arts & entertainment

Jeffrey Biegel facilitates Internet
concerts of classical music.

Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer

p

ianist Jeffrey Biegel experiments
with the new, but he doesn't leave
the old behind. That becomes clear
Friday-Saturday, April 20-21, during his
first concerts with the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra, when Biegel will perform
Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and William
Bolcom's Prometheus, a piece developed
with the support of an orchestral consor-
tium Biegel initiated.
The University Musical Society Choral
Union will be part of the presentation that
also showcases Leonard Slatkin conduct-
ing Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor.
The entire program becomes an
Internet concert, a presentation format

pioneered by Biegel.
"I like this program because it's a pair-
ing of two works intended to be paired
together for piano, orchestra and chorus:'
says Biegel, who has played with the Israel
Chamber Orchestra in Florida. "Bolcom
uses the choir much more than Beethoven,
but the messages of each work are very
clear."
The Bolcom piece, based on the Lord
Byron poem, compares the possible
dangers of technology to the dangers
of fire described in the mythical tale of
Prometheus.
"I'm very excited that this is going to be
webcast," Biegel says. "Fifteen years ago, I
did the first live audio and video Internet
concert from Steinway Hall in New York.
"Back then, I thought it would be great

to do this with a symphony orchestra and
to be seen throughout the world. We've
come a long way, and I'm happy to see that
this is going to happen."
Biegel, 50, who did not hear or speak
until after surgery when he was 3 years
old, expressed a preschool interest in the
piano and advanced quickly through pri-
vate lessons.
On his way to the international con-
cert circuit and recording contracts, he
earned bachelor's and master's degrees
from the Jnilliard School and won major
competitions, such as the Marguerite Long
International Piano Competition and the
William Kapell/University of Maryland
International Piano Competition.
"In 1998, I thought it would be very
interesting to commission a new work for

the millennium and turned to Ellen Taaffe
Zwilich, the first woman to receive the
Pulitzer Prize in music:' he recalls.
"I wanted it to be developed through
the largest consortium of orchestras ever
for a new work. I came up with the title
Millennium Fantasy, and 26 other orches-
tras in the United States co-commissioned
the new concerto. A few years ago, I
recorded it."
Successive consortium projects have
been the result of the central efforts of
Biegel, also a composer whose own works
include Hanukah Fantasy. He currently is
organizing a piece that will pay tribute to
veterans.
"I contact orchestras and conductors
to see if each project is relevant for their
organizations:' he says. "I like to have a
lot of orchestras so each orchestra doesn't
have to pay as much."
Biegel, who has recorded Leroy
Anderson's Concerto in C conducted by
Slatkin with the BBC Concert Orchestra,
also teaches at the Brooklyn Conservatory
of Music.
"I want to keep a constant flow of new
repertoire coming so that there is new
music for the future says Biegel, married
and the father of two sons. "I try to be
as wide-ranging as I can because I know
there are so many tastes out there." ❑

Jeffrey Biegel performs 8 p.m.
Friday-Saturday, April 20-21, at
Orchestra Hall in Detroit. He will
join Leonard Slatkin and Charles
Greenwell for a preconcert
conversation 7 p.m. April 21. $15 and
up. (313) 576-5111; www.dso.org. The
webcast of the concert begins 7:50
p.m. April 21 at www.dso.org/live.

ws

lioult Nate Bloom
*MK Special to the Jewish News

160
a2 Bar Mitzvah Boy

v

Rap musician Drake, 25, has soared to
the top of his field since the release
ya w of his first studio album in June 2010.
Olt
w Most rappers come out of America's
t t mean urban streets, but Drake, born to
W a white Jewish mother and an African-
American father, was raised in an afflu-
ent Toronto neighborhood. His parents
split when he was 5 years old, and his
mother mostly raised him. When he was
13 — like most Jewish boys — Drake had
a bar mitzvah. From 2001-2009, he was
a co-star of the international TV hit
DeGrassi: The Next Generation.
Two weeks ago, Drake released a
video titled HYFR. It begins with a few
seconds of video from Drake's 1999 bar
mitzvah and a written statement: "On
Oct. 24, 2011, Aubrey 'Drake' Graham
chose to be re-bar mitzvah'd as a
recommitment to the Jewish religion."

de4

40

April 19 • 2012

The rest of the
video takes place in
a synagogue (Temple
')=4-1 Israel in Miami), where
the adult Drake has
a bar mitzvah cer-
emony and, following
it, a surrealistically
Drake
wild reception featur-
ing fellow rapper Lil'
Wayne. (To see the video, google "Drake
Bar Mitzvah video.")
Drake's recommitment to Judaism
is very nice — but the lyrics of the
rap song accompanying the video are
pretty graphic and address romantic
relationship issues and not religious
themes. Of one thing I'm sure: Drake's
fans, Jewish or not Jewish, have to be
confused about this juxtaposition and
are saying to themselves: "What was
that exactly?"

Film Notes

Opening Friday, April 27, is Boy,
a feature film about a poor New

Zealand Maori (native
Polynesian) adoles-
cent who's in love
with American popu-
lar culture. His long-
lost father turns out
to be a schemer who
has been in jail. The
boy vows not to fol-
Waititi
low his father's path.
Boy was directed
and written by Taika Waititi, 36. Born
Taikia Cohen, he's the son of a Jewish
father and a Maori mother. In 2003,
a short film by Waititi was Oscar-
nominated. Boy was nominated for
the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance
Film Festival.

Girls Talk

HBO's new comedy-drama Girls, which
debuted its 10-episode season 10:30
p.m. Sunday, April 15, follows the lives of
five women in their early 20s who are
sorting things out after moving to New
York City. Produced by Judd Apatow,

44, the series was
created by Lena
Dunham, 25, the
daughter of a Jewish
mother and a non-
Jewish father. She co-
stars as Hannah, one
of the five girls.
Dunham
Zosia Mamet, 23,
plays Shoshanna,
whom Dunham describes as "the type
of young woman who proudly displays
her Sex and the City poster in her bed-
room and wears light-pink velour jump-
suits. A Jewish American Princess with
an unexpected inner life." Mamet is the
daughter of famous playwright David
Mamet, 64, and his ex-wife, actress

Lindsay Crouse.
Another Girls character is Jessa
(Jemina Kirke), a "space cadet" with
hippie tendencies who is Shoshanna's

cousin and, presumably, Jewish, too.
The character Marnie is played by

Allison Williams, the daughter of NBC
news anchor Brian Williams. ❑

