Arts & Entertainment

Civic Pride

DSO runs Michigan's pre-eminent
training program for young musicians.

Suzanne Chesser

Special to the Jewish News

H

undreds of young music fans
regularly converge on the Max
M. Fisher Music Center without
focusing on hip-hop or heavy metal rock.
Their interests prove much wider as stu-
dent-performers in the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra's Civic Youth Ensembles, which
include classical orchestras, jazz bands
and chamber groups.
Some of these groups will perform
March 15 and 22, with three successive
programs starting at 6 p.m. that offer both
classical and jazz works.
"We hope we're training future patrons
of the arts and not neces-
sarily professional instru-
mentalists, although we
have done that as well: says
Charles Burke, CYE music
director. "We have a very
comprehensive curriculum
that examines composers
throughout history."
Cellist Daniel Bloomberg,
a 10th-grader in Monroe
and member of the Civic
Orchestra, likes music that's

fast and fun to play and prefers Celtic
tunes over rock and country stylings. He's
not sure whether playing cello will be his
career.
"Whatever I decide, I know I always will
spend time playing an instrument," says
Bloomberg, who had his bar mitzvah at
Temple B'nai Israel in Monroe. "It's all just
part of what I do. I feel confident because
I'm well-prepared."
Part of the CYE curriculum allows
students to take master classes with
guest artists performing with the Detroit
Symphony. That could mean Itzhak
Perlman or Herbie Hancock. Advanced
students become mentors.
Ari Rosenberg Hajek, a junior at
Oakland University, is a
percussionist majoring in
instrumental performance
and has begun a profes-
sional career as a musi-
cian. A CYE mentor, he has
appeared with area orches-
tras.
"I really enjoy orches-
tral music:' says Hajek, a
longtime drummer now
interested in performing,
conducting and making

Ari Rosenberg Hajek

tympani mallets.
Hajek, whose family was affiliated with
Temple Beth El in Flint, actually was
bribed into studying music. His parents
gave him a video game. "I play in all the
CYE groups:' Hajek says.
"I even love practicing."
Arden Shwayder,
a music hobbyist
who plays with the
Philharmonic, enjoys the
high level of musician-
ship she finds with the
CYE.
"I like the tone of the
cello and the fact that not
so many people play it:'
says Shwayder, who lives Ari Korotkin
in Franklin, is an eighth-
grader at Cranbrook and had her bat
mitzvah at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield

Arden Shwayder

Township. "A friend had been involved
with the program, and I became interested
when I went to a concert."
Ari Korotkin, an eighth-grader at
Detroit Country Day School, started play-
ing the violin before kin-
dergarten, but he is not
sure whether instrumen-
tal music will become his
profession.
"I listen to any type of
music:' explains Korotkin,
a Birmingham resident
who had his bar mitz-
vah at Temple Beth El
in Bloomfield Township
and plays with the
Philharmonic. "The CYE
helped me become a bet-
ter violinist by teaching me to adapt to a
bigger group." ❑

The Civic Youth Ensembles will perform three concerts beginning 6 p.m.
Sundays, March 15 and 22, at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit. $10
per evening. (313) 576-5111 or www.detroitsymphony.com .
For information about CYE auditions, call (313) 576-5164.

Daniel Bloomberg

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Special to the Jewish News

Jews On Ice
This list of Jews in the National
Hockey League was compiled with
the help of Jewish Sports Review
newsletter.
Returning players include Michael
Cammalleri, 26, a left winger with
the Calgary Flames. A former
University of Michigan Wolverine,
Mike's father is Italian Catholic and
his mother is Jewish. Mike's buddy
on the Los Angeles Kings, Matthieu
Schneider, 39, a defenseman, is the
greatest Jewish hockey player of all
time and a great player, period. He's
been on eight NHL teams, including
the Detroit Red Wings.
Another former Wolverine, Eric
Nystrom, 26, a left winger, appears
to have solidified his place on the

March 12 • 2009

Calgary roster after
several up and down
trips to the minors.
Nystrom's mom
is Jewish, and he
was raised Jewish.
Meanwhile, Jeff
Halpern, 32, a cen-
Eric Nystrom
ter, was traded from
Dallas to Tampa Bay in February; he
spent most of his career with the
Washington Capitals.
Three young players, now in the
minor leagues, have briefly been
up in the NHL this season and may
soon return: right winger Mike
Brown, 22, Vancouver; goalkeeper
Josh Tordjman, 23, a Sephardic
Jew from Montreal who describes
himself as religious, Phoenix; and
forward Trevor Smith, 22, New York
Islanders. He's been on a Birthright
trip to Israel.

Sara Grows Up
Sara Paxton, 20, first became
famous as the star of the Discovery
Kids channel's
Darcy's Wild Ride.
Like many young
actresses, she is
making the transi-
tion to adult roles
via a horror film.
She co-stars in Last
Sara Paxton
House on the Left
(opening Friday,
March 13), a remake of the 1972 Wes
Craven film of the same name that is
judged a horror classic.
Paxton, who was raised Jewish, is
the daughter of a Mexican Jewish
mother and an American father who
converted to Judaism.
In the film, Sara's father is played
by Tony Goldwyn, 48, the grandson
of Sam Goldwyn, the legendary film

mogul. Sam was Tony's only Jewish
grandparent.

Famous Family

On March 7, there was a gala at a
New York club to celebrate the 150th
anniversary of the birth of writer
Sholem Aleichem. Those attend-
ing included actor Theodore Bikel;
Fiddler on the Roof lyricist Sheldon
Harnick (Fiddler was based on
Aleichem's stories); and writer Bel

Kaufman (Up the Down Staircase).
Kaufman, 97, is
Aleichem's grand-
daughter and the last
family member to
know and remember
him. The gala was
recorded and will
be the basis of a TV
Kaufman and
documentary on the
Aleichem
great humorist. ❑