Arts & Entertainment

Encino Conductor to Present Biblical Music at Ford

Noreen Green of Valley Beth Shalom temple will conduct the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony performance of 'Exaltation! Biblical Stories Through Music' at Ford Amphitheatre.

As musical director for Encino's Valley Beth Shalom temple, it's only natural Noreen Green would think of the Old Testament as a source for music. As founder, artistic director and conductor of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, it's her job to come up with a new theme each year for the symphony's major event at the Ford Amphitheatre.

Put the two together and the result is Exaltation! Biblical Stories Through Music, to be performed at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

The concert features classical music as well as music from films and musicals, all of it inspired by tales from the Old Testament. Two-time Grammy nominee Amick Byram of Burbank will be the featured vocalist and 15-year-old violin virtuoso Stephen Waarts, a student of Yitzhak Perlman,  are the guest artists.

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"It's a concert steeped in the Jewish experience," Green said. At the same time, she added, it reaches out to members of other faiths, particularly those that share a belief in the Old Testament.

"I think what we're trying to do by this theme is to show that the Bible is our shared heritage within the interfaith community of Los Angeles," she said. "By using Amick Byram as our soloist, we're trying to reach out to the interfaith community. One of the things that is very dear to me is the idea of coming together as a community."

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For Byram, who sang the role of Moses in the movie The Prince of Egypt, some of the music is familiar and some is new. "Two songs are very familiar because they are songs I co-wrote," he said. "But there's quite a bit of material that  I've learned for this concert in order to fulfill the theme."

Though a veteran performer in theaters and concert halls, Byram has not performed  frequently in outdoor venues. He looks forward to the opportunity, he said. "I'm looking forward to being able to look up and see the stars. I know that sounds kind of quirky and strange but I'm looking forward to that."

He said an outdoor amphitheatre is an ideal location to perform songs inspired by big, important Biblical stories.

Among the numbers to be performed Sunday:

—The film score from The Story of Ruth by Franz Waxman

—The Prophets, a violin concerto by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

—Music from The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Weber

—Songs from Prince of Egypt, The Apple Tree, King David and Masada: The Musical Saga

The Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, founded by Green in 1994, includes members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as well as studio musicians, community volunteers and student musicians.

"It's really a mixture of community to professional players," Green said.

Previous performances by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, now in its eighth year as part of the Ford Amphitheatre summer season, include tributes to the work of Jerry Goldsmith and Elmer Bernstien.  Other concerts have spotlighted Yiddish theater and Eastern European culture. One year, the concert, "Patchwork of Cultures," demonstrated similarities between Sephardic Jewish music and Latino music.

Work on the Ford Amphitheatre concert begins a year in advance. This will be the 18th years of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony. The numerical symbol for chai, the Hebrew word for life, is 18.

"So we're going to do 'chai-lights,'" Green said, "the whole year is going to be a year of highlights from the previous 18 years."

"We're also going to do new stuff, too," she added. "Part of my mission is to expose audiences to new, undiscovered work."

Tickets are $25 and $36 and $12 for full-time students with IDs and children 12 and under. They are available at FordTheatres.org or by calling 323-461-3673. Discounts are provided for groups of eight or more.


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