THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, September 21, 1984
Wayne State University. A highpoint
of Chajes' career as both a composer
and concert pianist occurred in 1953 —
when he premiered his piano concerto
with the Detroit Symphony under
Paul Paray at the Masonic Temple.
Though there have been many ac-
colades for his works throughout the
years, the words of Henryk Szerynk,
world reknowned Polish violinist, are
ones Chajes treasures the most.
' Szerynk said, His music is to Israel
what Chopin's is to Poland, De Fallas'
is to Spain and Bartok's is to Hun-
gary."
Gordon Staples, concertmaster of
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, also
has words of praise for his fellow musi-
cian. "Julius is a very fine composer,
has a very distinctive style. When you
hear a piece of his music, you know it's
Chajes'."
Staples also knows well Chajes'
conductorial talents, having per-
formed with the Center Symphony for
25 years. "I enjoy playing with the
Jewish Center Symphony for the sim-
ple reason that he is a real musician's
musician. Julius also happens to love
music. I love to play with him, (espe-
cially) when we play sonatas and he
plays the piano."
After Chajes immigrated to the
United States, he lived in NeW York
for three years during which time he
performed over the Columbia Network
and in three sonata recitals in New
York Town Hall. In 1940 he accepted
the position of director of music at the
Detroit Jewish Community Center
and founded the Center Symphony Or-
chestra which has undergone signific-
ant change through the years, in
quantity but not quality.
The Center Symphony Or-
chestra, which is non-sectarian, has
evolved into a small chamber or-
chestra performed in an intimate hall
which has very good acoustics," Chajes
explains. Years ago it was a full or-
chestra with more than 50 members.
When the Center moved and the com-
munity spread out, it was harder for
Chajes to find amateurs, many of
whom were physicians, who were will-
ing to travel the distance for rehearsal.
"I couldn't get all the amateurs to re-
hearsals and so it became a profes-
sional orchestra. Now," he boasts, the
concerts are so good that it's easy to get
soloists to perform, not only from De-
troit but I get letters from soloists out
of town.
We have accomplished so much
by having the finest local soloists and
many out-of-town artists and many of
1 the present DSO musicians got their
start with the Center Symphony," a
proud Chajes points out. "Also the
famous Joseph Silverstein, former
concertmaster of the Boston Sym-
phony Orchestra; Daniel Majeske,
concertmaster of the Cleveland Sym-
phony Orchestra; Isidor Saslav,
former concertmaster with the Balti-
more Symphony Orchestra; and David
Cerone, head of the violin department
at the prestigious Curtis Institute
(Philadelphia). There are several
musicians in the Boston Symphony
Orchestra and Philadelphia Sym-
phony Orchestra who were originally
members of the Center Symphony," he
adds. Through the years, the CSO has
performed all nine symphonies by
Beethoven and Brahms' four sym-
phonies.
The Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit provides the
facilities for rehearsals and the four
performances each season are held in
the Center's Aaron DeRoy Theatre.
Funds are raised annually by mem-
bers of the CSO committee by selling
patron and sponsor tickets.
At the opening concert this Sun-
day, Chajes' The 142nd Psalm, a can-
tata for mixed voices, soloists and
string orchestra will be dedicated to
the opening of Detroit's Holocaust
Memorial Center. The reason for the
dedication," Chajes says, "is that I
wrote this shortly before Hitler came
to power, with all the fears of what
would happen to European Jewry if he
succeeded . . . If you would read the
words of The 142nd Psalm you would
understand that I put into music the
meaning of: cried to the Lord with
my voice . . . I poured out my sorrows
before Him . . . Deliver me from them
that pursue me, that for me are too
mighty.' " This composition was first
performed at the Pavillion of Religion
at the first New York World's Fair and
since then has been performed in
many temples and churches through-
out the country.
One of the featured soloists at
Sunday's concert will be Chajes' wife
Annette, a medical technician and
mezzo-soprano who sings in a profes-
sional quartet at Temple Beth El. The
two met 24 years ago when she audi-
tioned for him just after she moved to
Detroit from Pennsylvania. Coinci-
dentally, one of the pieces of sheet
music she brought with her was one of
his Hebrew songs called Galil. She,
like many others, didn't realize that
Chajes is pronounced `Hi-as' and that
he was the song's composer.
Julius and Annette Chajes have
been married 20 years and have a son
Jeffrey, 19. Annette also has two sons
from a prior marriage, Richard and
David Loring. Chajes had been mar-
ried before but had no children.
When Jeffrey Chajes was 6 his
father began giving him daily piano
lessons. By the time he was 11 he
played a concerto with the Center
Symphony," says the proud father.
He played three years in a row, a
Mozart concerto, a Hadyn concerto and
a Beethoven concerto, every year till
he was 14." That was when Jeffrey dis-
covered there was a life beyond piano.
And it was a decision his parents
seemed to have had no problem accept-
ing. Presently, Jeffrey Chajes is con-
sidering entering the rabbinate, which
doesn't exactly come as a surprise to
his father. Chajes is descended from a
long line of rabbis (interrupted by his
father and grandfather) who can be
traced as far back as 1520 in Lwow.
Whatever decision his son makes,
Chajes only wishes him the gratifica-
tion and joy he has derived from his
own career. When he came to Detroit
45 years ago he didn't think he would
stay more than a few years. But the
Center Symphony became an institu-
tion in the Jewish community, he was
able to travel abroad in the summers
to concertize and compose, and he's ex-
perienced great success as a piano
teacher. He has also been an adjunct
professor in the piano deptatment of
Wayne State University. For 34 years
his teaching record speaks for itself.
In 1949, when the Detroit Musi-
cians League, in conjunction with the
Polish Consulate, sponsored a Chopin
competition, five out of seven prize
winners were Chajes students. In
1966, Chajes student Beth Rhodes was
awarded the National Baldwin
Keyboard award. The following
Chajes students have appeared as sol-
oists with the Detroit Symphony Or-
chestra: Bety Kowalsky Stassen, Alex
Kallao, Gordon Goodman, Beth
Rhodes, Paul Schoenfield and David
Syme.
And Chajes keeps in touch with
most of his former students.
He mentions "Paul Schoenfield,
head of the composition department at
Toledo University (on leave of absence
now), who has performed with
Leonard Bernstein and in New York
Town Hall. I guess he might be the one
who's most famous. I have another one
who is a conductor in New York city,
Kurt Saffir. He came from Vienna
when he was 9 and when he was 16
went to the Juilliard School of Music.
He's in New York and he's conducting
operas and is also connected with the
Bach Society."
Today, at a young 73, Julius
Chajes is still busy teaching piano but
finds himself teaching about 80 per-
cent adults and 20 percent children, a
complete reversal of the old days. And
he has experienced wonderful success
with these adults, some of whom
studied as children and some who are
rank beginners.
He cites as an example a 60-year-
old beginner who within six months
was playing better than his grandsons
who had been studying piano for two
years. "Adults learn faster," insists
Chajes. "You have to have a com-
pletely different approach, though, be-
cause otherwise they get bored."
Those who have worked with
Julius Chajes note that he is not only
gifted as a composer, pianist, conduc-
tor and teacher but that he is infinitely
patient and wise and has a wonderful
Kingins
Hollman
15
sense of humor, all of which make him
irrisistible to work with.
Gordon Staple likes to tell about
the time he was rehearsing with
Chajes in a small room at the Jewish
Center and there was a workman in
'the room who was making more noise
than necessary, making it difficult for
Staples to concentrate. "I was becom-
ing very disturbed by this and Julius
came up, put his hand on my shoulder
and said: 'Gordon, you're not going to
teach this man something his mother
couldn't.' And a calmed down Staples
resumed his rehearsal.
On this double anniversary Julius
Chajes, who also speaks six languages,
takes time out to reminisce. On the
wall in his living room is a framed
letter from world famous cellist Pablo
Casals, congratulating Chajes on his
cello concerto which he dedicated to
Casals. Chajes mentions the most
popular of his compositions, his Song
Of Galilee, a choral number that Fred
Waring promoted, which has sold over
30,000 copies. You know, it took me
only two hours to write and brings in
more royalty than all my others to-
gether," confides Chajes.
In compliance with the reporter's
request he again seats himself at the
piano and begins to play his Israeli
Dance, written in the 40s. Always the
teacher, he explains that the middle
or slow part of this song is like the
chanting of a prayer while the first and
last part are written in the New
Mediterranean Style.'
That Julius Chajes loves music is
a given.
"I have no regret,§," he says. "I
couldn't have been anything else and I
couldn't have been happy with any-
thing else. And if I have a happy na-
ture, I think it's because my profession
is what I really love . . . I just love it."
Eich
A. Chajes
Opening the season
Julius Chajes and the Center Symphony Orchestra will open their
45th season at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Aaron DeRoy Theatre of the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
Participating in the concert will be the Fort Street Chamber Choir,
Edward Kingins, conductor. Soloists in the concert will include Annette
Chajes, mezzo soprano; Edward Kingins, tenor; Warren Eich, baritone;
Hart Hollman, violinist; and David Wilson, harpsichord.
Annette Chajes, a native of Pennsylvania, was a winner of various
competitions and appeared in concerts and recitals thorughout the United
States and Canada. At present she is soloist at Temple Beth El.
Warren Eich is a graduate of the Cincinnati College of Music. He
performed with various orchestras in the East and is soloist at Royal Oak
First Presbytarian Church and Temple Beth El.
Hart Hollman is a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He
will be heard in Teleman's Concerto for Viola and Strings.
The featured composition of the program will be Julius Chajes' can-
tata The 142nd Psalm, dedicated to the opening of the new Holocaust
Memorial Center.