Following a rendition of “Yerushalaim Shel Zahav” toward the end of his final jazz piano performance of 2012 at Rose Schnitzer Manor on Nov. 30, George Fendel delivered a piece of good news to resident Sheldon Petcher and the enthralled audience of three dozen residents, caregivers,and staff. His next concert will not only take place…
“There’s nothing you can read about the Portland Youth Philharmonic that will prepare you for an experience when you come to a concert,” declares David Hattner, music director of the PYP, which is the oldest and one of the best youth orchestras in the United States. “You have to experience them because they’re that good.”…
The death of four commercial fishermen on Dec. 11, 2001, when their 40-foot aluminum fishing vessel Nesika capsized a half-mile west of Yaquina Head, marked a turning point for each of the men’s families. It was the first day that the Dungeness crab fleet put to sea that year – a cold, dirty day on…
He’s a klezmer violin virtuoso, a composer, an arranger, a filmmaker, the author of 13 books, a playwright and a photographer, and he has conducted original ethno-graphic and musical research in Eastern Europe. In short, Yale Strom is a one-man walking Jewish cultural storehouse. Strom started his multifaceted love affair with Jewish culture in the…
OJM exhibit of female cartoonists runs gamut of experience. The royal blue walls of the Oregon Jewish Museum make a striking setting for “Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women,” a traveling exhibition of 18 Jewish female cartoonists from four countries. This poignant, witty collection is co-curated by journalist Michael Kaminer and artist Sarah Lightman….
The Jewish star of Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol says, for him, the play resonates more with the themes of the Jewish High Holidays than those of Christmas. Local actor and director Michael Mendelson plays Holmes for the play’s second season at Artists Repertory Theatre Nov. 23-Dec. 30. Originally scheduled to…
Joanne Van Ness Menashe has done a great many things in her illustrious career working for nonprofits throughout the state, but it’s her latest position with the Oregon Ballet Theatre that is bringing her back to her roots. Though she got a degree in botany, plant pathology from Oregon State University, Menashe knew before even…
It’s a gifted writer who can take a subject that we feel is totally familiar and present it in a fresh way that’s not only enlightening and informative, but a joyful read as well. Rabbi Maurice Harris, formerly associate rabbi at Eugene’s Temple Beth Israel, brings to his writing the same mix of wit and…
Purple onions glow against a neutral background. Apples burnished by red and gold highlights. A female torso whose contours are outlined in green, orange, turquoise and gray. This is the color world of painter Anna Kodesch, a third-generation Portlander whose upcoming show, “Oregon, My Oregon,” opens Dec. 1 at Bellamy Studios in Multnomah Village (6715…
Rick Recht’s name may not be familiar to you, but you’ve probably heard his music. Recht, a rising star of the contemporary Jewish music scene, returns to Portland after a 10-year hiatus for a family concert on Nov. 18, as part of the Jewish Federation’s Super Sunday phonathon. Recht, a 42-year-old native of St. Louis,…
