Overview

A world-class humanitarian aid concer

KindredSPIRITS’ next concert will be presented Sunday, June 13, 2010 at Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA’s premier concert venue.

Our 60-Voice Gospel Choir from Faithful Central Bible Church with the LA Jewish Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Noreen Green will join with noted artists, Ilan Davidson, tenor, Chayim Frenkel, tenor, and Ilysia Pierce, soprano in a concert of world music celebrating unity and peace.

Special guest celebrities will introduce the music and KindredSPIRITS’ beneficiary for this year.

Featuring

Beneficiary

Honoree

  • Barbara Lazaroff
    Barbara Lazaroff
Venue

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Walt-Disney-Concert-Hall-2

Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, is designed to be one of the most acoustically sophisticated concert halls in the world, providing both visual and aural intimacy for an unparalleled musical experience.

The 2,265-seat auditorium with natural lighting in which the audience surrounds the orchestra was designed to look and feel like a ship’s hull. The Walt Disney Concert Hall is wheelchair accessible and Phonic Ear sound system headsets for the hard of hearing.

From the stainless steel curves of its striking exterior to the state-of-the-art acoustics of the hardwood-paneled main auditorium, the 3.6-acre complex embodies the unique energy and creative spirit of the city of Los Angeles and the Resident Companies that call the Concert Hall home.

Beneficiary

Mazon

Cancer Support Community (CSC)

Since 1985, MAZON, with the support of the Jewish community, has granted over $50 million to prevent and alleviate hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Founded in 1985, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is a national nonprofit organization that allocates donations from the Jewish community to prevent and alleviate hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Each year, MAZON grants over $4 million to more than 300 carefully screened hunger-relief agencies, including emergency food providers, food banks, multi-service organizations and advocacy groups that seek long-term solutions to the hunger problem.

MAZON (“food” in Hebrew) believes its dual purpose is to provide for those who are hungry today and to address the systemic causes of hunger and poverty, both domestically and globally. Although grants are provided to many organizations serving the Jewish poor, in keeping with the best of Jewish tradition MAZON believes it is important to respond to all who are in need.

MAZON is supported by over 100,000 donors who incorporate social justice and hunger relief as crucial components of their everyday lives.

http://mazon.org/

Honorees

Barbara Lazaroff

Restaurateur and interior designer Barbara Lazaroff, ASID, is President of Imaginings Interior Design, Inc. Lazaroff is renowned for her innovative restaurant concepts and is the brand co-founder and interior designer of acclaimed restaurants, SPAGO HOLLYWOOD where she helped to introduce the exhibition kitchen; SPAGO BEVERLY HILLS the flagship of the Spago Group, CHINOIS ON MAIN and CHINOIS LAS VEGAS. Barbara is also co-owner of all the affiliate companies; such as, all the fine dining restaurants and is an equal shareholder in Wolfgang Puck Worldwide. In addition, Barbara is one of the owners of the Wolfgang Puck licensed products, i.e., cookware & accessories which are sold by HSN.

Ms. Lazaroff is involved with a variety of humanitarian, environmental, social and political issues. The Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation is a major supporter of Meals-on-Wheels, founding and hosting twenty-six years of the American Wine & Food Festival in Los Angeles which has raised over 30 million dollars to provide meals for the homebound disabled and elderly. For over 25 years, Spago has hosted a Passover Seder to benefit MAZON for hunger relief. Lazaroff and Puck have also founded and organized the annual California Spirit Gala benefiting the American Cancer Society.

For almost two decades Ms. Lazaroff has raised considerable funds for cancer research. Lazaroff and Puck are also involved with a variety of schools, hospitals and charities benefiting children: the March of Dimes Galas, Planned Parenthood, Carousel Ball for juvenile diabetes, Jill Ireland Cancer Center at Cleveland’s University Hospital, St. John’s Child and Family Development Clinic, Cedars-Sinai, UCLA, the Oralingua School for the Hearing Impaired, and the Fulfillment Fund, which is an organization that provides mentoring, scholarship and education to inner-city children.

Ms. Lazaroff actively supports several AIDS organizations and has served as chairperson for the APLA/Elizabeth Taylor Foundation’s 1993 Passport event, as well as multiple DIFFA events. She was part of the 1994 DIFFA Advisory Board, various AIDS Project Los Angeles and Project Angel Food committees. She has served as 1988 Chairperson of Dining for Dollars benefiting women and children with AIDS, and Lazaroff and Puck are the annual honorary chairpersons of the L.A. Shanti Wine Tasting and Auction.

Ms. Lazaroff remains engrossed in her passion for design, art, charity and her commitment to the restaurants’ operations. However, her plans for the future include finally setting apart time to realize her lifelong dream of writing and illustrating a series of children’s books and marketing them with a line of children’s toys and accessories. “Although my professional life is very rewarding, I still feel my most important creations, my greatest successes and blessings are my sons, twenty-one year old Cameron and fifteen and a half year old Byron. I feel my primary purpose is being their mom, setting a healthy role model and raising children of good moral stature, who will go on to contribute positively to the world at large.”

Performers

2010 Concert Performers

  • Mark Kashper
    Mark Kashper

    Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia in 1954, Mark Kashper started taking violin lessons at the age of five. Until the spring of 1972, he studied exclusively under the personal guidance of Professor Aron Khnifel. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatoire (where he was one of the last and favored students of David Oistrakh), Kashper also graduated from the Leningrad Conservatoire. As a student, he received numerous awards and scholarships. As an Assistant Concertmaster and soloist with the Moscow Conservatoire Chamber Orchestra, Kashper performed extensively throughout the Soviet Union, Europe, and Latin America. He emigrated from the Soviet Union in October 1977.

    In February 1978, Kashper arrived in the United States, and three months later won an audition to join the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In September 1979, he was promoted to the first violin section, progressed steadily through its ranks, and was finally named the Orchestra’s new Associate Principal Second Violinist in May 1986.

    In March 1987, Kashper won high praise from the audience and critics alike for his performance of the Luciano Berio Corale in its West Coast premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Pierre Boulez. He has also appeared as soloist with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as in many New Music Group and Chamber Music Series programs, collaborating with such distinguished musicians as Heinz Holliger, Andre Previn, Emanuel Ax, and Yefim Bronfman, to name just a few.

    An active recitalist and avid chamber music player, Kashper has been performing regularly in the Los Angeles area and throughout the United States. Since March 1994, he has also been serving as the Concertmaster and frequent featured soloist with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony.

  • Melissa Manchester

    MELISSA MANCHESTER starred in the national tours of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Music Of The Night and Song And Dance. She also created the role of Maddy on the NBC television hit series Blossom. In 1980 she became the first recording artist in the history of the Academy Awards to have two nominated movie themes in a given year: Through The Eyes Of Love and The Promise. She was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1980 for Don’t Cry Out Loud and won the Grammy Award for best female vocalist in 1982 singing You Should Hear How She Talks About You. In addition to performing, MELISSA has composed music for the animated feature The Great Mouse Detective and written the scores for the musical I Sent A Letter To My Love and for Lady And The Tramp II, the sequel to the Disney animated classic. MELISSA also co-wrote the radio mainstays Midnight Blue, Come In From The Rain and Whenever I Call You Friend and penned the songs on her recent CD When I Look Down That Road. She was presented the Governor’s Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1997 for her contributions to the music and recording arts.

  • Ilysia Pierce

    After pursuing a career in the theatre since childhood, Ilysia says it was “beshert”, meant to be, when Rabbi David Baron heard her sing just over ten years ago! It was after that meeting that Ilysia redirected her life and began her journey as the Cantor of Temple of the Arts in Beverly Hills, California. She has led Shabbat and High Holy Day services since 1999. In 2003 Rabbi David Baron and the Temple produced a CD, Enlighten which has elicited outstanding audience and critical review. Ilysia’s stirring rendition of “We Came to Sing in Jerusalem” was chosen to be on the Keeping the Faith, Voices for Israel 2 CD benefiting survivors of terrorism in Israel. Her vocal talents were also featured in the title song, “Keeping the Faith.”

    Ilysia began studying acting, voice and dance at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute for the Performing Arts and received her BA in Theatre Arts at California State University, Northridge.

    Prior to her tenure at the Temple, Ilysia enjoyed a successful career entertaining audiences on stage, television, nightclubs and in concert. Some of her theatrical highlights include: Disney’s King David, an oratorio concert sparking the reopening of the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York (the original home of the Ziegfeld Follies), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, playing the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, Frumah-Sara in Fiddler on the Roof with Theodore Bikel and Lainie Kazan, Eva Peron in Evita which she received a Dramalogue Critics’ Choice award for outstanding performance, and Johanna in Sweeney Todd, to name a few.

    Ilysia was thrilled to originate the role of “Miss Oops-A-Daisy” for the nationwide PBS television show, The Huggabug Club, where she was able to teach children “it’s okay to make an oopsie, everyone makes mistakes sometimes!”

    Ilysia’s reputation as a consummate entertainer has prompted invitations to sing in concerts as the featured guest artist at local venues, various fundraising events and at Pan Pacific Park’s Holocaust Memorial Yom HaShoah event.

    Of all her successes and accomplishments, Ilysia says the one she is most thankful for is that of wife to her supportive husband, David, and mother to her two beautiful children, Braxton and Madison.

  • Faithful Central Bible Church Choir

    With the leadership of Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer, Senior Pastor-Teacher, and under the direction of Dr. Diane White, Minister of Music, the Faithful Central Bible Church Choir of Inglewood, CA consists of a combination of voices from four of its unique choirs: Men of Faith, Voices of Faith, One Voice, Sacred Praise Chorale and the Praise Teams.

    Although each choir offers a distinct sound, together they produce a spirit-filled harmony! The Faithful Central Bible Church Choir or “FCBC” Choir (affectionately known) repertoire features traditional and contemporary gospel, as well as African American sacred music such as: spirituals, anthems and hymns. The soulful sound of worship from the FCBC Choir can be heard on their debut CD, “Zion Rejoice”.

    With the aim of spreading the gospel to the nations, God has anointed Faithful Central to minister with Habitat for Humanity, the Israel Christian Nexus, Blue & White on Wilshire, at the Knotts Berry Farm’s Gospel Showcase, the Taste of Soul on Crenshaw, BET’s Dr. Bobby Jones Gospel Show, the Annual Holy Convocation with Bishop Gilbert Patterson, the Black Business Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center and the West Coast House of Blues “Gospel Brunch” on Sunset Blvd., just to share a few of these opportunities.

  • Dr. Noreen Green

    DR. NOREEN GREEN, LAJS Founder, Artistic Director and Conductor, is also music director at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California, a renowned lecturer on Jewish music, and an accomplished educator. She is known world-wide for her knowledge and skill in presenting music with Jewish themes.

    Green has received public recognition for her outstanding contributions to the multi-cultural musical scene in Los Angeles by Congressman Brad Sherman and by the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life. She has received the “Jewish Cultural Star” award presented by the National Foundation of Jewish Culture at The Jewish Image Awards, the “Golda Meir Award” from The State of Israel Bonds, the “Hall of Fame Award” from the National Association of Women Business Owners and the “Women of Significance Award” from Adat Ari El Sisterhood. She has been a featured speaker for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Upbeat Live series and conducted at the opening ceremonies of the 2001 Maccabi Games in Philadelphia. Dr. Green has been guest conductor for Jewish Music concerts with the Rubin Academy Orchestra in Tel Aviv, the Johannesburg Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony at the new performing arts center in Herzliyah and the R’aanana Symphonette . Under her baton, LAJS has performed in concert with Hollywood personalities including Billy Crystal, Tovah Feldshuh, Leonard Nimoy, Randy Newman, Theodore Bikel, Laraine Newman, Valerie Harper, Pat Boone, Lainie Kazan, Fyvush Finkel, Dave Koz, Marvin Hamlisch, Roslyn Kind, David Benoit and others.

    During her tenure with the LAJS, Green, along with Education Director Ilizabeth Gilbert, has developed education programs initially funded by the New and Innovate Grants division of the Jewish Community Foundation. Several of these programs have gone on to receive funding from the Righteous Persons Foundation, the Maurice Amado Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, the Leonard and Susan Bay Nimoy Foundation and the Tel Aviv/Los Angeles Partnership. LAJS received a substantial education grant from the National Endowment of the Arts for its Patchwork of Cultures program which uses music to show the cultural bridge between the Sephardic Jewish and Hispanic communities.

    Green received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Choral Music from the University of Southern California and a Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting at California State University, Northridge under conductor John Alexander. From 1981 to 1990, she was the conductor of the American Jewish Choral Society. As West Coast Music Director of the David Nowakowsky Foundation from1992 to 1998, Green presented an annual concert series of the Nowakowsky Chorale. She wrote her doctoral treatise on the music of Nowakowsky, and went on to edit many of his works, ten of which have been published by Laurendale.

    From 1986 to 1992, Green was an Assistant Professor at CSUN and in the summer of 1993, she worked with conductor Murry Sidlin at the Aspen Music School. With his support and encouragement, she developed the concept for and founded the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony.

  • Chayim Frenkel
    Chayim Frenkel

    In his 25 years as Cantor of Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation, Chayim Frenkel has built an impressive career marked by a series of exceptional musical accomplishments. Blessed with a rich, warm tenor voice and an ability to nurture others’ talents, Chayim has become a driving force in the world of modern Jewish music and cantorial practice following in the very large foot-steps of his late father, Hazzan Uri Frenkel z”l.

    In 1995, Chayim served as executive director of Meir Finkelstein’s moving oratorio commemorating the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, Liberation.

    In 1998, Chayim served as co-chair of the Cantors Assembly’s celebration in honor of the State of Israel’s 50th anniversary. As part of these festivities, he performed at Carnegie Hall and produced a concert in New York’s Central Park, attended by over 10,000 people.

    Chayim has also commissioned and produced numerous recordings, including “Nishmat Tzedek – A Righteous Soul,” an orchestral and choral suite in honor of his brother Tzvi, of blessed memory, composed by Chayim’s dear friend, Meir Finkelstein. Chayim and Meir expanded their recording into a book and compact disc package as a gift of healing to those who have lost loved ones in the on-going terrorism that plagues our world.

    He lives in Pacific Palisades with his beloved wife, Marsi and two beautiful daughters, Mandi and Molli.

  • Zinovy Goro
    Zinovy Goro

    Clarinetist Zinovy Goro was born in the Ukraine, Kiev, and was educated at the State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kiev, with further training in the United States at the Trebas Institute of Recording Arts in Los Angeles. Prior to his arrival in America, Mr. Goro pursued a prestigious career as principal clarinetist in the State Honored Symphony Orchestra of Radio and Television. A brilliant exponent of the clarinet of all types of music, including the highly specialized field of Klezmer music, he has employed his talents to excellent effect in countless television and motion picture soundtracks, orchestra recordings for Columbia, Decca, Philips and RCA Labels, and the Mark Taper Forum’s 1986 production of Ghetto. As a composer, orchestrator, arranger and clarinetist, Mr. Goro has worked in this capacity with the L.A. Chamber Orchestra, and is currently principal clarinetist for the L.A. Jewish Symphony

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