LA


ISRAELI DRUMMER SHINES WITH
L.A. JEWISH SYMPHONY
...All of the works were U.S. premiers.
None of the composers was anywhere close to
being a household name in this country. But
there was one performer who ought to be:
a provocative percussionist from Tel Aviv,
Chen Zimbalista.
zimbalista is a young, muscular, intense
dynamo with charisma to burn and a precise
technique that knows no stylistic bounds. He's
also a showman who knows how to make
an entrance.
Zimbalista...then reeled off an extraordinary
solo, one with kinetic impact, a sense of
direction and melodic logic - and it also
swung like mad.
Zimbalista made easy work of Hadas
Goldschmidt-Halfon's fascinating new
percussion concerto, "Knock on Wood", with its
difficult two-handed polyrhythms on marimba,
bongos, temple blocks and tom-toms and its
gently synchopated slow movement
on triangles and glockenspiel.
And with conductor Noreen Green and
orchestra scrambling to keep pace, Zimbalista
impishly led everyone, including us, in a frantic
Shlomo Gronich scherzo called "Go"...
By Richard S. Ginell

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