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The program, "Beyond the Seas," which begins at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, at the Detroit Institute of Arts, will benefit Greek studies at Nadia Weinberg: Combining her Jewish and the University of Michigan. She will Greek heritages. perform with the 14-piece Soloists of the Symphony Orchestra of Summers and secular holidays were in Athens. "I sing [20th-century] numbers that Greece, where she moved after high I love in English, Greek, Yiddish, school for more voice training and to Ladino, French, Italian, Spanish and earn a degree in English literature at Hebrew," says Weinberg. "I started the American College in Athens. singing Ladino because I live in a "My parents helped raise money for Sephardic community in Greece." the families of political prisoners in The vocalist's interest in many cul- Greece during the '70s, and they came tures grew out of her home environ- in contact with Mikis Theodorakis, ment, where she celebrated the Jewish who composed the music for Zorba traditions of her father, David the Greek," recalls Weinberg. Weinberg, and the Greek traditions of "Many years later, my mother intro- her mother, Effie Weinberg. duced me to him. After hearing me Her parents met in Greece, where sing, he put me under his wing and her American-born father taught took me with him on some concerts English before moving on to compara- that he had in the States." tive literature teaching positions at Weinberg and Theodorakis recorded Oakland University and Michigan The Ballad of Mauthausen, which com- State University. After a traditional bined his music with poetry written Greek marriage ceremony, the couple by Jacob Kambanelis, who had been at came to the United States for a Jewish the Mauthausen concentration camp wedding. in Austria. When Nadia Weinberg was young, Other recordings featuring the High Holidays generally were spent Weinberg include Crucifixion by in Connecticut with her father's sister.. Yannis Boufidis, Limenarhis Evripou by Panos Steliou and Nadia on Tour. The CDs will be available for sale at her Detroit concert. As Weinberg reached out to have a more independent career, she appeared with many orchestras, book- ing concerts in Israel, Europe and Australia. In the United States, she has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Effie Weinberg manages her daughter's career. "I am extremely proud of Nadia's singing, but I am more proud that she has remained down to earth, has a tremendous feeling for peo- ple and integrated two cultures [into her life]," Effie Weinberg says. "Each year, she does five ben- efit concerts for the Jewish Greek community and five for the Christian Greek community" The soprano, who sang at the unveiling of the National Holocaust Memorial in Greece about three years ago, has an annual Christmas program on Greek television. While steeped in her singing commitments, Weinberg also is excited about being part of a new film as singer and actress. "I'm going to be making a docu- mentary about a Greek island where every Jewish person was saved [during World War II]," explains Weinberg. "It's going to be filmed on the island, in Athens and in Israel. We start in 2_, May" 7 Nadia Weinberg will perform 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the Auditorium of the Detroit Institute of Arts with Soloists of the Symphony Orchestra of Athens. The program benefits Greek stud- ies at the University of Michigan. Tickets, at S100, 550 and S25, are tax deductible. (734) 459-3000.