Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (LAJS), under the direction of Founding Artistic Director and Conductor Noreen Green, held “Opera Favorites with a Jewish Twist” on March 22. An enthusiastic crowd, including multiple senior homes and a local student group, turned out.
Taking place in the historic sanctuary at Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Glazer campus, this program celebrated the Jewish composers, librettists and influences that shaped the sound of the opera house.
This concert brought together internationally recognized soloists from the opera world as well as local talent from synagogues across the Jewish community to offer opera lovers and newcomers alike a warm, uplifting encounter with music that has shaped both Jewish and classical traditions.
Additionally, WBT Rabbi Susan Nanus formally presented the L.A. Jewish Symphony with the Acquisition International Business Excellence Award for Leading Cultural Symphony Orchestra, 2026 – USA. “This recognition reflects the symphony’s artistic vision, community and educational outreach, and growth,” the event’s organizers said.
Featured artists in the program included opera singer Tracy Cox; singer Elizabeth Kerstein of Temple Ahavat Shalom; Valley Outreach Synagogue Senior Rabbi Ron Li-Paz; WBT Senior Cantor Lisa Peicott; and Grammy-nominated tenor Brian Vu.
Comfortable walking shoes and a sense of playfulness were required when Open Temple Rabbi Lori Shapiro led an interactive seder crawl–dubbed “Seder Synesthesia”–through the Venice neighborhood on the second night of Pesach.
The unique program, held April 2, drew approximately 35 participants of all ages. Attendees followed Shapiro down Abbot Kinney boulevard, through the Venice Canals and other notable spots in the artsy hood. As they walked, they wore headphones so they could hear songs from a pre-programmed Passover playlist, including The Bangles “Walk Like an Egyptian,” and hear a mic’d up Shapiro as she took on double duty as clergyperson and walking-tour guide. For the bulk of the program, Shapiro drew connections between the sights and sounds of the neighborhood and the Exodus story.
The event began around 4 p.m., kicking off with everyone meeting in the parking lot of the Electric Lodge, a theater space that’s also where Open Temple gathers for services. In the lot, the Open Temple Band played Pesach-appropriate tunes, including Bob Marley’s “Exodus,” before several members of Open Temple, dressed in costume as Pharoah and Egyptian taskmasters, appeared – much to the delight of the younger ones in the crowd.
The crawl stopped at places including Salt and Straw, an upscale ice cream shop, and Kreation Juicery, where smoothie samples resembling the blood of the plagues were offered to seder participants.
The event concluded at a Venice arts studio space, where attendees were treated to a light show—referred to as an “Exodus Bath,” as opposed to a sound bath—that was intended to emulate the wandering in the desert. Then, everyone returned to Open Temple’s home base for a kosher-style dinner.
Ultimately, the sensory-filled program allowed those in attendance to “smell the matzah, see the songs and taste the colors,” the event’s organizers said, describing the program as “a twist to seder for twisted times, with Venice as our playground.”
