Music By Number

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR
Special to The Jewish News

IV

With the magical intensity of a
snake charmer, he cajoles - an
enchanting array of rhythmic
sounds out of instruments
usually relegated to the rear of
the orchestra pit. By using over-
40 drums, cymbals, a marimba,
and a vibraphone, Chen
Zimbalista 's music crosses all
cultural boundaries and has an
inescapable ability to move you.

The Univeristy Musical Society presents

Chen Zimbalista, percussion
Saturday, February 14, 8 p.m.
Rackham Auditorium, Ann Arbor

734.764.2538

A CLOSER WALK

Final Two
Weekends!

Singing 20 of Her
Greatest Hits

• Dinner Packages

• Attic Gift Certificates

• For more info
call (248) 335 8101

-

• Tickets $22 and $27

• Show Times: Thur., Fri. &
Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m.

EXTENDED

Tickets available at the

7th House Box Office (248) 335-3540
and Ticketmaster (248) 645-6666 7.11
.

THROUGH
FEBRUARY 15

No show Jan. 30 & 31

44‘447-E

r

Call The Sales Department
(248) 354-7123 Ext. 209

2/6
1998

90

DIMWIT
=WISE

Advertise in our Entertainment Section!

'TN

hen Lori Kaufman
was a toddler, the baby
grand piano in her par-
, ents' Bloomfield Hills
home became a shelter, a piece of furni-
ture under which to play out her child-
hood fantasies.
"When my parents got married, the
very first thing they bought was a
grand piano," she said, noting that nei-
ther her mother nor her father
is musically inclined. "Because
no one ever played it, I
always thought it was
just this large table to
play under or around."
It wasn't until an older sibling
began to take piano lessons that she
realized that "the table" was an instru-
ment of creativity and expression.
Now an adult, Kaufman attributes
her early exposure to the piano as the
spark of what promises to be an explo-
sive career as a popular pianist. With
the recent release of her first solo com-
pact disc, Kaufman has come full cir-
cle, realizing the instrument provides
not only a creative shelter but also a
vehicle for expression.
"The piano has become
my refuge, my means of
expressing myself," she
said.
Kaufman began
composing almost
from the start. While
in the third grade, she
finished one of her first
compositions, "Sailing in
the Sunshine," for a grade-
wide competition. Her entry
won first place — and a large trophy.
"Some kids wrote poems, others
wrote stories or drew pictures, but Lori
wrote and performed her own song,"
recalled her mother, Carole Kaufman.
"It was the way she expressed herself."
Kaufman continued with her musi-
cal education under the tutelage of
Maryan Abramsohn of Southfield.
"I knew she had amazing talent
from early on, when she was 7 or 8,"
Abramsohn said. "I encouraged her to
explore it and develop it."
As an adolescent, Kaufman contin-
ued to nurture her talent, spending
hours practicing the classics or compos-

ing her own works.
"It wasn't like we forced her into
it," said Carole Kaufman. "It was
something she gravitated toward."
Kaufman agrees. "My parents have
been very supportive in such a wonder-
ful way," she said. "When they didn't
understand what I was doing or what I
was talking about, they would go out
and buy books and recordings and edu-
cate themselves to know more about
what their daughter was doing."
Like Abramsohn, the Kaufmans also
encouraged her to study with the best
teachers. And Kaufman did. While at
the University of Southern California,
she studied with John Perry, a piano
instructor of national reputation. She
went on to study for her master's at the
Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore
under the instruction of Leon Fleisher.
After finishing with formal studies,
Kaufman toured the world performing
the music of greats like Bach,
Beethoven and Mozart.
She played with symphonies from
Baltimore to Guadalajara and concerts
from Glasgow to SoHo.
During this time, she also began to
delve into Judaism. Always interested
in her religion, the native Detroiter was
a member of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek and had
attended supplemental
Hebrew school there
from nursery school
through high school.
Soon, Kaufman's
interest drifted
toward kabbalistic
teachings, especially in
gematriah, the study of
Hebrew words and phrases
by distilling them down to their
numerological equivalents. Kaufman
further applied this study to music, a
process she found very conducive to
composing.
"With gematriah techniques, you
can write very cohesive melodies," she
said.
She also decided to set aside her
given name as a stage name and adopt-
ed the name NinetyNine, the gematric
equivalent of her Hebrew name, Leah
Chana.
"People are sometimes too swayed
by name recognition to listen to lesser
known performers, artists who don't
have that big name recognition," she

Inspired by
Hebrew numerology,
a native Detroiter
releases her first
album.