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Community
Events
New Orleans on the West Coast
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
Outside, it was a cold autumn night on Burrard Inlet, but inside the Pan Pacific Hotel, there was humid jazz on Lake Pontchartrain. For its annual "enchanted evening" fund-raiser, Vancouver B'naiB'rithHillel Foundation hosted a swingin' night in New Orleans.
About 300 people danced up a storm in the Big Easy, and dined on gumbo, blackened salmon and a dessert buffet that could have drowned a himgry gator. Caricaturists and professional swing dancers entertained the crowds as partiers mingled aroimd an enormous array of silent auction items.
A nmnber of speakers thanked organizers and spoke of the important work done by Hillel in British Columbia and aroimd the world. A short video illustrated the mission of Hillel to maintain and enhance the Jewish identity of imiversity and college students.
Foxmdation president Ted Weber thanked the volimteers who
Left: New Orleans partiers get swing lessons from a professional couple. Right: BuWeWn editor Baila Lazanis gets her caricature done by Kathy Whitney.
made the evening possible, including event co-chairs Karen Mizrahi and Kevin Classman.
Gabe Meranda, executive director of Hillel House at the University of British Columbia, referred to Hillel.as a "Jewish buffet" that is offered on campus, in which students can take as little or as much of what is offered by his organization.
Jonathan Berkowitz spoke of what has - and has not -
changed in the 25 years since ho was a student on campus: students use e-mail now to submit their essays, but they still ask for time extensions, Berkowitz joked. Campus life is more or less the same, he concluded, except that, from his perepcctive, the students look yoimger now.
Revenue from the event has not yet been calculated, but funds raised will support Hillel's work on campus. □
Beauty of the cello diminished
Concert by Venetian Claudio Ronco concert suffers from too much tall<.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
The cello is a beautiful instrument. When played vath the heart and soiil of a learned .musician, . the soimds emanating from it literally soar and take listeners from their physical and mental confines into a place of sheer imagination, far from reality. In his Bridges of Venice concert last weekend, Venetian cellist Claudio Ronco took the audience "outT of the Norman Roihstein Theatre and "to" the Jewish ghetto in Venice.
Emcee David Bemer set the stage by sharing with the some 200 people at the concert how he met Ronco. Then he showed the audience wherc some of the landmarks of the Venetian ghetto would be relative to one another if they could be fit into the theatre.
When Ronco came on stage, he maintained this imageiy. He told of how he plays his cello in the ghetto and composes much of his music "here." As he sits and plays, he said, he often is questioned by tourists to Venice: Where is Shy-lock's home? Why did the Jews lock themselves in the ghetto? After a few more comments, Ronco played "Shylock," one of his own compositions.
A quietspoken man, Ronco provided context for each piece that
he played. Some were personal stories about his own experiences - a dinner party, his divorce - others were about the composers whose music he played: Johannes
. Sebastien Bach, David Popper, Dominico Gabrielle. Ronco's dia-
. logue W£is interesting and, at times, humorous. However, while his passionate playing success-Hilly bridged the distance from the spiritual heavens to earthly emotions, Uie bridge Ronco attempted to build between the intellect and the soul, with his mix of sto-lytelling and music, collapsed xm-der the weight ofhis words. There was simply too much talk and not enough cello playing.
The othcr.problem in maintaining the spiritual connection to the music was the audience. The behavior by some members of the crowd was incredibly rude and distracting. To them, I have two words of advice for the next time
, they attend a concert: stop talking. I would add four other words of advice: turn your cellphone off. (Better yet, leave the blasted thing in the car. The world can live without you for two hours.) Lastly, the Norman Rothstcin Theatre needs to fix the fire doors that open and close slowly and loudly eveiy time someone "sneaks" out of the the-
atre. At one point, Ronco himself was so distracted by the noise he looked up at the exit to see what was going on.
Bridges in Venice had great potential. There were times when I was completely lost in the beauty of the music and I had the same feeling of freedom I have when I stand on the water's edge and look out at the ocean. Playing on a cello made in 1673, Ronco's outstanding ability and his love for his art were evident Next time, I would like to be able to leave my earthly intellect behind while my soul walks up the musical bridge to the heavens.
Ronco's Dec. 1 concert at the Norman Rothstein was a fundraiser for the Venice Jewish Ghetto Museum, to support its work in preserving the history of the Venice Jewish community that is believed to go back as far as the early Middle Ages. For more information on the ghetto, visitwrww.vcnicc-ghctto.com.
Ronco plays for B.C. audiences one more time. On Saturday, Dec. 8, he is at Whistler's Maurice Young Millennium Place, at 8 p.m. Tickets for this show are $20 and can be purchased by calling Tickctmaster at 604-280-4444. □