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TICO Pops Concert

By Eileen Wingard
jewishsightseeing.com, August 25, 2006

Prague native, violinist Ondrej Lewit, was one of four soloists featured at the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra (TICO) Annual Pops Concert last month at the Cohen Social Hall. Lewit is concertmaster of the Orquesta de Baja California and has served in the same capacity for orchestras in Tenerife and Barcelona, Spain, as well as in Greensboro, NC. His rendition of Dvorak’s Mazurek displayed confidence in tricky double stops and a burnished tone in the lyrical passages. TICO, under the direction of conductor David Amos, provided a well-balanced accompaniment.

Lewit was joined by the Baja orchestra’s principal second violinist, Jorge Soto, in an exciting performance of Sarasate’s Navarra for two violins and orchestra. Tijuana-born Soto also performed Sarasate’s Romanza Andaluza arranged for violin and orchestra by TICO violist Joel Jacklich.

Multi-talented mezzo-soprano Sylvia Lorraine Hartman sang the "Habanera" from Carmen with lusty charm. Hartman plays harp and piano with TICO.

The concluding work, Suite on Jewish Themes for Clarinet and Orchestra by Viatcheslav Grokhovski, featured klezmer clarinetist Alexandre Gourevitch.

Familiar to San Diego audiences by his yearly appearances with the Lipinsky Jewish Arts Festival sponsored by the San Diego Repertory Theater, Gourevitch is also the principal clarinet of the Baja orchestra. Gourevitch’s expressive playing and body movements are in the mold of the great klezmer virtuoso Giora Feidman, who was also classically trained and served as principal clarinet of a symphony orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic.

Other selections on TICO’s Annual Pops program included medleys from The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and songs of Irving Berlin arranged by Shelly Cohen. Because of the many key and meter changes, stops and starts, medleys present challenges. TICO responded to Amos with admirably precise attacks and releases.

Two Sousa Marches bookended the program and one, The Glory of the Yankee Navy, opened the second half. The latter march was conducted by golden baton honoree, violinist Jean Shenkman, the longest tenured member of TICO. She reminisced about the first meeting of the orchestra in 1974 at the 54^th Street JCC and recalled how playing in TICO has meant so much to her personally through the years.

The final march, Stars and Stripes Forever, featuring TICO’s brass and flute sections, and left the audience with the upbeat feeling of joyful music.