From Russia
With Love
JULIE YOLLES ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Svetlana
Portnyanskaya
en SvetlanaPortnyanskaya
and Yakov Yavno join each
other for a concert at Con-
gregation Beth Shalom Sun-
day night, it will only be the second time
the two have performed together in Amer-
ica since they both left the former Soviet
Union for a better life.
In Moscow, Portnyanskaya and Yavno
each worked in a different Jewish theater
and were considered Russian Jewish su-
perstars. The first time they sang togeth-
er was during a halftime show at a Russia
vs. Israel basketball game. Yavno sang "If
I Were a Rich Man," from Fiddler on the
Roof. After all, "I was the first Jewish ac-
tor who played Tevye in Yiddish in
Moscow," he boasts.
In 1987, Vanessa Redgrave's brother
invited Yavno to New York to perform in
Stalin's Repressions on Broadway with
Raul Julia and Christopher Reeve.
"After that, I made my decision to stay
here in America," Yavno, 45, says. "It was
very hard for me; I was a popular actor
and a lot of people knew me in Russia. But
American people didn't know me, and I
had to start my life from scratch here."
So Yavno became a cantorial student,
on a full scholarship, at the Jewish The- Svetlana Portnyanskaya's singing has been
ological Seminary in New York, where he compared to that of Barbra Streisand, her favorite
still lives today.
performer.
"[America] is a miracle country," says Yakov Yavno.
The route to America for Portnyan-
skaya was very similar to Yavno's. She
came to New York in 1991 with her hus-
band and son (another son was born in
the U.S.) and five jazz musicians for a con-
cert tour.
"I was the target of anti-Semitism [in
Russia] because there were only a few
singers in the country who sang Jewish
songs," says Portnyanskaya, now 32. "It
was very hard for me to live there. That's
why I decided to move to America and stay
here forever, because I wanted to be here
among my people and study history, cul-
ture and religion."
Portnyanskaya also entered the Jew-
ish Theological Seminary to become a can-
tor and follow in her Russian
great-grandfather's footsteps. She's now
cantor at Temple Beth Torah, a Conser-
vative synagogue in Los Angeles. Unlike
Portnyanskaya, who is a cantor full time
but performs concerts of popular inter-
national songs on tour about once a
month, Yavno decided to pursue an act-
ing and singing career.
"My idea is to perform my culture to
many people," he says. "If I sing in the syn-
agogue, just for Jewish people, that's not
enough. I need to sing to everybody — peo-
ple of different religions, different nations.
This is my purpose right now."
At 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Portnyanskaya
and Yavno will be reunited to present a
multilingual concert of Jewish songs —
in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian and
Italian (operatic).
"On one hand [the evening] will be a
salute to the shtetl," says Yavno. "On the
other hand, we'll show a contemporary vi-
sion of this culture — what happens to
Russian people who come to America." El
%t The People Travel Club presents
"Stars ofJewish Songs" featuring Svet
lana Poi tnyanskaya and Yakov Yavno
at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, at Con-
gregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park.
Tickets are $12, $15 and $20 and may
be purchased at Euro Food, (810) 968-
2146; New York International, (810)
968-6000, or Minsk, (810) 557-0545.
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