Bortnick, Don Was and Gerard Edery.
"I think that the biggest surprise this
year will be the local Soul Shabbat Band.
They've already created real buzz and have
put together a new show just for the Music
Festival. No doubt they're going to be the
talk of the town."

The Classics
Another Detroit 'native starring at this
year's event is Edward Benyas, an oboist
who will play with and conduct a chamber
concert featuring the Oak Street Winds,
an ensemble he founded in 1987. Benyas
is music director of the Southern Illinois
Symphony Orchestra, music director des-
ignate of the Chicago Chamber Orchestra
and artistic director of the Southern
Illinois Music Festival.
The concert will feature the music
of Gershwin, Bernstein, Halevy, Danzi,
Puccini and Benyas' favorite: Mozart.
"Mozart is the composer for me above
all others," Benyas said. "Beethoven
mastered the symphony, string quartet
and piano sonata, but not opera; Haydn
and Shostakovich the symphony and
string quartet, but not opera; Tchaikovsky
and Copland the ballet, but not opera;
Verdi, Wagner and Puccini, the opera, but
not the symphony or chamber music.
Only Mozart produced masterpieces in
nearly every genre: symphony, concerto,
opera, mass, solo sonata and all varieties
of chamber music."
In addition to playing and conduct-
ing, Benyas arranged many of the pieces,
which involves taking music originally
created for a large ensemble and adapting
it for a smaller one.
The Bernstein selection, for example,
was "scored for a huge 85-piece sym-

phonic orchestra:' Benyas said. "I have
arranged it for just five winds."
Benyas grew up in a home filled with
classical music, and his mother was an
opera singer who taught music for 30
years in the Detroit Public Schools. In
second grade at Roeper, Benyas began
playing the recorder. Two years later,
when students were asked if they would
like to learn an instrument for the school
band, his mother recommended the oboe
"because she loves the sound. But our
school only had one oboe, and my good
friend, Patrick O'Connor, had it. I asked
Pat if he wouldn't mind letting me play
the oboe and he play something else, and
he said no problem. He took up the flute
instead. Later I learned that he had had
the oboe for three days and couldn't make
a sound at all.
"Over the years we both became profi-
cient on our instruments, and about eight
years later, we played a concerto for flute
and oboe with chamber orchestra accom-
paniment. Ironically, this performance
was with the Jewish Community Center
Orchestra, conducted by Julius Chajes."
Today, Benyas loves to conduct opera
"more than anything, with Mozart's
Marriage of Figaro and Puccini's La
Boheme at the top of that list."
Married and the father of two daugh-
ters, he also loves playing basketball and
softball and reading. Lately, he said, he has
been reading biographies "of some great
generals. I often have to resist conducting
my orchestras the way General Patton ran
his Third Army"

Finding Freedom
Ari Teitel was just 4 when he began play-
ing piano; he took up the guitar a few

Davis (left)

and Temple
Israel
Cantorial
Soloist Neil

Michaels

join the
Soul

Shabbat
Band with
Ari Teitel.

Left: Edward
Benyas:
Chamber
music.

years later.
"I try to get my hands on as much
music as possible — different artists,
styles, etc.:' said the 17-year-old founder
of the Soul Shabbat Band. He also is co-
leader of the Jam Society, which has played
at the Winter Blast, Arts Beats & Eats and
the Rothbury Festival and already has
opened for several national acts.
Teitel started the Soul Shabbat Band "to
bring gospel and soul-infused music into
the Jewish world:' he said.
"We played at our first service last May,
and it couldn't have gone better. I recruited
some of my favorite musicians in the
area to play in the band [Amir Edwards
on drums, Phillip J. Hale on organ, Ian
Finkelstein on piano and Joe Dart on
bass], and they worked out really well. The
success of the service inspired me to make
Soul Shabbat bigger and better."
The band's performance at the Stephen
Gottlieb Music Festival will feature Detroit

great Thornetta Davis, reflecting Teitel's
appreciation for African American music
(his favorites include Stevie Wonder, Marvin
Gaye, George Clinton and P-Funk) and the
ties he sees between the two communities.
"I think that Judaism embodies free-
dom since we escaped from slavery at one
point, which relates to African American
music as it was born out of slavery:' he
said. 0

Elizabeth Applebaum is a marketing spe-
cialist at the Jewish Community Center of

Metropolitan Detroit.

Tickets to all JCC Stephen Gottlieb
Music Festival events may be pur-
chased by calling the Berman Center
at (248) 661-1900 or visiting www.
theberman.org .

!This Year's Lineup

Unless otherwise noted, events are
reserved seating and take place in the
Berman Center.

Ethan Bortnick, an 11-year-old

pianist who has performed with
Beyonce and the Black-Eyed Peas,
opens the festival at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 15. Bortnick plays
classical, jazz, rock and original
pieces. $30 JCC members/$40
nonmembers/$20 children 17 and
younger.

Israeli superstar Noa appears
with special guest Mira Awad at
8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 17, for
Patron Night, honoring Barbara and
Douglas Bloom. Concert only: $30
JCC members/$40 nonmembers.

New Zimriyah, featuring 120

children from Michigan's Jewish
religious, day and high schools,
will perform a concert about peace
at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 18.
$4 adults/free for children 17 and
younger.

The World Jewish Music Showcase,
with Balkano and Spirit of Sepharad
with Gerard Edery, takes place 7
p.m. Sunday, March 18. $25 JCC
members/$30 nonmembers.

Elaine Serling performs 1 p.m.
Tuesday, March 20, at the Berman
Center in West Bloomfield and 1 p.m.
Thursday, March 22, at the JCC

charge; reservations required: (248)
661-1900.

Claudia Hommel and Stefan
Kukurugya take the stage in

Bonjour, Paris, a French cabaret-
style concert, at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 21. All tickets are
$4. General seating. At Handleman
Hall at the JCC in West Bloomfield.

The Soul Shabbat Band with Ari
Teitel, featuring Thornetta Davis
and Cantorial Soloist Neil Michaels,
takes the stage 7:30 p.m. Thursday,
March 22. $25 JCC members/$30

nonmembers.

An evening of conversation and
music with Don Was, hosted by
journalist Gary Graff, will take
place at 8:30 p.m. Saturday,
March 24. $25 JCC members/$30
nonmembers/$50 "backstage pass"
(includes meet-and-greet with Don
Was).

Edward Benyas conducts chamber
music performed by the Oak
Street Winds at 11 a.m. Sunday,
March 25. $15 JCC members/$20
nonmembers.

The Michigan Board of Cantors
appear in a concert titled Ahava

(Love) at 7 p.m. Sunday, March
25. $30 JCC members/$40 non-

members.

in Oak Park. General seating; no

Don Was

- Elizabeth Applebaum

iN

March 8 • 2012

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