ENTERTAINMENT
Special to The Jewish News
Gabe and Miriam Bolkosky
speak the same language
Music!
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This brother and sister have a 'classical' relationship.
ibling rivalry is a
thing nearly every
family has encount-
ered in one way or
another since the
beginning of time. A brother
or sister competes with
another brother or sister, and
each perceives the relation-
ship as a nothing-in-common
situation.
By the time the siblings are
adults, they may have a no-
strings relationship with one
another.
It's different with Gabriel
and Miriam Bolkosky, whose
relationship is all strings.
Gabe, 16, and Miriam, 19, are
musicians who speak a
shared language that their
friends — and even their
parents — can't completely
understand.
"I believe that 100 percent,"
says Miriam, a cellist study-
ing at the University of
Michigan's School of Music.
"The friends that I've made
in my musical circles will
always be more close to me
than the friends I've had who
are not in touch with music.
It's such a part of my life. It's
something that you have to
learn to speak. Gabe and I
always want the same things
in terms of musicianship."
"I know her so well that I
know what she can do most of
the time," says Gabe, a
violinist and junior at Fern-
dale High School. "Naturally,
we're brother and sister and
every once in a while a spat
will come up."
"The only real disputes,"
says Miriam, "are musical
disputes. Usually we resolve
those because it turns out we
really want the same things,
only we say it differently."
The children of Dr. Sidney
and Lorraine Bolkosky, Gabe
and Miriam have won awards
performing in recitals
together, including the
Brahms double concerto for
violin and cello at the Jewish
Community Center in 1988.
Gabe received the $1,000
Jewish Center Award this
year for a solo performance.
"I would love for the two of
us to be able to solo with an
orchestra sometime," says
Miriam. "Our personalities
blend well, and we know each
other's playing so well that it
would be very easy to pin
down the musical aspects of
whatever piece we did."
For now, the two are pursu-
ing their work separately.
Miriam will eventually earn
a bachelor's of music at U-M,
a degree in cello performance.
Gabe is balancing high school
work, college entrance ex-
aminations and violin
lessons, with instructor
Michael Avsharian.
Both Gabe and Miriam
dream of being soloists with
their respective instruments,
but they say they have few il-
lusions and would be happy
with consistent orchestra or
chamber ensemble work.
"Being a soloist only hap-
pens to a select few people,
and, if by chance it happens
to me, I'll be very lucky," says
Miriam. "There are very few
soloists who are able to make
a career as a soloist. Most get
university positions. I would
love to spend the rest of my
life playing chamber music;
but realistically, I'd have to be
on the faculty of a university,
too.
"Most universities want to
hire people who have already
established themselves as
soloists and chamber musi-
cians. They want to hire a
`name.' I'd like to establish
myself as a performer. Not
necessarily someone like
(cellist) Yo Yo Ma, but to the
extent that I can get a
teaching position — and still
be able to perform."
Among groups Miriam is
involved with are the Univer-
sity Symphony Orchestra, the
Ann-Arbor-based Cassini
Ensemble and the group she
co-founded with Gabe, the
Four Seasons String Quartet.
"We generally play
background music for art
show openings or wedding
receptions," Miriam says of
Four Seasons. "We have a
large repertoire of Mozart,
Haydn, Dvorak. We try to
keep it as light as possible for
most occasions."
Gabe, meanwhile, is active
in Ferndale High's theater
program (he'll appear in An-
nie Get Your Gun next month)
and the Detroit Symphony
Civic Orchestra. On Feb. 22,
he will play a solo piece at
Temple Beth El with the
Birmingham-Bloomfield
Symphony.
The Bolkosky children grew
up listening to various kinds
of music, including the music
of their parents' generation:
The Beatles and Simon and
Garfunkel.
The gift of classical music
arrived at the Bolkoskys with
a visit from Marvin Bram, a
colleague of Dr. Bolkosky's
from teaching days at Hobart
& William Smith Colleges in
Geneva, N.Y. Bolkosky is now
a history professor and a
Holocaust authority who
teaches at U-M Dearborn.
"Marvin came to visit us
when we moved here," says
Dr. Bolkosky. "He walked off
the airplane with a blanket.
When we got home he un-
wrapped the blanket and
I GOING PLACES I
WEEK OF
FEB.16-FEB.22
JEWISH EVENTS
JEWISH COMMUNITY
CENTER
6600 W. Maple Road,
West Bloomfield, Jewish
Ensemble Theatre's Man
in the Glass Booth,
through Feb. 25;
"Evening on Broadway,"
cabaret concert starring
Sheri Nichols with
Richard Berent, 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 17; Yiddish folk and
theater songs performed
by Larry Bassin. 1 p.m.
Feb. 19, admission,
661-1000.
ATTIC THEATER
2990 W. Grand
Boulevard, Detroit, A
Shayna Maidel, through
Feb. 25, 8 p.m.,
admission, 875-8284.
THEATER
PERFORMANCE
NETWORK
408 W. Washington, Ann
Arbor, The Owl and the
Pussycat, through Feb.
25, admission, 663-0681
or 354-6129.
HENRY FORD
MUSEUM THEATER
Dearborn, John Loves
Mary, through March 17,
admission, 271-1620.
ROSEDALE
COMMUNITY
PLAYERS
The Upstage, 21728
Grand River, Detroit,
Barefoot in the Park,
through Feb. 24,
admission, 534-4010.
FARMINGTON
PLAYERS
Farmington Players
Barn, Farmington Hills,
Waiting for the Parade,
through Feb. 24,
admission, 538-1670.
FISHER
Detroit, The Unsinkable
Molly Brown, through
Feb. 18 Peter Pan, Feb. 20
through March 4,
admission, 872-1000.
DETROIT
REPERTORY
13103 Woodrow Wilson,
Detroit, Fences, through
March 18, admission,
868-1347.
MEADOW BROOK
Oakland University,
Rochester, A Walk in the
Woods, through Feb. 25,
admission, 370-3300.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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KENNETH JONES