2003-07-04-San Diego Opera/ Heritage
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2003-07-04-San Diego Opera/ Heritage |
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By Gail Umeham Five members of the Jewish community shared three special awards presented by the San Diego Opera at its annual meeting on Monday, June 30, at the Wyndham San Diego at Emerald Plaza. Heritage Editor-in-Chief Donald H. Harrison and Senior Associate Editor Daniel J. Brin were awarded what the opera dubbed its La Boheme Award for this newspaper¹s recent "Opera Through Jewish Eyes" series. Why La Boheme? In the mid-19th century, a journalist named Henry Muger lived in Paris and was having a tough time of it. He associated with a group of people who later became the characters of his definitive work. This group spent much of its time in Parisian cafes, especially Café Momus, and began to call itself the Water Drinkers, because that was usually all they could afford. Murger wrote several dozen episodes based on his bohemian life that in 1849 were produced as a musical play, were published as a collection of tales in 1851 and finally became the inspiration of Puccini's opera La Boheme in 1896. Brin and Harrison used the San Diego Opera's 2003 season to examine questions raised by the operas through a Jewish perspective. Fidelio prompted Brin to ask rabbinic authorities what Jewish law has to say about cross-dressing. Norma led Harrison to study the contrasts between the operatic emphasis on bel canto (beautiful voice) versus Orthodox Judaism's prohibition against men hearing kol isha — the voice of a woman. In the balance of the series, written by Brin, Therese Raquin was the starting point for an examination into Jewish folk traditions concerning the supernatural, Otello enabled a discussion of the Jewish prohibition against lashon hara (evil speech) and Madama Butterfly had the newspaper looking at Jewish attitudes toward intermarriage. The Opera's general director Ian Campbell told attendees of the annual meeting that through the efforts of volunteers, the Opera will end up in the black for the just-concluded fiscal year — notwithstanding such potential dampeners on attendance as the Super Bowl game in January and the outbreak of the war in Iraq in March. Campbell also credited the Heritage series for exposing the Opera to a niche market, and quipped that opera lovers don¹t have to convert to Judaism to take this newspaper. Merle Fischlowitz received the Future of Opera Award for his leadership in the Student Ticket Initiative, which funded tickets for more than 700 college students this year. Similarly, Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs were honored with the Maestro Award for underwriting tickets for the past three years for students of High-Tech High. In other business, Iris Lynn Strauss was reelected as president of the Opera's Board of Directors. |
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