Brandeis Magazine

Chuck Israels spent a week at Skywalker Sound, near Nicasio, California, playing on and helping to arrange a recording project called “Song Play,” with mezzo-soprano Joyce Di Donato for Warner Classics. Chuck says it was a joyful experience making music with her and absorbing the glorious atmosphere at Skywalker Ranch. Janet (aka Hannah) Kranzberg moved about a year and a half ago to a retirement community in downtown Oakland, California, after 40-odd years in Berkeley. She serves on her congresswoman’s advisory committee and on the regional council of the New Israel Fund. Becky Cohen Long, P’85, celebrated her 80th birthday by taking a cruise alone — with just her rollator for support — sailing from Italy to Egypt, Jordan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, and spending an extra week in Dubai. The trip was immensely enjoyable and gave her tremendous confidence in herself, she reports. Gloria Feman Orenstein presented a talk to launch the opening of the Leonora Carrington Museum in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, in March. Gloria wrote many pieces on Carrington, a surrealist artist who would have turned 100 this year. In her talk, Gloria spoke about her long friendship with Carrington, which lasted from 1971 until the artist’s death in 2011. In April, Gloria went to Mexico City for the opening of another exhibition and spoke on a panel there. In February, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art and College Art Association in Los Angeles. Stanley Salett was named Boston Latin School’s 2017 Distinguished Graduate at the school’s annual celebration dinner in November. Stanley, who served in both the Kennedy and the Johnson administrations, is highly regarded for his work as a national education adviser and civil rights activist, and has devoted his career to public service and public-policy work. Notable among his achievements are the creation of the Upward Bound program and a lead role in the formation of Head Start. Music by Simon Sargon was featured in two concerts this spring in honor of his 80th birthday. In Dallas, Southern Methodist University presented a program of his vocal music, including individual songs and excerpts from his song cycles. In Washington, D.C., a concert of his liturgical music, featuring 15 cantors and 175 singers, was presented at Temple Sinai. Simon has just completed a new choral work, “The Visions of Micah,” a joint commission by Ensemble Consart in Leipzig, Germany, and Israel’s Nona De Camera. It will premiere in Leipzig this August.