Arts & Entertainment
Noble Instrument
Clarinetist Eli Eban, son of the late Israeli
ambassador Abba Eban, performs with
nn Arbor Symphony Orchestra.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
larinetist Eli Eban, about
to have his debut per-
fOrmance with the Ann
Arbor Symphony Orchestra, arrives
with many connections. Eban has
worked with maestro Arie Lipsky,
taught clarinet to Lipsky's wife and
appeared in Ann Arbor with the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra.
The musician, who works inter-
nationally and teaches clarinet at
the Indiana University School of
Music, will play Debussy's Premiere
Rhapsodie for Orchestra and
Clarinet and Weber's Concertino for
Clarinet and Orchestra for the pro-
Eli Eban: "There's a human quality to the
[clarinet's] tone, which means it's very
expressive and has a nobility and certain
wistfulness to its sound?'
Michigan Debut
Violinist Ittai Shapira to appear
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
violinist who recently completed
a recording with Brooke Shields
soon will appear in Michigan for
a concert that includes known classics
and a new piece by Shaarey Zedek
Cantor Meir Finkelstein.
Ittai Shapira, who plays the music
as Brooke Shields reads the children's
story The Runaway Rabbit, will per-
form 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 23,
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield, where the program offers a
range of music.
"This will be a folk-based program,".
says Shapira, 33, who started his violin
studies and career in Israel and moved
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to the United States when he was 15 to
advance his schooling at the Juilliard
School. "There will be sonatas by
Dvorak and Franck as well as ragtime
pieces. The cantor told me about - his
music, and I listened to it, loved it and
decided to include it.
"The overall theme of my career has
been the classics with various influ-
ences. I'm interested in songs, dances
and stories."
Shapira, who has performed from
New York to China, is debuting in
Michigan. The appearance is particular-
ly significant to him, he says, because it
becomes the 47th state in which he has
presented concerts, and he wants to go
to all 50.
Shapira started playing violin after a
close friend started lessons. His parents
gram beginning 8 p.m. Saturday, April
22, at the Michigan Theater.
The concert, the season finale for the
orchestra, also includes Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony and Paul Fetler's
Three Poems by Walt Whitirian with
Tom Blaske as narrator. Lipsky and
,
Fetler will discuss the featured music
at 7 p.m. for ticket holders interested in
background information.
"The pieces I will be performing
are staples of the clarinet repertoire
says Eban, 56, whose recordings
include works by Beethoven on the
CD Brahms & Beethoven: Clarinet
Trios. "Both of my selections are first-
rate music, and I enjoy playing them.
"I like playing the clarinet because
it's a very versatile instrument in that it
has a big range and can play a variety
at first opposed the very serious inter-
est because they wanted him to have a
more conventional childhood.
"I loved the violin and advanced
quickly," he says. "When I was 12, I
started with a famous teacher, Ilona
Feher, who was very strict. She had me
enter competitions and helped arrange
my first concert in Italy."
, The violinist, winner of the Clairmont
Award, went on to appear with many
prestigious orchestras, including
the Budapest Symphony, Shanghai
Symphony, London Philharmonic, Czech
National Symphony - and Cape Town
Philharmonic.
Besides making classical record-
ings -- such as Debussy, Janancek, A.
Strauss: Sonatas for Violin and Piano,
with Michael Abramovich — he played
in the soundtrack for the HBO film
The Journalist and the Jihadi, which is
about the life of the late Daniel Pearl.
Shapira, who is single and holds
bachelor and master's degrees from
Juilliard, has launched a project to help
young Israeli violinists. The Ilona Feher
Foundation is named after his influen-
of styles. There's a human quality to
the tone, which means it's very expres-
sive and has a nobility and certain
wistfulness to its sound."
Raised In Israel
Eban, born in the United States and
raised in Israel, early in his childhood
had been encouraged to play violin or
piano by his famous parents, Abba and
Suzy Eban, but he absolutely refused.
At a friend's home, when he was 12,
he heard a clarinet recording that
impressed him so much that he wanted
to try the instrument.
"I came home and asked for.a clari-
net," he recalls. "Shortly thereafter, I
decided that's what my life passion
would be. I was fortunate to get a very
tial teacher,
and he con-
siders it one
of his most
important ini-
tiatives.
"I really
enjoy family-
oriented pro-
grams," says
Shapira, who
plays a 1745
Guadagnini
Ittai Shapira: "I really
violin and
enjoy
family-oriented
practices every
programs."
day by moving
from scales to
etudes to full
pieces. "I like
reaching out to larger audiences." Ci
Violinist Ittai Shapira performs
at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 23, at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek,
27375 Bell Road, Southfield. $8.
(248) 357-5544.