Palisades Symphony and Palisades Brentwood Chorale will perform at the Palisades Methodist Church on Via de la Paz this Sunday.
The Palisades Symphony Orchestra and the Brentwood Palisades Chorale are presenting a free concert at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, at the Community United Methodist Church, 801 Via de la Paz.
The Palisades Symphony Orchestra, founded by the late Joel Lish, is under a new maestro, Maxim Kuzin.
Prior to the Symphony, the Ukrainian-born conductor is currently the Music Director of the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic and the UC Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. He also guest conducted for several Eastern European orchestras, including the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine, Presidents Orchestra of Ukraine, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Georgia.
Kuzin, who moved to the United States in 2014, received his doctoral degree in Orchestral Conducting at UCLA.
The orchestra will play Prelude to Carmen (George Bizet).
The chorale, under the direction of Susan Rosenstein, will perform Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 (Johannes Brahams). Soprano Kerith Spencer-Shapiro and baritone Eric Castro will perform the solos.
Originally from West Hartford, Connecticut, Spencer-Shapiro graduated with a B.A. in English from Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota, and then pursued further study at the Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies and Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut. She received her Cantorial Ordination and Masters of Sacred Music from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003.
She has appeared in concert at Town Hall and Symphony Space in New York City; Beit Daniel, Tel Aviv, Israel; The Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome, Italy; and at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
As a baritone soloist, Eric Castro has appeared multiple times at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Shrine Auditorium, Long Beach Carpenter Centre, Las Vegas Smith Center, and Redlands Bowl. He was recently featured with the String Orchestra Project in Bach’s Cantata Ich Habe Genug, and with San Diego Festival Orchestra in Dvorak’s Te Deum.
Castro earned his Bachelor of Art degree from Yale University, where he studied art, music and drama; and his Juris Doctor from USC’s Gould School of Law. Castro is also a Corporate Partner in the law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP.
Susan S. Rosenstein has directed the Brentwood Palisades Chorale since 1987. She also serves as the music director at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple and is associate conductor of the SoCal Choral.
She received her Bachelor of Art degree in music education and a Master of Fine Arts in conducting and organ performance from UCLA.