December 28, 2023 • 53 mins
Today we talk with Dr. Noreen Green and uncover how to build community support for our orchestras. We discuss how she built the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony into a relevant and thriving orchestra that crosses cultural barriers to reach diverse audiences and how she used creative programming and collaborations to connect with her community of audiences.
Visit the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony at LAJS.org.
Hidden Gems:
- Leonard Bernstein's Halil - https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=asXkGs33UnI
- The Music of Eric Zeisl - https://open.spotify.com/album/1R6iDrKevX5bx9Z0aMt25j?si=GrIcp-kaSWCY4Bbw_egNjw
- Women of Valor - https://open.spotify.com/album/4n27osfmvlqUaTzcEYKURQ?si=wYv19ra7Qz2AzHH7KNJsYw
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jeremy Cuebas (00:00):
Hi there, this is Jeremy, your host for podium
time.
Happy holidays and happy NewYear.
I'm recording this on December28th 2023.
Today I get to talk with NoreenGreen, who is the founder and
conductor of the Los AngelesJewish Symphony.
This was a fantastic discussion.
We talked a lot about relevanceand building support for your
(00:21):
orchestra in your communitythrough programming, through
collaborations, and how sheactually does that and how
conductors can do fundraising.
So I'm looking at these thingswith my orchestra right now and
it was great.
Noreen gave me some excellentadvice from my group and then
advice that you can takebasically to any group.
We also talked about theimportance of mission and niche.
(00:43):
So I wanted to hop in here, saywelcome to the podcast,
introduce the episode and letyou know right at the beginning
the audio quality of mymicrophone is pretty low.
It's been a while since Irecorded an interview, so when I
plugged my microphone into Zoomor into the computer, zoom
forgot that it was supposed toswitch to that microphone.
So I was just using my computermicrophone for the first maybe
(01:05):
10 minutes until I realized inthe middle of the recording.
So you will hear that change.
But without further ado, here'sour interview with Dr Noreen
Green.
Welcome to podium time.
Today we're here with Dr NoreenGreen.
Noreen, thanks so much forbeing here.
Noreen Green (01:20):
It's my pleasure, very excited to talk with you.
Jeremy Cuebas (01:24):
Absolutely.
Could you give us a quickoverview of who you are and what
you do?
Noreen Green (01:28):
Sure.
So I am celebrating almost 30years with the Los Angeles
Jewish Symphony Orchestra that Ifounded and I'm the primary
artistic director and conductorof the organization, and in
addition I do choral music andI'm steeped in the Jewish music
(01:48):
experience.
That's kind of my niche and myspecialty.
Jeremy Cuebas (01:53):
And I heard on another podcast you talk about
Jewish music and the Jewishmusic experience.
Could you outline what that is?
Just, we're all on the samepage.
Noreen Green (02:02):
Yeah, so I say that I present programming that
explores the Jewish experience,music that reflects the Jewish
experience.
There's a lot of talk aboutwhat is Jewish music.
I mean, is there a label thatyou can put on a piece of music
that it is Jewish?
And for me it's very subjective.
There are certain elements thatcreate Jewish music from the
(02:27):
Torah, which is the five booksof Moses, the Old Testament,
which is sung at every time it'sread.
It's not actually read.
It's sung with what is calledtropes and if you remember your
music history, gregorian chant,that was actually developed
through the tropes that theJewish canter or the lay person
(02:49):
is singing the text of the Torahit's never read.
So a lot of people feel thatthere has to be some kind of
connection with those melodicstructures in order for it to be
Jewish music.
There's also the Jewish prayermodes, and different prayer
modes are done for differentservices the morning service,
(03:10):
the afternoon service, theevening service, Much like the
Catholic service, has theirprayer modes for the different
times that they pray.
And then, of course, there'sIsraeli music and there's music.
Jews lived all over the world,so wherever they went, the
melodic structures would changedepending on what region they
(03:32):
were in, what country they werein.
So we do a lot of music on theSephardic Jews.
Let's say so.
The Sephardic Jews come fromSpain and in 1492 Columbus
sailed the blue, but also QueenIsabel and King Ferdinand made a
decree and said if you don'twant to become Catholic and
(03:54):
follow the Catholic Church, youeither need to convert or you
need to leave or you could bemurdered.
So the Jews in 1492, it'scalled the expulsion went all
over the world and dispersed andthey took that route of the
Spanish music with them and thenit was influenced then by
wherever they went Morocco,turkey, the Middle East.
(04:16):
In the Middle East there'sMizrahi Jews.
Those are more the Arabic modesand they use those Arabic modes
which is called a taqsim, whichis very much like a Raga in
Indian music.
The Ashkenazi Jews come from theGerman, austrian.
The Pelis woman, it's calledEastern European Jews, are from
(04:37):
the Ashkenazi tradition and thatmusic is more based in the
Germanic and Austrian andRussian style.
Yiddish music, klezmer music,comes from that area.
Yiddish is basically a Germanlanguage.
That was the vernacular for theEastern European Jews and the
(04:59):
most famous.
In Sephardic the vernacular wasLadino, which is mostly the
Spanish, an old ChristianSpanish mixed in with Arabic and
Turkish.
So what is Jewish music is ahuge subject, as you can see.
So I like to say we do music ofthe Jewish experience.
So it doesn't necessarily havethe prayer modes or the nigguns
(05:21):
or the relationship to themotives, but the Holocaust is a
Jewish experience and the musicwritten during the Holocaust,
music written in America, inAmerican influence Gershwin
Bernstein, you know that's theyhave their own Jewish music
experience, copeland.
And then, of course, music fromIsrael that has a whole
(05:41):
different experience, with allthe people immigrating to Israel
and the influence that they didso.
And then there's the holidays,a Hanukkah.
How is a Hanukkah expressed?
How is Passover expressed andwhat music represents the
holidays?
So we kind of do everything,yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (06:01):
And it sounds like the diaspora and the
variety of those influences is.
I guess not critical but kindof foundational almost to a lot
of those musics from around theworld.
Noreen Green (06:15):
Right, exactly.
So.
That's the music of the Jewishexperience and also, like I
don't do, just Jewish composerseither.
The composers don't have to beJewish to have the Jewish
experience.
For example, shostakovich hewrote, you know, the Bobby R and
he wrote from Jewish folkpoetry based on Yiddish folk
(06:36):
songs.
Then there's Prokofiev he wroteoverture on Hebrew themes.
Prokofiev had Jewish studentsthat he was teaching and one of
his Jewish students asked him towrite an overture for their
group, the Zimro group.
So that's how the overture forHebrew themes got started.
And a lot of film composers are, you know, used the John
(06:56):
Williams as a perfect examplefor Schindler's List.
You know he's not Jewish, buthe wrote probably the most
iconic Jewish violin solo thateverybody knows he has a Jewish
soul, though we always say.
Jeremy Cuebas (07:11):
I love the story Just a quick detour that when
Spielberg brought him the script, he said you're going to need a
better composer.
And Spielberg said yeah, I know, but they're all dead, so you
have to do it.
Noreen Green (07:25):
Because I'm not Jewish.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's agreat story.
Jeremy Cuebas (07:32):
That's fascinating to hear because when
I first encountered the EliJewish symphony, my assumption
was that it was only Jewishmembers, only Jewish composers.
But as you're talking aboutthis, it's again really clear
that that influence everywhereis, you know creates a lot of
opportunity.
So I don't think that you wouldactually have a lack of
(07:55):
potential repertoire.
You've probably got plenty.
Noreen Green (07:59):
Oh yeah, we got plenty of repertoire.
And also it's not legal.
You can't just have Jewish, youcan't just hire Jewish
musicians.
Oh yeah, of course, theorchestra is not just Jewish
musicians, it's the repertoirethat we perform that makes us a
Jewish orchestra, and I try tohire soloists and stuff that
represent a Jewish experienceand it's listen.
(08:21):
I'm the conductor, the artisticdirector and the head bottle
washer for the organization.
I kind of do everything.
So it's a very subjectiveprocess.
I mean subjectively, I choosemusic that resonates with me and
who I am and what I think willresonate with the audience.
Jeremy Cuebas (08:40):
And what is kind of the mission of the orchestra,
what was the original idea infounding it and then what keeps
you going?
Noreen Green (08:50):
So actually the seed was planted by Murray
Siddlant, who was my teacher inAspen.
I was one of the conductingstudents there and as part of
our time there we have to gatherother students and musicians
and put on a concert.
So I put on a Jewish musicconcert.
(09:10):
Now, going back a little bit,my doctoral work was my treatise
was on the music of DavidDabakowski, who was considered
the Bach of Odessa.
He was the music director,conductor and organist at the
Brody synagogue in Odessa and itwas a very progressive
synagogue, and he wrote acantata almost every week to be
(09:34):
performed in the Jewish serviceand he used the Odessa opera.
Singers was his chorus.
So it was very unusual and thiswouldn't happen in an Orthodox
synagogue.
So I actually wrote the bookabout his music and his life and
how.
So I was very steeped in Jewishmusic already and working on it
(09:58):
during my doctorate.
When I went to Aspen I decidedto do a Jewish music concert and
I went to the Aspen JewishCenter and they underwrote it.
The Aspen Jewish Center isactually housed in the.
If you've been to Aspen there'sa church on the hill and that's
where the Aspen Jewish Centerwas.
(10:18):
So they take down the cross andthey put up the star of David.
So I went to the board thereand they helped underwrite the
concert and everybody came.
It was just everybody came.
And my teacher, marie Sittolin,saw this and he said we need to
have lunch tomorrow and so youshould start a Jewish orchestra.
(10:39):
You live in LA, there's anorchestra on every corner, but
this is your niche and just doit at the highest level.
So that he planted the seed.
And then I had just gottenmarried and my husband you know,
who's very Jewish and wanted,is very conscious of Sadaka
giving back to the community.
He thought this would be awonderful opportunity to give
(11:02):
back to the community and tocreate a Jewish orchestra.
So that was kind of theinspiration to get it started.
And then he formed a board.
You know all those next steps.
You can't apply for grants forthree years, you need to have
seed money.
So the mission but the missionwas always the same to provide
(11:22):
opportunities to thepresentation of music, of the
Jewish experience.
And then we added aneducational component as well.
So, that's how it all started.
Jeremy Cuebas (11:33):
Yeah, and you, you.
You basically started them andthen ran it by yourself for a
while.
Is that right?
Noreen Green (11:38):
Yeah, I had, you know, assistant administrator
and stuff.
But yeah, for the first threeyears it was just me and one
other person and we did maybetwo, three concerts a year.
We still just do two, threeconcerts a year.
It's it's, you know, we're,we're, I call we're the
Wandering Jewish Orchestra, sowe're always collaborating with
(11:59):
other organization and othervenues and you know that that
can be difficult, you know to totry and coordinate that.
So but we've added asubstantial education component
and we have that severaleducation programs that we do
and chamber music programs, andI also have a choir so it keeps
(12:20):
me busy.
Jeremy Cuebas (12:21):
Yeah.
So I'm curious how I'd love tocome back to this, to connecting
with the community and theWandering Orchestra I'm curious
how you got community supportfor the, for a new project.
Because when you were talkingabout your concert at Aspen you
said you went and you got theconcert underwritten and that's
like.
You know, I don't think most,most conductors would think
(12:42):
about that.
We just like so focused on themusic.
So like where did that?
Where did that come from?
Do you have a businessbackground?
Like where did those ideas comefrom?
And then how do you build thatfor a new orchestra in a
community?
Noreen Green (12:53):
So I don't have a business background, but my
husband does, and so he's thepresident of the symphony, so I
always had him as my advisor asto how to go about doing this.
And also you when you build aboard, you know you want to
gather people who also havebusiness experience and have
outreach into the community,because that's very important
(13:14):
that you know.
You have that, and I was alsoalready in the community the
Jewish LA community because Iwas a music director at a
synagogue for 10 years and atone area, and then I got a job
at one of the largest synagoguesin the San Fernando Valley,
which is where I live in Sino,and they had a robust music
program already, so I did a lotof partnering with them at the
(13:37):
beginning and I still do so Isaid it was like a perfect storm
here.
I had an orchestra, I had achoir, I had a rabbi who was
very supportive of what I wasdoing at a venue and so many of
our concerts were there.
And then I went to the templesand said you know, we have this
program and many of them and thecantors, the singers, wanted to
(14:00):
collaborate because they wantedto sing with orchestra.
So that was my first.
Collaborations were with thecantors who wanted to sing with
the orchestra, and then alsoJewish musicians and soloists.
I also.
It was very important to have aconcertmaster that was very
dedicated to the mission and Iwas very lucky.
Mark Cashper is myconcertmaster.
(14:22):
He's associate principal of theLA Philharmonic and he's from
Russia and yeah, so it was veryimportant.
He has been instrumental.
He's been my musical left hand,right hand person.
He also has been helpful inraising awareness and money and
and he's our foundingconcertmaster, he's been with us
(14:43):
from the beginning for 30 years.
Well, with the years, and thenalso he, because of who he is,
his stature in the community, inthe music musician community, I
was able to always have peoplewho wanted to play with the
orchestra.
It's professional and community, both.
(15:04):
And then you go to I you knowthe Jewish community have
granting organizations, sothere's the Jewish community
foundation, there's, theFederation there's, and so you
learn how to maneuver in thatatmosphere.
And I would say that 80% of mytime is on fundraising, audience
(15:24):
building, collaborations,reaching out to other people,
and 20% is programming andconducting.
And you know, you're the CEO.
It's not.
You're not just the conductoris the CEO.
But this was the differencebetween my orchestra and, let's
say, a regular orchestra.
Let's say that you know, dim,you're in the Colorado.
(15:49):
The Denver crop is that theywere established and they hire a
conductor.
I am the founding musicdirector and conductor.
It's a whole different followaxand it's a nonprofit.
That is what they call founderled.
So I basically that's part ofyou know why I've been
(16:12):
successful is that I'm able toget people on my train.
I always say what is aconductor?
A conductor is basicallyleading a train, whether it's an
orchestra or a locomotive.
You know you have to lead andyou have to guide, and so that's
what I do in all aspects of theorchestra.
Jeremy Cuebas (16:33):
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like that's one of the.
You had a big benefit inniching down as well, because it
was very easy to identify, atleast at first, the people in
the organizations that you couldreach out to.
Right, right, and you said thatabout 80% of your time is
fundraising or meeting people.
That's kind of where I'm, atthat point in my career where
(16:53):
I'm just starting to focus onthe extra musical things in that
.
So when you are, you know, forsomebody who just got their
first job maybe, and you'relooking to grow a group in the
area, when you say you'reworking on fundraising or
networking, like what are youactually doing?
Like what are the steps thatyou're doing for that 80%?
Noreen Green (17:13):
So I'm on the computer a lot I'm looking at.
You go to other organizationsthat are like yours and you look
at other donors.
You look at their donor listand you also ask your board to
look at donor lists to identifyprivate foundations that
possibly could donate Also.
It takes three years, but thenyou can get yourself into the
(17:36):
government granting.
So we get money from theDepartment of Cultural Affairs,
the LA County Arts Organizationand the California State.
So it's really important thatyou have a grant writer and
someone who is on yourdevelopment team who can.
So it used to be that I did allthe research.
(17:58):
Now I have someone who does itfor me, so I might be looking
through this and I say, oh, thisone, this looks like it might
be a good fit for us.
So I send it to my developmentdirector and then she looks
through all the requirements andall of the stuff and then
reports back to me if it's agood fit or not a good fit.
If it is a good fit, then yougo to the next step.
(18:19):
Well, what program are theylooking for?
What is their mission?
How does my mission?
fit their mission.
So a lot of it is brainstormingand just thinking about what
you can do to create a programthat will fit the requirements
of whoever the funder is.
And then I do a lot ofrepertoire searching as well,
(18:41):
and I put together programs andideas and each concert has a
theme.
So some are generated by whatthe funder wants and others are
generated by what I want, andthen I look for funding for that
particular program.
So those are two very differentways of programming when I
collaborated with the Koreanorchestra here.
(19:02):
Now you would think well, howdoes the Jewish and the Korean
have anything in common?
Well, it turns out that Koreans, each one of them, have what's
called a town would in theirhome.
A town would is the writtencommentary on the Torah, on the
five books of Moses.
And it's basically a guide tohow to live your life, and the
(19:24):
Koreans studied this and they'revery Christian but they use the
town would as their guide.
So that was a.
That was a very interestingrevelation, you know, and it
just so happens that theconductor of the Korean
orchestra, he, reached out to meand we started.
He does a concert calledfriendship and harmony, so he
(19:47):
wanted to reach out to theJewish orchestra.
It's kind of like, you know,the niche orchestras all kind of
want to know what each otherare doing.
And as we were sitting andtalking, we talked about our
board and and he said well, mydoctor, I'll have a doctor who
runs our board.
I went oh well, my husband's adoctor and he, he's our board
(20:08):
president.
Well, it turns out that hispresident worked for my husband
and we didn't know it.
I mean, for like for 25 yearsthey had worked together.
So it so the collaboration thatbecame stronger and so we're
doing our second concerttogether next.
He must have heard us talking.
I just got a chat with him.
(20:28):
His name is the immune, so it'sso funny that I was talking
about it.
So that's one of thecollaborations.
When we started looking at ourpatchwork of cultures education
program, which is uses Sephardicmusic as a bridge between the
Latin community and the Jewishcommunity.
(20:48):
So I live in Los Angeles.
You know Spanish is oureveryone's second language.
Basically, you know there's theamount and it seemed like a
natural tie in with ourSephardic music to create this
bridge between the Latinocommunity and the Jewish
community, which we've done andwe've educated like 20,000 kids
(21:11):
over the years in usingSephardic music as a bridge,
because both all Hispanic musicand all Sephardic music have
their stem from the music ofSpain.
So it was a natural thing.
So that has resonated with alot of things.
And then, you know, we had amayor who was Spanish, right, so
he wrote us a, an endorsement,you know.
(21:33):
So it just it just that's howyou just kind of look we have.
I did a gospel program, so Icalled her a shared heritage,
because we have a sharedheritage of slavery, right,
passover is about freeing theslaves, the Jewish slaves, from
Egypt, and the song Go DownMoses, which we sing at every
(21:56):
Passover when Israel Was inEgypt Land, is a gospel song
that we actually took from theAfrican American community.
So there was this.
You know, it's a natural.
So I've done several concertson our shared experiences from
slavery to freedom is what Icall it.
(22:17):
You can find connectionsanywhere you look, because we're
all.
We all are the human experience.
We all have shared humanexperiences.
So you have to kind of justthink out of the box.
Jeremy Cuebas (22:31):
And just I mean, that's all.
That's so fascinating.
I had never thought about thatand now I'm, and of course I
didn't know about the, about the, the Spain connection also.
So I'm learning.
I was learning so much and yousaid you're doing a lot of kind
of like brainstorming.
Are you just like setting upwhen you're going to connect
with a new group?
Are you just like setting up ameeting and talking for the
(22:52):
first time, or are you going inkind of with a plan of how you
could?
Noreen Green (22:56):
Well, okay, and proposal to some sorts you have
to come in with the idea.
It's absolutely you have tothink about what would resonate,
and then you have to also be atune and body language to if
they're interested or notinterested and be ready to pivot
at it.
That's a one-on-onepresentation.
All right, now we've, aftercourse, our presentation.
(23:17):
we have nice visuals, we havevideos.
So because we've been doingthis a long time, but in the
beginning you know in thebeginning before videos and zoom
and all that kind of stuff wecame in with a written proposal
at outline about why thisprogram would be beneficial to
your community and our communityand how we could be beneficial
(23:39):
to both of us.
So that's how that's how we didit so.
Jeremy Cuebas (23:45):
Yeah, and you said that sometimes the
programming comes out of thatand sometimes you come in with a
program in mind.
Noreen Green (23:51):
I always have a program in mind, okay.
Jeremy Cuebas (23:53):
You always have a program in mind, absolutely.
Noreen Green (23:55):
Or at least one piece.
That would be like.
When I went to the Koreans thislast time, you know, I said
what is our theme this year?
And obviously it's notobviously, but because of all
the wars that are going on, it'sgoing to be peace.
It's not going to be our theme.
So I proposed it to ChesterPsalms, you know, and, and they
didn't know it, the Koreansdon't really know that piece and
(24:17):
I said, well, it's based onthree Psalms and you know, and
they love the idea.
So that's going to be the piecethat I conduct, and then the
Koreans are going to conductother Psalms and then we're
going to do a joint piece thatis going to be in Korean, hebrew
and English, based on songs ofpeace from the Korean community
(24:38):
and the Jewish community, and wehave somebody arranging that
and putting it together so thatyou have it.
Yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (24:47):
Yeah, yeah, I wanted to.
I wanted to ask about aboutreaching out and doing these
community collaborations and ofcourse it connects to what we've
been talking about and itconnects to programming.
So I don't want to necessarily,you know, delineate which is
which we've about working withthe Latinx community, the Korean
community and the black.
I'm just, I'm just thinkingabout my own, my own
(25:11):
opportunities now of of what,what can I do and how can I and
how can I reach out and and howI can do that with my orchestra.
And again, I want to, I want tohighlight for the listeners
because we have a lot of peoplestarting small groups and and
trying to build them in thecommunity that when you have
some mission and such a specificthing that you want to convey
through music, I think, again,it makes it much more focused
(25:34):
when you go talk to those peoplebecause you have that shared
story, whereas my orchestra,right now you know, maybe their
stories I haven't uncovered, butif it's like this city symphony
, I think I need to be creativewhen I try to go out and reach
out to them.
Noreen Green (25:49):
Who are the players in your orchestra?
Jeremy Cuebas (25:52):
It's a volunteer orchestra in one of the suburbs
of Denver.
Okay, so they're all.
They're all very you should doa questionnaire with the
volunteers and ask them whatthey're.
Noreen Green (26:04):
You know what they do other than music and find
commonalities.
You know there's so manydifferent orchestras.
There's a lawyer's orchestrahere, there's a doctor's
orchestra here.
You know, and so you have tolook at your membership first of
all, because they're your firstline of.
I have a professional orchestra, so it's a little different.
But, for my community members.
(26:26):
I know who they are and I lookto them for suggestions.
So I would send a questionnaireout to your and.
I would advise this to anybodywho has a community orchestra,
to find out who they are andwhat do they do when they're not
sitting in that chair playingopo, you know.
So you know education is veryimportant.
(26:50):
You know, and I worked for theLA Philharmonic Institute, which
was really my inspiration forhaving a combined orchestra,
community and professional, theLA Philharmonic Institute.
For about five years the LosAngeles Philharmonic Orchestra
brought in very high-level highschool young college students
(27:12):
and created this institute andthey played alongside the
professionals, had workshopswith the LA Philharmonic players
and then played at theHollywood Bowl together.
It was hugely impactful for themusicians and for me, because I
that energy that the youthbrings to the orchestra is
Because it's the first timethey're playing Beethoven's
(27:33):
Piano, not the hundredth timethey're playing it, you know no
anyway.
So I always Educational andyouth outreach is very important
and your community memberswould love to do it, I'm sure.
Go into schools and stuff likethat.
Jeremy Cuebas (27:51):
So it's very yeah , as I've been looking at that,
that's the one thing that I'veidentified recently, like what's
the measure of how much thecommunity supports us?
So like it's a little bitticket sales, it's a little bit
donations, but mostly it is howfar-reaching or how.
Noreen Green (28:10):
Impactful.
Jeremy Cuebas (28:12):
Impactful?
Yeah, our education programsare, and I mean, that's where
all our granting comes from.
It's like it's themission-driven educational
programming.
Noreen Green (28:23):
Absolutely yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (28:25):
I'll absolutely do that because I am also
interested.
You know you get so focused onthe music and only doing the
music and you get overwhelmedwith what we can do musically,
and so I'm trying to back up andsee what we can actually do to
grow in the community.
So this is fantastic.
Thank you so much for youradvice.
Noreen Green (28:42):
Do you have an administrator or do you have
office staff or anything?
A development director.
Jeremy Cuebas (28:48):
No, we have.
No, we're all the board'svolunteers, while I'm the only.
So we're trying to build thatand, you know, just get our
budget up and get our ticketsales up so we can have a little
bit more money.
I would love to get us to thepoint where we can invest in an
executive director.
They had in the PEM, but rightnow everybody's volunteer and
(29:09):
they've all got other jobs, soit's all up to you so any
initiatives are mostly going byme and we have a couple active
board members, but, yeah, nobodyright now.
Noreen Green (29:19):
So also look to your council people, your
congress people and stuff likethat.
And they have discretionarymoney and you can get $1,000
from this person to give ticketsaway to the senior citizen home
.
You know that's one of.
They love that.
The seniors are the underservedcommunity and people think, oh
(29:44):
well, they get senior discountsand stuff, but they need a way
to get to the concerts, you know, and if you can help underwrite
some of the costs for that anda lot of times board members
will do that or grantingorganizations would do that and
also go to the senior homes andstuff and play for them with a
(30:07):
chamber group or somethingBecause people love that looks
great to the funders.
When you're doing outreach andproviding free concerts for the
people who can't come to yourconcerts, you know the
disability community or whateverso.
Jeremy Cuebas (30:28):
That's another thing that came up while we were
talking to so many peopleduring COVID.
We were about that earlier,before we started.
The one thing that happenedwhen COVID hit was now all the
conductors had been trying toget on the phone.
Suddenly they were all free.
So we talked to so many peopleand one of the things that kept
coming up was like okay, we are,by definition, a large group of
(30:48):
people getting together.
What do we become when we can'tget together?
And a lot of that answer was wecan still work towards our
mission with chamber music orwith smaller groups or in that
level of outreach.
So again, that's another blindspot that we have is that it has
to be the whole orchestra goingto an event, but now we can
absolutely do small chamberthings.
Noreen Green (31:10):
And yeah, what is your instrument?
Jeremy Cuebas (31:15):
I play violin.
Yeah, so we're doing, and we dodo some small chamber things.
We our city is has a event thatruns for a week leading up to
MLK Day, so we're open, we'replaying some of the opening
music for that next Monday, onthe 8th.
Yeah, so I'll.
Noreen Green (31:30):
Actually I'll be playing Concert Master for that,
because we get basically ZRrehearsals for it, right, and
somebody needs to lead it, butyeah, yeah well, I'm the artist,
so a lot of the chamber music Iactually program myself to play
once in a while, just so I'mforced to practice.
You can get rented and just allI do is read scores, you know
(31:53):
so I don't actually practice,you know so.
So I'm actually practicing fora chamber concert in February,
and it just, you know, the stifffingers have to come out at
some point.
Jeremy Cuebas (32:04):
Yeah.
So, I'm curious when you're,when you're building programs
since you're doing mostlyunfamiliar music or maybe mixing
things in different ways howdoes that process actually start
?
Could you give us a couple ofdifferent examples, because
sometimes it starts with acollaboration idea and does,
sometimes it not, is sometimesit just we've got.
(32:26):
We've just got to do some musicon this concert.
Noreen Green (32:29):
Well, usually I have a theme first, like there's
one piece that comes, yeah,okay.
And I decide, oh, that's goingto be, that fits into that theme
.
So some of the themes otherthan holiday stuff, from
darkness to light.
So that was Holocaust to Israel.
So I would have a piece thatrepresented the Holocaust or and
(32:51):
then represented Israel, andthen I would fill in the program
with that.
Youtube is an incredibleresource for us.
Now it's also those of you ifyou're interested in Jewish
music.
There is an Israel MusicInstitute in Israel.
The theater presser is theAmerican.
They have wonderful music andthe, the, the composers, came
(33:16):
from Eastern Europe and everyone, and came to Israel and created
this new style of music calledthe Mediterranean style of music
, and I'm you know it's reallyinteresting to look at.
And then so a lot of the crosscultural stuff.
I'll look at Persian music andMizrahi music and Indian music
(33:36):
and Arabic music, and we'realways trying to form bridges of
connection.
So one of the programs wascalled Ashina.
So Ashina means love in Turkishand but it's also derivative of
what love means in Hebrew, andit was written by a Israeli
composer, sharon Farber, and itwas for choir and small ensemble
(33:59):
and Ney, which is a kind oflike a recorder, but it's a
Middle Eastern record.
It's very long, and air Dumbek,which is an Arabic drum.
A drum and guitar and Oud.
So so I so that was the mainpiece on the program, so I had
that ensemble.
So then I looked for music thenthat would use the Oud and use
(34:23):
the Ney and you know in otherways.
So once you know your mainpiece and you know who your
soloists are, you know if it'sunusual instruments and you want
to find other music that canhighlight those.
It just so happened that thatconcert I was partnering with a
Turkish organization and mycollaborative partner was a
(34:43):
pianist and she was from Turkey,so she introduced me to a
concerto by.
His last name is Erkin and hewas part of the Turkish five.
I didn't know there was aTurkish five.
I didn't know the, you know theFrench and the Russian, but I
didn't know there was a Turkishfive.
So I started exploring music,classical music from Turkey, and
(35:08):
it was phenomenal and veryrhythmic, which I love, so you
know so.
And then I live in Hollywood.
I mean, I live in LA, so emigrecomposers came and established
themselves in Hollywood and so Ihave several concerts I do
called Cinema Judeka, so Jewishcomposers that influence our
(35:31):
Hollywood music comp composition.
So I did several of those, andactually I did those in Israel
and then South Africa and inCanada, because they were so
interested in the Hollywoodmusic coming to their
populations because they don'thave it.
So that was kind of cool.
And then in 2020, one of mydearest, dearest friends, who's
(35:54):
Israeli, you know, and Zor isconsidered the preeminent
composer of video game music.
Okay, so video game music nowhas they do these big concerts
of video game music.
So here's Israeli and he'sJewish.
I actually conducted his firstvideo game when he, before he,
learned how to conduct, so Icreated a whole concert around
(36:16):
his music and he's like winningbeta awards, you know, for all
of the things.
And the video game composersare the opera composers of today
.
It's astounding what they haveto do to create these video
games and they all use full 100piece orchestras and they have
themes and the and the lightmotive changes depending on what
(36:38):
happens to the character in thevideo.
So I think we get stuck in ourlittle classical box and I don't
, because I I want to exploreall kinds of music and listen.
The Hollywood Bowl now doesmore pop music and jazz music
and cinema music and video gamemusic, because that's how they
(36:58):
keep the Hollywood Bowl alive.
In order to have theirclassical music concert series,
and that's that's.
You have to think out of the box.
You can't be in your littleclassical music box, so that's
another suggestion I have is tolook outside, you know, and also
performers like in your, inyour Denver area.
Look for upcoming performers,singers, someone who won
(37:23):
American Idol that's from yourregion, and highlight them and
you'll get a lot more people tocome to your concert and you can
build.
This necessarily has to be apops concert, but you know, and
a lot of those performers have aclassical background and all of
a sudden you know, you knowthey're singing whatever they're
singing rock and roll orwhatever it is.
(37:45):
But if you look at, like PatBenatar that's my generation.
She has a four octave operaticrange.
All right, you know, pink pinkis amazing, her range is amazing
.
So, like, what I'm saying is,think, out of boxes they can do
classical music and they can dopopular music and stuff.
So that's another thing, I, I,I'm not in a little box, my
(38:09):
classical box.
Jeremy Cuebas (38:10):
Yeah, well, and I think the average person on the
street is also not in aclassical box.
So we're we're serving themwith things that's more relevant
to them, and when you frame itin the themes that you've been
talking about now, you give themeven more context for the
classical things that are notfamiliar to them and the other
music that's not familiar tothem, which, again, is probably
(38:31):
a lot of what you guys are doing.
Noreen Green (38:32):
Well, and I think what's important to also
understand is, like I, 30 yearsago, conductors didn't talk to
the audience.
They walked on stage, they tooktheir bow, they turned their
back on the audience and thenext thing you saw was the bow
and then they left.
And pre concert lectures wereusually done by guests If the
(38:52):
audience came wanted to comeahead of time.
So I felt as an educator sinceI was doing music that was
unfamiliar to most people.
It was really important toframe it and for the orchestra
to understand it.
So I always talk about this.
I did survivor for Warsaw byArnold Schoenberg, not an easy
listening piece and not an easypiece to conduct.
(39:17):
So I I framed it and said whatis?
Who is Schoenberg?
What is Schreckstamma?
What are we listening for?
What can you hear in this piecethat you can, you know, latch
onto it, understand, and I dothat for every piece, especially
if it's a little avant-garde,or, you know, atone or whatever
(39:38):
you have to, you have to frameit.
And then also, because all themusic it's subjective, my
programming, so the audiencewants to know why you picked
that piece of music, why did itresonate with you?
And it brings them into, I callthem going from passive
listeners to active listeners,because they, they can.
(39:59):
Oh, I hear it.
I hear that, like very commonthing in Jewish music is using
the shofar blast.
The shofar is the, a ram's hornand it's what we use to call
for services and it.
And if you know the beginningof Leonard Bernstein's West Side
Story, da, da, da, da, da, da,da, da, da, that's the shofar
(40:19):
blast.
So he, I can always signal thatit's a, it's a natural horn, so
it's in fifths and octaves andda you know the, the partials,
that goes by the partials.
Jeremy Cuebas (40:31):
Yeah.
Noreen Green (40:32):
So you know whenever that's used and I've
played a lot of music, anotherthing, like Gershwin's it ain't
necessarily so.
Jeremy Cuebas (40:40):
It ain't necessarily so.
Noreen Green (40:41):
I know is based on the beginning of what every bar
mitzvah kid learns Baruch hatah, adonai, it ain't necessarily
so, so I always try to you know,bring in something of interest
about the music for the so theaudience can understand it.
Jeremy Cuebas (41:01):
So I heard a.
I went to a concert a number ofyears ago in St Louis and they
did the the Moldau, and theywere explaining that during
World War II the radio stationswould play the Moldau a lot
because it was very close to toa Jewish song I can't remember
which one, but then I mean thatmade me that totally changed how
(41:22):
I was listening in that concert.
And you know the Moldau, I'dheard it a thousand times and
now it had this new significancefor me.
Noreen Green (41:28):
Well, the same thing with Mahler's first.
There's a whole klezmer sectionin it.
Jeremy Cuebas (41:33):
Yeah.
Noreen Green (41:34):
And that's the second or third movement.
That is completely a chlesmertune.
So, there's a lot of Jewishmusic influence, but you can
find it in all compositions,even in Mozart.
You know, you just.
But I think you know,unfortunately our music
education in the schools isn'tvery good.
(41:55):
So you need it's very importantwe, as conductors, have to
educate our audience.
We're going to continue havingaudiences that come to classical
music.
They need to know, and no one.
We don't even have printedprograms anymore.
Do you have printed programs?
You get a QR code right, youknow, because nobody wants to
(42:16):
waste paper.
I hate that.
I like reading a program.
Jeremy Cuebas (42:23):
We do have printed programs because they
demanded that they come back.
Noreen Green (42:27):
Ah see, Good yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (42:30):
Yeah, people did not like our digital programs.
Noreen Green (42:32):
Nobody likes them, nobody reads them.
Yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (42:36):
So yeah, you, you .
You said there are Jewishinfluences in Mozart.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no,they're not Jewish influences.
Noreen Green (42:43):
I've seen you could find some kind of
influence in Mozart that wouldresonate with the audience.
You just have to look for itOkay, okay it's.
Italian Siphonni or whatever itis.
You have to explain what it is.
You know why is this?
There's nothing Jewish aboutMozart, sorry.
Yeah, I was like what have Ibeen missing this whole time?
Perfect.
Jeremy Cuebas (43:07):
Before we move to the end, are there any other
things you want to cover?
One of my, one of the questionsI wanted to ask is what do you,
what do people not usually askyou, that you wish you would get
a chance to talk about in theseinterviews?
Noreen Green (43:19):
You know it used to be.
You know, as a woman conductor,they wanted to know.
You know there's a lot morewomen conductors now, but there
is still a feeling about being awoman and leading an ensemble
or leading an organization orleading a nonprofit.
That is there's.
There's still somediscrimination out there and in
(43:42):
fact, I don't know if you writeyour own grants for everybody,
but they always ask if who isleading your organization and
they want you to identify whothey are.
Is that a woman?
Is it a BIPOC?
Is it a transgender?
Is it whatever it is?
And I find that veryinteresting that still nowadays
(44:04):
where we have to deal with this.
And in the early days I didhave some players from Russia
who didn't want to play becauseI was a woman conductor.
And what's interesting is theJewish religion is a patriarchal
religion.
You know, there's a lot ofwomen rabbis and there's a lot
(44:25):
of women canters out there now,but when I first started, there
wasn't and there wasn't anyJewish women conductors.
And I think, you know, 30 yearslater, looking back on that
time and looking at thisdevelopment, some things have
changed, but a lot of thingshaven't changed.
And I think I have, you know,men, friends, who are a little
(44:52):
angry that there's so much stillfocus on, you know, women
composers and performing womencomposers, but we have to still
do that because 2% of filmcomposers are women.
All right, there's still a longway to go and I'm not asked
(45:13):
about that anymore, but it'sstill an issue.
And I think you're a white maleokay, you are, you know you
have all of the privilege atyour fingertips, but I deal in a
world that I don't have thatand I sometimes go into meetings
and there's still that barrier.
(45:36):
I still feel the barrier and Iwish that wasn't so.
So still keep asking aboutwomen.
And you know Native Americanand you know it's important that
we're all understanding thatthere's still a long way to go
when it comes to the leaders ofour community.
Jeremy Cuebas (45:54):
Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Well, you said, and you said 2%composers Composers in film,
and I'm like, I'm just thinkingof directors, even they're very
lany, very lany women, oh,there's Barkie.
Noreen Green (46:09):
There's Barkie, Greta, and I know yeah, there's
Greta.
Jeremy Cuebas (46:13):
Yeah, who else?
Have you done collaborationswith any Native American groups?
I have not, you have not.
Noreen Green (46:21):
I did a Native American piece, though.
In Afspen One of my dearfriends, Andrew Clearfield,
wrote a piece about the HopiIndians and I did that, but this
is way before the Jewishsymphony.
So the Hopi Indians areactually a very similar in
spirit to the Jewish that theyhave what they call a female god
(46:41):
.
Jewish has the Shechina, whichis the female equivalent of God
and stuff.
But that was the only one thatI've done.
Jeremy Cuebas (46:53):
Okay, yeah, that's one of the populations we
have here that I'm wanting toconnect with.
I've been listening to a lot offantastic music by Native
American composers.
Noreen Green (47:01):
Great Good luck with that.
I incorporate dancers too.
Jeremy Cuebas (47:07):
Yes, yes.
Well, we have a big Latinxcommunity here as well.
Our city is 30 percent Spanishas first language, so that's the
clear community that we've onlydone a little bit of work
towards connecting with.
Noreen Green (47:22):
Well, mariachi is considered like the and klezmer,
like there's a lot of klezmer,mariachi similarities and also
gypsy music.
So we used to do this thingcalled fiesta shalom, so that
was about combining thosecommunities together.
So, mariachi, there's a lot oforchestral Mariachi music.
(47:46):
So if you don't Is there, thereis a lot.
Jeremy Cuebas (47:49):
I just, you know, I just haven't looked, I was
assuming there wouldn't be thatmuch, but there's a lot.
Noreen Green (47:56):
There's Mariachi symphonies, there's all sorts of
stuff.
Jeremy Cuebas (48:01):
I've got some research to do.
While we're talking aboutorchestral Mariachi music, do
you have any hidden gems orlistening assignments?
You could send our listeners onSomething to go check out after
they hear this.
Noreen Green (48:15):
Well, if you want to explore our, we have three
CDs.
Two of them are on the Albanyrecord label.
One of them is called Women ofValor and it's a 60-minute
oratorio based on 10 Biblicalwomen using the Asian hyal,
which is the Women of Valorprayer, as the recitib, as the
(48:36):
glue between those 10 arias, andit's a fantastic piece.
It's full orchestra and twosingers, and so I have that
recording on Albany label andyou can find it on YouTube and
the 10 arias can be doneseparately.
So if you're looking for someBiblical women, sarah Rachel Lea
(48:59):
, you know, if that resonateswith any upcoming programming,
you could take a look at that.
There's also chamber musicversion of it that Andrea
Clearfield has on her website.
Another piece that I did AHidden Gem, eric Zeisel.
It was a composer, one of theseemigrate composers, and his
(49:19):
grandson is Randy Schoenberg,who is also a descendant of
Arnold Schoenberg.
So Arnold Schoenberg's sonmarried Eric Zeisel's daughter
in LA both of them in LA andthen had Randy, and Randy
Schoenberg is a lawyer thatnegotiated for the return of the
(49:41):
art the Klimt art that was heldby the Austrian government, and
there's a movie about it, womanof Gold.
Anyway, eric Zeisel's music is.
I love Eric Zeisel's music.
So for my 25th anniversary wedid a CD of his Jacob and Rachel
Ballet and I also am going tobe presenting that at the
International Conductors GuildConference in New York.
(50:03):
And if your listeners don'tknow about the International
Conductors Guild, they shouldjoin because you get job
opportunities, workshopopportunities.
It's a really wonderfulorganization and our conference
is in New York in January.
Anyway, so Eric Zeisel wrote thefirst requiem for the Holocaust
(50:26):
victims in 1944, 1945, and theIsrael Philharmonic recorded it.
So if you're looking for adifferent kind of requiem, it's
called the Requiem Ebreika.
So that's another gem that Iwould look to.
And if you've watched the movieMaestro about Leneberg's side,
(50:48):
he's written a lot of Jewishthemed music.
The Chichester Psalms is one ofthem, of course, and the
Coddish Symphony.
But he also wrote a piececalled Halil.
Halil is a flute like arecorder.
It's a biblical recorder, andin 1973, I think the Yom Kippur
(51:10):
War 1973, leneberg's side wentand visited a flute player that
had been shot and was in thehospital and he was so moved by
this flute player, who almostgave up his life for Israel,
that he wrote this piece.
It's 15 minutes long and it'sfor flute solo strings and six
(51:32):
percussionists.
Jeremy Cuebas (51:33):
Oh, wow.
Noreen Green (51:34):
So if you have a great flute player that you want
to feature, it's a wonderfulpiece of music.
So there's a couple gems foryou to look at.
Jeremy Cuebas (51:42):
Fantastic.
We'll put links for all ofthose in the show notes.
Noreen, what final message orcall to action would you like to
send our listeners home with?
Noreen Green (51:52):
If you're creating , if you're looking at how you
want to be in this world as aconductor, as a musician, you
have to really do something thatyou're passionate about, that
speaks to your heart, and as aJewish woman conducting an
orchestra, I promote Jewishwomen composers and performers
(52:14):
and stuff.
So I think it's reallyimportant to be successful is
that you find your passion, youfind what resonates with you
musically, personally, socially,if you're a social activist,
whatever and that you followthat dream and you really create
your ensemble that reflects whoyou are.
How's that?
Jeremy Cuebas (52:37):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
Thank you for the work that youdo.
Yeah, we appreciate it.
Noreen Green (52:43):
Great.
Well, it's been wonderfulchatting with you and I wish you
a lot of luck over there inColorado.
You have the mountain.
Jeremy Cuebas (52:51):
Yes, and you like they're beautiful.
They're beautiful today We'vehad basically a snowless winter.
We had like an inch.
Denver got more.
I'm about an hour north ofDenver, but yeah, we've gotten
almost no snow for the past twomonths.
Noreen Green (53:07):
Oh, I never see snow, so yeah, it's like it's a
beautiful, sunny and 80 degreesoutside right now.
Yeah, of course All right, well, thank you so much All righty.
I appreciate it.
Dare I make what's been apleasure.
Jeremy Cuebas (53:21):
Absolutely Okay.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Hi there, this is Jeremy, your host for podium
time.
Happy holidays and happy NewYear.
I'm recording this on December28th 2023.
Today I get to talk with NoreenGreen, who is the founder and
conductor of the Los AngelesJewish Symphony.
This was a fantastic discussion.
We talked a lot about relevanceand building support for your
(00:21):
orchestra in your communitythrough programming, through
collaborations, and how sheactually does that and how
conductors can do fundraising.
So I'm looking at these thingswith my orchestra right now and
it was great.
Noreen gave me some excellentadvice from my group and then
advice that you can takebasically to any group.
We also talked about theimportance of mission and niche.
(00:43):
So I wanted to hop in here, saywelcome to the podcast,
introduce the episode and letyou know right at the beginning
the audio quality of mymicrophone is pretty low.
It's been a while since Irecorded an interview, so when I
plugged my microphone into Zoomor into the computer, zoom
forgot that it was supposed toswitch to that microphone.
So I was just using my computermicrophone for the first maybe
(01:05):
10 minutes until I realized inthe middle of the recording.
So you will hear that change.
But without further ado, here'sour interview with Dr Noreen
Green.
Welcome to podium time.
Today we're here with Dr NoreenGreen.
Noreen, thanks so much forbeing here.
Noreen Green (01:20):
It's my pleasure, very excited to talk with you.
Jeremy Cuebas (01:24):
Absolutely.
Could you give us a quickoverview of who you are and what
you do?
Noreen Green (01:28):
Sure.
So I am celebrating almost 30years with the Los Angeles
Jewish Symphony Orchestra that Ifounded and I'm the primary
artistic director and conductorof the organization, and in
addition I do choral music andI'm steeped in the Jewish music
(01:48):
experience.
That's kind of my niche and myspecialty.
Jeremy Cuebas (01:53):
And I heard on another podcast you talk about
Jewish music and the Jewishmusic experience.
Could you outline what that is?
Just, we're all on the samepage.
Noreen Green (02:02):
Yeah, so I say that I present programming that
explores the Jewish experience,music that reflects the Jewish
experience.
There's a lot of talk aboutwhat is Jewish music.
I mean, is there a label thatyou can put on a piece of music
that it is Jewish?
And for me it's very subjective.
There are certain elements thatcreate Jewish music from the
(02:27):
Torah, which is the five booksof Moses, the Old Testament,
which is sung at every time it'sread.
It's not actually read.
It's sung with what is calledtropes and if you remember your
music history, gregorian chant,that was actually developed
through the tropes that theJewish canter or the lay person
(02:49):
is singing the text of the Torahit's never read.
So a lot of people feel thatthere has to be some kind of
connection with those melodicstructures in order for it to be
Jewish music.
There's also the Jewish prayermodes, and different prayer
modes are done for differentservices the morning service,
(03:10):
the afternoon service, theevening service, Much like the
Catholic service, has theirprayer modes for the different
times that they pray.
And then, of course, there'sIsraeli music and there's music.
Jews lived all over the world,so wherever they went, the
melodic structures would changedepending on what region they
(03:32):
were in, what country they werein.
So we do a lot of music on theSephardic Jews.
Let's say so.
The Sephardic Jews come fromSpain and in 1492 Columbus
sailed the blue, but also QueenIsabel and King Ferdinand made a
decree and said if you don'twant to become Catholic and
(03:54):
follow the Catholic Church, youeither need to convert or you
need to leave or you could bemurdered.
So the Jews in 1492, it'scalled the expulsion went all
over the world and dispersed andthey took that route of the
Spanish music with them and thenit was influenced then by
wherever they went Morocco,turkey, the Middle East.
(04:16):
In the Middle East there'sMizrahi Jews.
Those are more the Arabic modesand they use those Arabic modes
which is called a taqsim, whichis very much like a Raga in
Indian music.
The Ashkenazi Jews come from theGerman, austrian.
The Pelis woman, it's calledEastern European Jews, are from
(04:37):
the Ashkenazi tradition and thatmusic is more based in the
Germanic and Austrian andRussian style.
Yiddish music, klezmer music,comes from that area.
Yiddish is basically a Germanlanguage.
That was the vernacular for theEastern European Jews and the
(04:59):
most famous.
In Sephardic the vernacular wasLadino, which is mostly the
Spanish, an old ChristianSpanish mixed in with Arabic and
Turkish.
So what is Jewish music is ahuge subject, as you can see.
So I like to say we do music ofthe Jewish experience.
So it doesn't necessarily havethe prayer modes or the nigguns
(05:21):
or the relationship to themotives, but the Holocaust is a
Jewish experience and the musicwritten during the Holocaust,
music written in America, inAmerican influence Gershwin
Bernstein, you know that's theyhave their own Jewish music
experience, copeland.
And then, of course, music fromIsrael that has a whole
(05:41):
different experience, with allthe people immigrating to Israel
and the influence that they didso.
And then there's the holidays,a Hanukkah.
How is a Hanukkah expressed?
How is Passover expressed andwhat music represents the
holidays?
So we kind of do everything,yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (06:01):
And it sounds like the diaspora and the
variety of those influences is.
I guess not critical but kindof foundational almost to a lot
of those musics from around theworld.
Noreen Green (06:15):
Right, exactly.
So.
That's the music of the Jewishexperience and also, like I
don't do, just Jewish composerseither.
The composers don't have to beJewish to have the Jewish
experience.
For example, shostakovich hewrote, you know, the Bobby R and
he wrote from Jewish folkpoetry based on Yiddish folk
(06:36):
songs.
Then there's Prokofiev he wroteoverture on Hebrew themes.
Prokofiev had Jewish studentsthat he was teaching and one of
his Jewish students asked him towrite an overture for their
group, the Zimro group.
So that's how the overture forHebrew themes got started.
And a lot of film composers are, you know, used the John
(06:56):
Williams as a perfect examplefor Schindler's List.
You know he's not Jewish, buthe wrote probably the most
iconic Jewish violin solo thateverybody knows he has a Jewish
soul, though we always say.
Jeremy Cuebas (07:11):
I love the story Just a quick detour that when
Spielberg brought him the script, he said you're going to need a
better composer.
And Spielberg said yeah, I know, but they're all dead, so you
have to do it.
Noreen Green (07:25):
Because I'm not Jewish.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's agreat story.
Jeremy Cuebas (07:32):
That's fascinating to hear because when
I first encountered the EliJewish symphony, my assumption
was that it was only Jewishmembers, only Jewish composers.
But as you're talking aboutthis, it's again really clear
that that influence everywhereis, you know creates a lot of
opportunity.
So I don't think that you wouldactually have a lack of
(07:55):
potential repertoire.
You've probably got plenty.
Noreen Green (07:59):
Oh yeah, we got plenty of repertoire.
And also it's not legal.
You can't just have Jewish, youcan't just hire Jewish
musicians.
Oh yeah, of course, theorchestra is not just Jewish
musicians, it's the repertoirethat we perform that makes us a
Jewish orchestra, and I try tohire soloists and stuff that
represent a Jewish experienceand it's listen.
(08:21):
I'm the conductor, the artisticdirector and the head bottle
washer for the organization.
I kind of do everything.
So it's a very subjectiveprocess.
I mean subjectively, I choosemusic that resonates with me and
who I am and what I think willresonate with the audience.
Jeremy Cuebas (08:40):
And what is kind of the mission of the orchestra,
what was the original idea infounding it and then what keeps
you going?
Noreen Green (08:50):
So actually the seed was planted by Murray
Siddlant, who was my teacher inAspen.
I was one of the conductingstudents there and as part of
our time there we have to gatherother students and musicians
and put on a concert.
So I put on a Jewish musicconcert.
(09:10):
Now, going back a little bit,my doctoral work was my treatise
was on the music of DavidDabakowski, who was considered
the Bach of Odessa.
He was the music director,conductor and organist at the
Brody synagogue in Odessa and itwas a very progressive
synagogue, and he wrote acantata almost every week to be
(09:34):
performed in the Jewish serviceand he used the Odessa opera.
Singers was his chorus.
So it was very unusual and thiswouldn't happen in an Orthodox
synagogue.
So I actually wrote the bookabout his music and his life and
how.
So I was very steeped in Jewishmusic already and working on it
(09:58):
during my doctorate.
When I went to Aspen I decidedto do a Jewish music concert and
I went to the Aspen JewishCenter and they underwrote it.
The Aspen Jewish Center isactually housed in the.
If you've been to Aspen there'sa church on the hill and that's
where the Aspen Jewish Centerwas.
(10:18):
So they take down the cross andthey put up the star of David.
So I went to the board thereand they helped underwrite the
concert and everybody came.
It was just everybody came.
And my teacher, marie Sittolin,saw this and he said we need to
have lunch tomorrow and so youshould start a Jewish orchestra.
(10:39):
You live in LA, there's anorchestra on every corner, but
this is your niche and just doit at the highest level.
So that he planted the seed.
And then I had just gottenmarried and my husband you know,
who's very Jewish and wanted,is very conscious of Sadaka
giving back to the community.
He thought this would be awonderful opportunity to give
(11:02):
back to the community and tocreate a Jewish orchestra.
So that was kind of theinspiration to get it started.
And then he formed a board.
You know all those next steps.
You can't apply for grants forthree years, you need to have
seed money.
So the mission but the missionwas always the same to provide
(11:22):
opportunities to thepresentation of music, of the
Jewish experience.
And then we added aneducational component as well.
So, that's how it all started.
Jeremy Cuebas (11:33):
Yeah, and you, you.
You basically started them andthen ran it by yourself for a
while.
Is that right?
Noreen Green (11:38):
Yeah, I had, you know, assistant administrator
and stuff.
But yeah, for the first threeyears it was just me and one
other person and we did maybetwo, three concerts a year.
We still just do two, threeconcerts a year.
It's it's, you know, we're,we're, I call we're the
Wandering Jewish Orchestra, sowe're always collaborating with
(11:59):
other organization and othervenues and you know that that
can be difficult, you know to totry and coordinate that.
So but we've added asubstantial education component
and we have that severaleducation programs that we do
and chamber music programs, andI also have a choir so it keeps
(12:20):
me busy.
Jeremy Cuebas (12:21):
Yeah.
So I'm curious how I'd love tocome back to this, to connecting
with the community and theWandering Orchestra I'm curious
how you got community supportfor the, for a new project.
Because when you were talkingabout your concert at Aspen you
said you went and you got theconcert underwritten and that's
like.
You know, I don't think most,most conductors would think
(12:42):
about that.
We just like so focused on themusic.
So like where did that?
Where did that come from?
Do you have a businessbackground?
Like where did those ideas comefrom?
And then how do you build thatfor a new orchestra in a
community?
Noreen Green (12:53):
So I don't have a business background, but my
husband does, and so he's thepresident of the symphony, so I
always had him as my advisor asto how to go about doing this.
And also you when you build aboard, you know you want to
gather people who also havebusiness experience and have
outreach into the community,because that's very important
(13:14):
that you know.
You have that, and I was alsoalready in the community the
Jewish LA community because Iwas a music director at a
synagogue for 10 years and atone area, and then I got a job
at one of the largest synagoguesin the San Fernando Valley,
which is where I live in Sino,and they had a robust music
program already, so I did a lotof partnering with them at the
(13:37):
beginning and I still do so Isaid it was like a perfect storm
here.
I had an orchestra, I had achoir, I had a rabbi who was
very supportive of what I wasdoing at a venue and so many of
our concerts were there.
And then I went to the templesand said you know, we have this
program and many of them and thecantors, the singers, wanted to
(14:00):
collaborate because they wantedto sing with orchestra.
So that was my first.
Collaborations were with thecantors who wanted to sing with
the orchestra, and then alsoJewish musicians and soloists.
I also.
It was very important to have aconcertmaster that was very
dedicated to the mission and Iwas very lucky.
Mark Cashper is myconcertmaster.
(14:22):
He's associate principal of theLA Philharmonic and he's from
Russia and yeah, so it was veryimportant.
He has been instrumental.
He's been my musical left hand,right hand person.
He also has been helpful inraising awareness and money and
and he's our foundingconcertmaster, he's been with us
(14:43):
from the beginning for 30 years.
Well, with the years, and thenalso he, because of who he is,
his stature in the community, inthe music musician community, I
was able to always have peoplewho wanted to play with the
orchestra.
It's professional and community, both.
(15:04):
And then you go to I you knowthe Jewish community have
granting organizations, sothere's the Jewish community
foundation, there's, theFederation there's, and so you
learn how to maneuver in thatatmosphere.
And I would say that 80% of mytime is on fundraising, audience
(15:24):
building, collaborations,reaching out to other people,
and 20% is programming andconducting.
And you know, you're the CEO.
It's not.
You're not just the conductoris the CEO.
But this was the differencebetween my orchestra and, let's
say, a regular orchestra.
Let's say that you know, dim,you're in the Colorado.
(15:49):
The Denver crop is that theywere established and they hire a
conductor.
I am the founding musicdirector and conductor.
It's a whole different followaxand it's a nonprofit.
That is what they call founderled.
So I basically that's part ofyou know why I've been
(16:12):
successful is that I'm able toget people on my train.
I always say what is aconductor?
A conductor is basicallyleading a train, whether it's an
orchestra or a locomotive.
You know you have to lead andyou have to guide, and so that's
what I do in all aspects of theorchestra.
Jeremy Cuebas (16:33):
Yeah, yeah, it sounds like that's one of the.
You had a big benefit inniching down as well, because it
was very easy to identify, atleast at first, the people in
the organizations that you couldreach out to.
Right, right, and you said thatabout 80% of your time is
fundraising or meeting people.
That's kind of where I'm, atthat point in my career where
(16:53):
I'm just starting to focus onthe extra musical things in that
.
So when you are, you know, forsomebody who just got their
first job maybe, and you'relooking to grow a group in the
area, when you say you'reworking on fundraising or
networking, like what are youactually doing?
Like what are the steps thatyou're doing for that 80%?
Noreen Green (17:13):
So I'm on the computer a lot I'm looking at.
You go to other organizationsthat are like yours and you look
at other donors.
You look at their donor listand you also ask your board to
look at donor lists to identifyprivate foundations that
possibly could donate Also.
It takes three years, but thenyou can get yourself into the
(17:36):
government granting.
So we get money from theDepartment of Cultural Affairs,
the LA County Arts Organizationand the California State.
So it's really important thatyou have a grant writer and
someone who is on yourdevelopment team who can.
So it used to be that I did allthe research.
(17:58):
Now I have someone who does itfor me, so I might be looking
through this and I say, oh, thisone, this looks like it might
be a good fit for us.
So I send it to my developmentdirector and then she looks
through all the requirements andall of the stuff and then
reports back to me if it's agood fit or not a good fit.
If it is a good fit, then yougo to the next step.
(18:19):
Well, what program are theylooking for?
What is their mission?
How does my mission?
fit their mission.
So a lot of it is brainstormingand just thinking about what
you can do to create a programthat will fit the requirements
of whoever the funder is.
And then I do a lot ofrepertoire searching as well,
(18:41):
and I put together programs andideas and each concert has a
theme.
So some are generated by whatthe funder wants and others are
generated by what I want, andthen I look for funding for that
particular program.
So those are two very differentways of programming when I
collaborated with the Koreanorchestra here.
(19:02):
Now you would think well, howdoes the Jewish and the Korean
have anything in common?
Well, it turns out that Koreans, each one of them, have what's
called a town would in theirhome.
A town would is the writtencommentary on the Torah, on the
five books of Moses.
And it's basically a guide tohow to live your life, and the
(19:24):
Koreans studied this and they'revery Christian but they use the
town would as their guide.
So that was a.
That was a very interestingrevelation, you know, and it
just so happens that theconductor of the Korean
orchestra, he, reached out to meand we started.
He does a concert calledfriendship and harmony, so he
(19:47):
wanted to reach out to theJewish orchestra.
It's kind of like, you know,the niche orchestras all kind of
want to know what each otherare doing.
And as we were sitting andtalking, we talked about our
board and and he said well, mydoctor, I'll have a doctor who
runs our board.
I went oh well, my husband's adoctor and he, he's our board
(20:08):
president.
Well, it turns out that hispresident worked for my husband
and we didn't know it.
I mean, for like for 25 yearsthey had worked together.
So it so the collaboration thatbecame stronger and so we're
doing our second concerttogether next.
He must have heard us talking.
I just got a chat with him.
(20:28):
His name is the immune, so it'sso funny that I was talking
about it.
So that's one of thecollaborations.
When we started looking at ourpatchwork of cultures education
program, which is uses Sephardicmusic as a bridge between the
Latin community and the Jewishcommunity.
(20:48):
So I live in Los Angeles.
You know Spanish is oureveryone's second language.
Basically, you know there's theamount and it seemed like a
natural tie in with ourSephardic music to create this
bridge between the Latinocommunity and the Jewish
community, which we've done andwe've educated like 20,000 kids
(21:11):
over the years in usingSephardic music as a bridge,
because both all Hispanic musicand all Sephardic music have
their stem from the music ofSpain.
So it was a natural thing.
So that has resonated with alot of things.
And then, you know, we had amayor who was Spanish, right, so
he wrote us a, an endorsement,you know.
(21:33):
So it just it just that's howyou just kind of look we have.
I did a gospel program, so Icalled her a shared heritage,
because we have a sharedheritage of slavery, right,
passover is about freeing theslaves, the Jewish slaves, from
Egypt, and the song Go DownMoses, which we sing at every
(21:56):
Passover when Israel Was inEgypt Land, is a gospel song
that we actually took from theAfrican American community.
So there was this.
You know, it's a natural.
So I've done several concertson our shared experiences from
slavery to freedom is what Icall it.
(22:17):
You can find connectionsanywhere you look, because we're
all.
We all are the human experience.
We all have shared humanexperiences.
So you have to kind of justthink out of the box.
Jeremy Cuebas (22:31):
And just I mean, that's all.
That's so fascinating.
I had never thought about thatand now I'm, and of course I
didn't know about the, about the, the Spain connection also.
So I'm learning.
I was learning so much and yousaid you're doing a lot of kind
of like brainstorming.
Are you just like setting upwhen you're going to connect
with a new group?
Are you just like setting up ameeting and talking for the
(22:52):
first time, or are you going inkind of with a plan of how you
could?
Noreen Green (22:56):
Well, okay, and proposal to some sorts you have
to come in with the idea.
It's absolutely you have tothink about what would resonate,
and then you have to also be atune and body language to if
they're interested or notinterested and be ready to pivot
at it.
That's a one-on-onepresentation.
All right, now we've, aftercourse, our presentation.
(23:17):
we have nice visuals, we havevideos.
So because we've been doingthis a long time, but in the
beginning you know in thebeginning before videos and zoom
and all that kind of stuff wecame in with a written proposal
at outline about why thisprogram would be beneficial to
your community and our communityand how we could be beneficial
(23:39):
to both of us.
So that's how that's how we didit so.
Jeremy Cuebas (23:45):
Yeah, and you said that sometimes the
programming comes out of thatand sometimes you come in with a
program in mind.
Noreen Green (23:51):
I always have a program in mind, okay.
Jeremy Cuebas (23:53):
You always have a program in mind, absolutely.
Noreen Green (23:55):
Or at least one piece.
That would be like.
When I went to the Koreans thislast time, you know, I said
what is our theme this year?
And obviously it's notobviously, but because of all
the wars that are going on, it'sgoing to be peace.
It's not going to be our theme.
So I proposed it to ChesterPsalms, you know, and, and they
didn't know it, the Koreansdon't really know that piece and
(24:17):
I said, well, it's based onthree Psalms and you know, and
they love the idea.
So that's going to be the piecethat I conduct, and then the
Koreans are going to conductother Psalms and then we're
going to do a joint piece thatis going to be in Korean, hebrew
and English, based on songs ofpeace from the Korean community
(24:38):
and the Jewish community, and wehave somebody arranging that
and putting it together so thatyou have it.
Yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (24:47):
Yeah, yeah, I wanted to.
I wanted to ask about aboutreaching out and doing these
community collaborations and ofcourse it connects to what we've
been talking about and itconnects to programming.
So I don't want to necessarily,you know, delineate which is
which we've about working withthe Latinx community, the Korean
community and the black.
I'm just, I'm just thinkingabout my own, my own
(25:11):
opportunities now of of what,what can I do and how can I and
how can I reach out and and howI can do that with my orchestra.
And again, I want to, I want tohighlight for the listeners
because we have a lot of peoplestarting small groups and and
trying to build them in thecommunity that when you have
some mission and such a specificthing that you want to convey
through music, I think, again,it makes it much more focused
(25:34):
when you go talk to those peoplebecause you have that shared
story, whereas my orchestra,right now you know, maybe their
stories I haven't uncovered, butif it's like this city symphony
, I think I need to be creativewhen I try to go out and reach
out to them.
Noreen Green (25:49):
Who are the players in your orchestra?
Jeremy Cuebas (25:52):
It's a volunteer orchestra in one of the suburbs
of Denver.
Okay, so they're all.
They're all very you should doa questionnaire with the
volunteers and ask them whatthey're.
Noreen Green (26:04):
You know what they do other than music and find
commonalities.
You know there's so manydifferent orchestras.
There's a lawyer's orchestrahere, there's a doctor's
orchestra here.
You know, and so you have tolook at your membership first of
all, because they're your firstline of.
I have a professional orchestra, so it's a little different.
But, for my community members.
(26:26):
I know who they are and I lookto them for suggestions.
So I would send a questionnaireout to your and.
I would advise this to anybodywho has a community orchestra,
to find out who they are andwhat do they do when they're not
sitting in that chair playingopo, you know.
So you know education is veryimportant.
(26:50):
You know, and I worked for theLA Philharmonic Institute, which
was really my inspiration forhaving a combined orchestra,
community and professional, theLA Philharmonic Institute.
For about five years the LosAngeles Philharmonic Orchestra
brought in very high-level highschool young college students
(27:12):
and created this institute andthey played alongside the
professionals, had workshopswith the LA Philharmonic players
and then played at theHollywood Bowl together.
It was hugely impactful for themusicians and for me, because I
that energy that the youthbrings to the orchestra is
Because it's the first timethey're playing Beethoven's
(27:33):
Piano, not the hundredth timethey're playing it, you know no
anyway.
So I always Educational andyouth outreach is very important
and your community memberswould love to do it, I'm sure.
Go into schools and stuff likethat.
Jeremy Cuebas (27:51):
So it's very yeah , as I've been looking at that,
that's the one thing that I'veidentified recently, like what's
the measure of how much thecommunity supports us?
So like it's a little bitticket sales, it's a little bit
donations, but mostly it is howfar-reaching or how.
Noreen Green (28:10):
Impactful.
Jeremy Cuebas (28:12):
Impactful?
Yeah, our education programsare, and I mean, that's where
all our granting comes from.
It's like it's themission-driven educational
programming.
Noreen Green (28:23):
Absolutely yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (28:25):
I'll absolutely do that because I am also
interested.
You know you get so focused onthe music and only doing the
music and you get overwhelmedwith what we can do musically,
and so I'm trying to back up andsee what we can actually do to
grow in the community.
So this is fantastic.
Thank you so much for youradvice.
Noreen Green (28:42):
Do you have an administrator or do you have
office staff or anything?
A development director.
Jeremy Cuebas (28:48):
No, we have.
No, we're all the board'svolunteers, while I'm the only.
So we're trying to build thatand, you know, just get our
budget up and get our ticketsales up so we can have a little
bit more money.
I would love to get us to thepoint where we can invest in an
executive director.
They had in the PEM, but rightnow everybody's volunteer and
(29:09):
they've all got other jobs, soit's all up to you so any
initiatives are mostly going byme and we have a couple active
board members, but, yeah, nobodyright now.
Noreen Green (29:19):
So also look to your council people, your
congress people and stuff likethat.
And they have discretionarymoney and you can get $1,000
from this person to give ticketsaway to the senior citizen home
.
You know that's one of.
They love that.
The seniors are the underservedcommunity and people think, oh
(29:44):
well, they get senior discountsand stuff, but they need a way
to get to the concerts, you know, and if you can help underwrite
some of the costs for that anda lot of times board members
will do that or grantingorganizations would do that and
also go to the senior homes andstuff and play for them with a
(30:07):
chamber group or somethingBecause people love that looks
great to the funders.
When you're doing outreach andproviding free concerts for the
people who can't come to yourconcerts, you know the
disability community or whateverso.
Jeremy Cuebas (30:28):
That's another thing that came up while we were
talking to so many peopleduring COVID.
We were about that earlier,before we started.
The one thing that happenedwhen COVID hit was now all the
conductors had been trying toget on the phone.
Suddenly they were all free.
So we talked to so many peopleand one of the things that kept
coming up was like okay, we are,by definition, a large group of
(30:48):
people getting together.
What do we become when we can'tget together?
And a lot of that answer was wecan still work towards our
mission with chamber music orwith smaller groups or in that
level of outreach.
So again, that's another blindspot that we have is that it has
to be the whole orchestra goingto an event, but now we can
absolutely do small chamberthings.
Noreen Green (31:10):
And yeah, what is your instrument?
Jeremy Cuebas (31:15):
I play violin.
Yeah, so we're doing, and we dodo some small chamber things.
We our city is has a event thatruns for a week leading up to
MLK Day, so we're open, we'replaying some of the opening
music for that next Monday, onthe 8th.
Yeah, so I'll.
Noreen Green (31:30):
Actually I'll be playing Concert Master for that,
because we get basically ZRrehearsals for it, right, and
somebody needs to lead it, butyeah, yeah well, I'm the artist,
so a lot of the chamber music Iactually program myself to play
once in a while, just so I'mforced to practice.
You can get rented and just allI do is read scores, you know
(31:53):
so I don't actually practice,you know so.
So I'm actually practicing fora chamber concert in February,
and it just, you know, the stifffingers have to come out at
some point.
Jeremy Cuebas (32:04):
Yeah.
So, I'm curious when you're,when you're building programs
since you're doing mostlyunfamiliar music or maybe mixing
things in different ways howdoes that process actually start
?
Could you give us a couple ofdifferent examples, because
sometimes it starts with acollaboration idea and does,
sometimes it not, is sometimesit just we've got.
(32:26):
We've just got to do some musicon this concert.
Noreen Green (32:29):
Well, usually I have a theme first, like there's
one piece that comes, yeah,okay.
And I decide, oh, that's goingto be, that fits into that theme
.
So some of the themes otherthan holiday stuff, from
darkness to light.
So that was Holocaust to Israel.
So I would have a piece thatrepresented the Holocaust or and
(32:51):
then represented Israel, andthen I would fill in the program
with that.
Youtube is an incredibleresource for us.
Now it's also those of you ifyou're interested in Jewish
music.
There is an Israel MusicInstitute in Israel.
The theater presser is theAmerican.
They have wonderful music andthe, the, the composers, came
(33:16):
from Eastern Europe and everyone, and came to Israel and created
this new style of music calledthe Mediterranean style of music
, and I'm you know it's reallyinteresting to look at.
And then so a lot of the crosscultural stuff.
I'll look at Persian music andMizrahi music and Indian music
(33:36):
and Arabic music, and we'realways trying to form bridges of
connection.
So one of the programs wascalled Ashina.
So Ashina means love in Turkishand but it's also derivative of
what love means in Hebrew, andit was written by a Israeli
composer, sharon Farber, and itwas for choir and small ensemble
(33:59):
and Ney, which is a kind oflike a recorder, but it's a
Middle Eastern record.
It's very long, and air Dumbek,which is an Arabic drum.
A drum and guitar and Oud.
So so I so that was the mainpiece on the program, so I had
that ensemble.
So then I looked for music thenthat would use the Oud and use
(34:23):
the Ney and you know in otherways.
So once you know your mainpiece and you know who your
soloists are, you know if it'sunusual instruments and you want
to find other music that canhighlight those.
It just so happened that thatconcert I was partnering with a
Turkish organization and mycollaborative partner was a
(34:43):
pianist and she was from Turkey,so she introduced me to a
concerto by.
His last name is Erkin and hewas part of the Turkish five.
I didn't know there was aTurkish five.
I didn't know the, you know theFrench and the Russian, but I
didn't know there was a Turkishfive.
So I started exploring music,classical music from Turkey, and
(35:08):
it was phenomenal and veryrhythmic, which I love, so you
know so.
And then I live in Hollywood.
I mean, I live in LA, so emigrecomposers came and established
themselves in Hollywood and so Ihave several concerts I do
called Cinema Judeka, so Jewishcomposers that influence our
(35:31):
Hollywood music comp composition.
So I did several of those, andactually I did those in Israel
and then South Africa and inCanada, because they were so
interested in the Hollywoodmusic coming to their
populations because they don'thave it.
So that was kind of cool.
And then in 2020, one of mydearest, dearest friends, who's
(35:54):
Israeli, you know, and Zor isconsidered the preeminent
composer of video game music.
Okay, so video game music nowhas they do these big concerts
of video game music.
So here's Israeli and he'sJewish.
I actually conducted his firstvideo game when he, before he,
learned how to conduct, so Icreated a whole concert around
(36:16):
his music and he's like winningbeta awards, you know, for all
of the things.
And the video game composersare the opera composers of today
.
It's astounding what they haveto do to create these video
games and they all use full 100piece orchestras and they have
themes and the and the lightmotive changes depending on what
(36:38):
happens to the character in thevideo.
So I think we get stuck in ourlittle classical box and I don't
, because I I want to exploreall kinds of music and listen.
The Hollywood Bowl now doesmore pop music and jazz music
and cinema music and video gamemusic, because that's how they
(36:58):
keep the Hollywood Bowl alive.
In order to have theirclassical music concert series,
and that's that's.
You have to think out of the box.
You can't be in your littleclassical music box, so that's
another suggestion I have is tolook outside, you know, and also
performers like in your, inyour Denver area.
Look for upcoming performers,singers, someone who won
(37:23):
American Idol that's from yourregion, and highlight them and
you'll get a lot more people tocome to your concert and you can
build.
This necessarily has to be apops concert, but you know, and
a lot of those performers have aclassical background and all of
a sudden you know, you knowthey're singing whatever they're
singing rock and roll orwhatever it is.
(37:45):
But if you look at, like PatBenatar that's my generation.
She has a four octave operaticrange.
All right, you know, pink pinkis amazing, her range is amazing
.
So, like, what I'm saying is,think, out of boxes they can do
classical music and they can dopopular music and stuff.
So that's another thing, I, I,I'm not in a little box, my
(38:09):
classical box.
Jeremy Cuebas (38:10):
Yeah, well, and I think the average person on the
street is also not in aclassical box.
So we're we're serving themwith things that's more relevant
to them, and when you frame itin the themes that you've been
talking about now, you give themeven more context for the
classical things that are notfamiliar to them and the other
music that's not familiar tothem, which, again, is probably
(38:31):
a lot of what you guys are doing.
Noreen Green (38:32):
Well, and I think what's important to also
understand is, like I, 30 yearsago, conductors didn't talk to
the audience.
They walked on stage, they tooktheir bow, they turned their
back on the audience and thenext thing you saw was the bow
and then they left.
And pre concert lectures wereusually done by guests If the
(38:52):
audience came wanted to comeahead of time.
So I felt as an educator sinceI was doing music that was
unfamiliar to most people.
It was really important toframe it and for the orchestra
to understand it.
So I always talk about this.
I did survivor for Warsaw byArnold Schoenberg, not an easy
listening piece and not an easypiece to conduct.
(39:17):
So I I framed it and said whatis?
Who is Schoenberg?
What is Schreckstamma?
What are we listening for?
What can you hear in this piecethat you can, you know, latch
onto it, understand, and I dothat for every piece, especially
if it's a little avant-garde,or, you know, atone or whatever
(39:38):
you have to, you have to frameit.
And then also, because all themusic it's subjective, my
programming, so the audiencewants to know why you picked
that piece of music, why did itresonate with you?
And it brings them into, I callthem going from passive
listeners to active listeners,because they, they can.
(39:59):
Oh, I hear it.
I hear that, like very commonthing in Jewish music is using
the shofar blast.
The shofar is the, a ram's hornand it's what we use to call
for services and it.
And if you know the beginningof Leonard Bernstein's West Side
Story, da, da, da, da, da, da,da, da, da, that's the shofar
(40:19):
blast.
So he, I can always signal thatit's a, it's a natural horn, so
it's in fifths and octaves andda you know the, the partials,
that goes by the partials.
Jeremy Cuebas (40:31):
Yeah.
Noreen Green (40:32):
So you know whenever that's used and I've
played a lot of music, anotherthing, like Gershwin's it ain't
necessarily so.
Jeremy Cuebas (40:40):
It ain't necessarily so.
Noreen Green (40:41):
I know is based on the beginning of what every bar
mitzvah kid learns Baruch hatah, adonai, it ain't necessarily
so, so I always try to you know,bring in something of interest
about the music for the so theaudience can understand it.
Jeremy Cuebas (41:01):
So I heard a.
I went to a concert a number ofyears ago in St Louis and they
did the the Moldau, and theywere explaining that during
World War II the radio stationswould play the Moldau a lot
because it was very close to toa Jewish song I can't remember
which one, but then I mean thatmade me that totally changed how
(41:22):
I was listening in that concert.
And you know the Moldau, I'dheard it a thousand times and
now it had this new significancefor me.
Noreen Green (41:28):
Well, the same thing with Mahler's first.
There's a whole klezmer sectionin it.
Jeremy Cuebas (41:33):
Yeah.
Noreen Green (41:34):
And that's the second or third movement.
That is completely a chlesmertune.
So, there's a lot of Jewishmusic influence, but you can
find it in all compositions,even in Mozart.
You know, you just.
But I think you know,unfortunately our music
education in the schools isn'tvery good.
(41:55):
So you need it's very importantwe, as conductors, have to
educate our audience.
We're going to continue havingaudiences that come to classical
music.
They need to know, and no one.
We don't even have printedprograms anymore.
Do you have printed programs?
You get a QR code right, youknow, because nobody wants to
(42:16):
waste paper.
I hate that.
I like reading a program.
Jeremy Cuebas (42:23):
We do have printed programs because they
demanded that they come back.
Noreen Green (42:27):
Ah see, Good yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (42:30):
Yeah, people did not like our digital programs.
Noreen Green (42:32):
Nobody likes them, nobody reads them.
Yeah.
Jeremy Cuebas (42:36):
So yeah, you, you .
You said there are Jewishinfluences in Mozart.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no,they're not Jewish influences.
Noreen Green (42:43):
I've seen you could find some kind of
influence in Mozart that wouldresonate with the audience.
You just have to look for itOkay, okay it's.
Italian Siphonni or whatever itis.
You have to explain what it is.
You know why is this?
There's nothing Jewish aboutMozart, sorry.
Yeah, I was like what have Ibeen missing this whole time?
Perfect.
Jeremy Cuebas (43:07):
Before we move to the end, are there any other
things you want to cover?
One of my, one of the questionsI wanted to ask is what do you,
what do people not usually askyou, that you wish you would get
a chance to talk about in theseinterviews?
Noreen Green (43:19):
You know it used to be.
You know, as a woman conductor,they wanted to know.
You know there's a lot morewomen conductors now, but there
is still a feeling about being awoman and leading an ensemble
or leading an organization orleading a nonprofit.
That is there's.
There's still somediscrimination out there and in
(43:42):
fact, I don't know if you writeyour own grants for everybody,
but they always ask if who isleading your organization and
they want you to identify whothey are.
Is that a woman?
Is it a BIPOC?
Is it a transgender?
Is it whatever it is?
And I find that veryinteresting that still nowadays
(44:04):
where we have to deal with this.
And in the early days I didhave some players from Russia
who didn't want to play becauseI was a woman conductor.
And what's interesting is theJewish religion is a patriarchal
religion.
You know, there's a lot ofwomen rabbis and there's a lot
(44:25):
of women canters out there now,but when I first started, there
wasn't and there wasn't anyJewish women conductors.
And I think, you know, 30 yearslater, looking back on that
time and looking at thisdevelopment, some things have
changed, but a lot of thingshaven't changed.
And I think I have, you know,men, friends, who are a little
(44:52):
angry that there's so much stillfocus on, you know, women
composers and performing womencomposers, but we have to still
do that because 2% of filmcomposers are women.
All right, there's still a longway to go and I'm not asked
(45:13):
about that anymore, but it'sstill an issue.
And I think you're a white maleokay, you are, you know you
have all of the privilege atyour fingertips, but I deal in a
world that I don't have thatand I sometimes go into meetings
and there's still that barrier.
(45:36):
I still feel the barrier and Iwish that wasn't so.
So still keep asking aboutwomen.
And you know Native Americanand you know it's important that
we're all understanding thatthere's still a long way to go
when it comes to the leaders ofour community.
Jeremy Cuebas (45:54):
Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Well, you said, and you said 2%composers Composers in film,
and I'm like, I'm just thinkingof directors, even they're very
lany, very lany women, oh,there's Barkie.
Noreen Green (46:09):
There's Barkie, Greta, and I know yeah, there's
Greta.
Jeremy Cuebas (46:13):
Yeah, who else?
Have you done collaborationswith any Native American groups?
I have not, you have not.
Noreen Green (46:21):
I did a Native American piece, though.
In Afspen One of my dearfriends, Andrew Clearfield,
wrote a piece about the HopiIndians and I did that, but this
is way before the Jewishsymphony.
So the Hopi Indians areactually a very similar in
spirit to the Jewish that theyhave what they call a female god
(46:41):
.
Jewish has the Shechina, whichis the female equivalent of God
and stuff.
But that was the only one thatI've done.
Jeremy Cuebas (46:53):
Okay, yeah, that's one of the populations we
have here that I'm wanting toconnect with.
I've been listening to a lot offantastic music by Native
American composers.
Noreen Green (47:01):
Great Good luck with that.
I incorporate dancers too.
Jeremy Cuebas (47:07):
Yes, yes.
Well, we have a big Latinxcommunity here as well.
Our city is 30 percent Spanishas first language, so that's the
clear community that we've onlydone a little bit of work
towards connecting with.
Noreen Green (47:22):
Well, mariachi is considered like the and klezmer,
like there's a lot of klezmer,mariachi similarities and also
gypsy music.
So we used to do this thingcalled fiesta shalom, so that
was about combining thosecommunities together.
So, mariachi, there's a lot oforchestral Mariachi music.
(47:46):
So if you don't Is there, thereis a lot.
Jeremy Cuebas (47:49):
I just, you know, I just haven't looked, I was
assuming there wouldn't be thatmuch, but there's a lot.
Noreen Green (47:56):
There's Mariachi symphonies, there's all sorts of
stuff.
Jeremy Cuebas (48:01):
I've got some research to do.
While we're talking aboutorchestral Mariachi music, do
you have any hidden gems orlistening assignments?
You could send our listeners onSomething to go check out after
they hear this.
Noreen Green (48:15):
Well, if you want to explore our, we have three
CDs.
Two of them are on the Albanyrecord label.
One of them is called Women ofValor and it's a 60-minute
oratorio based on 10 Biblicalwomen using the Asian hyal,
which is the Women of Valorprayer, as the recitib, as the
(48:36):
glue between those 10 arias, andit's a fantastic piece.
It's full orchestra and twosingers, and so I have that
recording on Albany label andyou can find it on YouTube and
the 10 arias can be doneseparately.
So if you're looking for someBiblical women, sarah Rachel Lea
(48:59):
, you know, if that resonateswith any upcoming programming,
you could take a look at that.
There's also chamber musicversion of it that Andrea
Clearfield has on her website.
Another piece that I did AHidden Gem, eric Zeisel.
It was a composer, one of theseemigrate composers, and his
(49:19):
grandson is Randy Schoenberg,who is also a descendant of
Arnold Schoenberg.
So Arnold Schoenberg's sonmarried Eric Zeisel's daughter
in LA both of them in LA andthen had Randy, and Randy
Schoenberg is a lawyer thatnegotiated for the return of the
(49:41):
art the Klimt art that was heldby the Austrian government, and
there's a movie about it, womanof Gold.
Anyway, eric Zeisel's music is.
I love Eric Zeisel's music.
So for my 25th anniversary wedid a CD of his Jacob and Rachel
Ballet and I also am going tobe presenting that at the
International Conductors GuildConference in New York.
(50:03):
And if your listeners don'tknow about the International
Conductors Guild, they shouldjoin because you get job
opportunities, workshopopportunities.
It's a really wonderfulorganization and our conference
is in New York in January.
Anyway, so Eric Zeisel wrote thefirst requiem for the Holocaust
(50:26):
victims in 1944, 1945, and theIsrael Philharmonic recorded it.
So if you're looking for adifferent kind of requiem, it's
called the Requiem Ebreika.
So that's another gem that Iwould look to.
And if you've watched the movieMaestro about Leneberg's side,
(50:48):
he's written a lot of Jewishthemed music.
The Chichester Psalms is one ofthem, of course, and the
Coddish Symphony.
But he also wrote a piececalled Halil.
Halil is a flute like arecorder.
It's a biblical recorder, andin 1973, I think the Yom Kippur
(51:10):
War 1973, leneberg's side wentand visited a flute player that
had been shot and was in thehospital and he was so moved by
this flute player, who almostgave up his life for Israel,
that he wrote this piece.
It's 15 minutes long and it'sfor flute solo strings and six
(51:32):
percussionists.
Jeremy Cuebas (51:33):
Oh, wow.
Noreen Green (51:34):
So if you have a great flute player that you want
to feature, it's a wonderfulpiece of music.
So there's a couple gems foryou to look at.
Jeremy Cuebas (51:42):
Fantastic.
We'll put links for all ofthose in the show notes.
Noreen, what final message orcall to action would you like to
send our listeners home with?
Noreen Green (51:52):
If you're creating , if you're looking at how you
want to be in this world as aconductor, as a musician, you
have to really do something thatyou're passionate about, that
speaks to your heart, and as aJewish woman conducting an
orchestra, I promote Jewishwomen composers and performers
(52:14):
and stuff.
So I think it's reallyimportant to be successful is
that you find your passion, youfind what resonates with you
musically, personally, socially,if you're a social activist,
whatever and that you followthat dream and you really create
your ensemble that reflects whoyou are.
How's that?
Jeremy Cuebas (52:37):
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
Thank you for the work that youdo.
Yeah, we appreciate it.
Noreen Green (52:43):
Great.
Well, it's been wonderfulchatting with you and I wish you
a lot of luck over there inColorado.
You have the mountain.
Jeremy Cuebas (52:51):
Yes, and you like they're beautiful.
They're beautiful today We'vehad basically a snowless winter.
We had like an inch.
Denver got more.
I'm about an hour north ofDenver, but yeah, we've gotten
almost no snow for the past twomonths.
Noreen Green (53:07):
Oh, I never see snow, so yeah, it's like it's a
beautiful, sunny and 80 degreesoutside right now.
Yeah, of course All right, well, thank you so much All righty.
I appreciate it.
Dare I make what's been apleasure.
Jeremy Cuebas (53:21):
Absolutely Okay.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com