Arts & Entertainment A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace
1SPLPGJFW JO 1BMP "MUP by Rebecca Wallace ou can tell a lot about people from their favorite “Peter and the Wolf” recording. Do they go classic, with Lenny Bernstein narrating on vinyl? Highbrow, with Sir John Gielgud and the Royal Philharmonic? Or just completely random, with David Bowie, Weird Al, a Dixieland band or Japanese jazz quartet? Mr. Prokofiev would surely be surprised by the sheer versatility of interpretation that his 1936 children’s composition has inspired. (As would many of us who grew up with the basic Bernstein or Disney version of the simple tale about a boy at his grandfather’s dacha.) Yes, “Peter and the Wolf” has legs. Long, multicultural ones. This month, Prokofiev’s work comes to Palo Alto in four languages. A quartet of narrators will present four performances of “Peter”: in English, Mandarin, Russian and Hebrew. Ming Luke, a guest conductor at the San Francisco Ballet, will conduct a chamber orchestra. (At press time, tickets to the English program had just sold out.) This will be the first Mandarin-language program held at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center. “We’re embarking on a new journey,” said Ronit WidmannLevy, the center’s director of arts and culture. “We do have some members who speak Mandarin, at the fitness club, but we have not been programming for the Mandarin population.” Widmann-Levy, herself a seasoned opera singer, joined the JCC five months ago and is on a mission to expand the center’s multicultural offerings beyond the Hebrew and Russian programs that currently exist. “Peter,” with its wide appeal, seemed a good fit. Prokofiev’s composition follows a boy (Peter, played by string instruments) who goes out exploring in the forest and meadow, where he meets up with such animals as a duck
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Oshman Family JCC hosts a quadrilingual ‘Peter and the Wolf’
Left: The San Francisco Ballet’s Ming Luke will conduct “Peter and the Wolf” at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center. Top: Composer Sergey Prokofiev. Page 20ÊUÊÊ iLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£ÎÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V