Metro
Supporting Opera
Enchanting evening featured cantors singing arias and Broadway.
Lauren Gross and Cantor Meir
Finkelstein perform a duet.
Cantors Meir Finkelstein and Daniel
Gross and Lauren Gross sing together.
Joyce LaBan and Gayle Burstein of
Bloomfield Hills
A
Michigan Opera Theatre soiree
in the form of a progressive
dinner and concert was held
Saturday, Dec. 5, in the Bloomfield Hills
homes of Allan and Joy Nachman and
Barbara and Michael Kratchman.
The evening started with cocktails,
dinner and mingling at the Nachmans',
then guests were shuttled to the nearby
Kratchman home in jitney buses for after-
dinner drinks, dessert and the concert.
At the Kratchmans', guests mingled a
bit more before being treated to a lively
concert by Cantor Meir Finkelstein of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland
County and Cantor Daniel Gross of Adat
Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills
and his wife, Lauren Skuce Gross.
Their musical selections ranged from
operatic arias to Broadway songs, with
some pieces sung as solos and duets.
The purpose of the evening was to raise
funds to help reduce the annual deficit
of the Michigan Opera Theatre. General
Director David DiChiera was on hand
to talk a bit about MOT and express his
gratitude. More than $20,000 was raised
by the hosts.
Nearly 100 people attended, most from
the Jewish community as well as members
of Adat Shalom and Shaarey Zedek.
U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn of
Birmingham told Allan Nachman that "the
evening was one of the most imaginative
he has ever experienced."
Marvin and Innis Dubrinsky of
West Bloomfield
— Keri Guten Gohen,
story development editor
Left: Oscar Feldman,
with Lois and Mark
Shaevsky, all of
Bloomfield Hills
Mark Davidoff and Margie Dunn of
Walter and Bibs Soles of Toronto flank
Anna Levin of Farmington Hills
West Bloomfield
Left: Sally Orley of Bloomfield Hills, Cantor Meir
Finkelstein of Huntington Woods, Meryl Podolsky
Ethan and Gretchen Davidson of Bloomfield
of Bloomfield Hills, Graham Orley of Bloomfield
Hills flank Rick and Elanah Hunger of
Sylvan Lake
Hills and Monica Finkelstein of Huntington Woods
16
December 17 • 2009
Hosts Michael and Barbara Kratchman and Joy and Allan Nachman,
all of Bloomfield Hills, with MOT's David DiChiera, center.