CONEY ISLAND

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154 S. Woodward, Birmingham
(248) 540-8780

Halsted Village
(37580 W.12 Mile Rd.)
Farmington Hills
(248) 553-2360

6527 Telegraph Rd.
Corner of Maple (15 Mile)
Bloomfield Township
(248) 646-8568

4763 Haggerty Rd. at Pontiac Trail
West Wind Village Shopping Center
West Bloomfield
(248) 669-2295

Rhapsody In Two

841 East Big Beaver, Troy
(248) 680-0094

SOUTHFIELD SOUVLAKI
CONEY ISLAND
Nine Mile & Greenfield
15647 West Nine Mile, Southfield
(248) 569-5229

Piano pair have a marriage made in music.

BY SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

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CONEY ISLAND
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California, San Diego.
"The piece is about as jazzy as I
get,"
Neville adds. "It's a lot of fun,
ianists Dan Koppelman and
usually play classical music. By
but
I
Ruth Neville performed
classical,
I mean to exclude jazz or
their first concert together
pop,
but
I'm
including the most
the evening before they
avant-garde of the 20th and 21st cen-
were married. Ten years and many
turies in the classical tra-
concerts later, they're bringing
dition."
their talents to "Jazz Up Your
Dan Koppelman
The couple mixes con-
Holidays," a program planned and Ruth Neville
certs
with their primary
by the Birmingham-
will jazz up the
work,
teaching music at
holidays when they
Bloomfield Symphony
University in
Furman
bring Gershwin and
Orchestra (BBSO).
Greenville,
S.C. They call
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue Kurt Weill to Temple
themselves Duo
for Four-Hands will be an
Beth El on Dec. 30.
Runedako, which com-
encore selection for the duo.
bines the first two letters
They played the piece last year
of their first and last names.
with the Grosse Pointe Symphony and
After their debut, made very festive
made such an upbeat impression on
because
it was attended by many fami-
BBSO conductor Felix Resnick, he
ly
members
and friends in San Diego
invited them to be part of the upcom-
the
wedding,
they toured the
for
ing show.
University of California system.
Also on the program will be Kurt
With their move to Michigan a year
Weill's The Threepenny Opera,
after graduation, they toured the state
Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2,
under the auspices of the Michigan
played by BBSO Young Artist Piano
Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
Competition winner Eric Liao, and
A
similar initiative in South Carolina
selections from the orchestra's CD,
keeps
them performing throughout
Sounds of the Season, which includes
that
state.
Fantasia on Greensleeves.
"Becoming a pianist was a very nat-
The concert starts at 7 p.m.
ural thing for me," says Koppelman,
Saturday, Dec. 30, at Temple Beth El
who grew up in a Jewish home in
in Bloomfield Township.
California. "My mother is a pianist
"We've noticed as we've performed
and piano teacher so there always was
Rhapsody in Blue that it never seems to
piano music in our house. I started
lose its charm or the interest of the
taking lessons at 7 and seemed to take
audience," says Koppelman, who met
to it.
his wife while they were both doctoral

p

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525 N. Main
Milford
(248) 684.1772

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students at the University of

"I went through various changes in
terms of what type of music I wanted
to be involved with. It was jazz for a
while, then contemporary classical and
ndw music technology."
Koppelman, 43, taught for three
years at Central Michigan University
in Mount Pleasant. He visits Michigan
about four times a year because his
wife grew up in Grosse Pointe.
"I started piano at age 8 and studied
with Edith Ella Davis, an honorary life
member of Temple Beth El," says
Neville, whose mother was a vocalist
and pianist and whose grandfather was
a violinist with the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra. "She wrote the song 'Beth
El,' which is still sung by children [in
the congregation]."
Neville received her bachelor's
degree at the University of Michigan
and her master's degree at Oakland
University. She also performed with
the Music Study Club of Detroit and
the Tuesday Musicale of Detroit."
Samples of their styles are available
on two recordings that can be pur-
chased at the concert. Duo Runedako
has some of the more traditio -al
works they play, while Di gitt- .zsm pres-
ents mostly works he coral Jsed and
plays with synthesizers and computers.
Two upcoming engagements will be
on the duo's mind after their BBSO
performance — a February concert in
Greenville and a March chamber
music series in Mount Pleasant. They
also keep active through professional
organizations. Both are members of
the College Music Society, and he
belongs to the Society for Electro-
Acoustic Music in the United States
(SEAMUS).
"We do more duo performances
than separate performances," Neville
says. "When Dan wants to highlight
technology, those are solo pieces."
When the pianists are not focused
on their favorite instrument, they are
interested in trying new foods and
cooking. This includes sampling the
cuisine in cities where they enter-
tain.

❑

Dan Koppelman and Ruth Neville
perform with the Birmingham
Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra
7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 30, at
Temple Beth El, 14 Mile and
Telegraph, Bloomfield Township.
The cost is $20; students are
admitted free when accompanied
by an adult. Group discounts are
available. Call (248) 645-2276 for
more information.

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