://lajs.org/30th-anniversary/
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