VOICE RISES ABOVE DISORDER CALIFORNIA
Although she cannot read music and has trouble with simple everyday tasks, 48-year-old Gloria Lenhoff can play the accordion and sing with a perfect pitch in 30 languages. Lenhoff has Williams syndrome, a rare genetic condition that produces physical and cognitive abnormalities and an aptitude for music. The disorder is caused by the loss of a tiny piece of a chromosome and occurs in one out of 20,000 births.
A lyric soprano, Lenhoff has a repertoire of more than 2,000 pieces, from genres including popular, religious, folk, classical and opera. A resident of the Baddour Memorial Center in Senatoba, Miss., Lenhoff serves as visiting cantor to Temple B’nai Israel in Tupelo, Miss.
Lenhoff is the featured soloist at this month’s “Pop Go the Arts 2003!” concert, a benefit for St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center of San Diego, which strives to enrich the lives of developmentally disabled adults by training them in the arts. She sings operatic arias by Mozart, Puccini and Verdi; two songs from “Gigi,” including a duet with maestro Martin Wright, and a Santuzza solo from “Cavalleria Rusticana.”
The Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra, led by Israeli-born conductor David Amos, is also in the lineup, along with the San Diego Master Chorale, directed by baritone Martin Wright.
Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B Street, San Diego; June 29, 3 p.m.; $20, $35 and $50. (619-235-0804 or www.ticketmaster.com.)
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
