Celebrating Musical Partnership at NOLA Federation event

This year’s Campaign Celebration for the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans provides a taste of the community’s partnership with Israel’s “music city,” Rosh Ha’Ayin.

The March 13 event will be at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, where there will be a wine and cheese reception, and a talk and performance by NOCCA’s Michael Pellera and other musicians.

Last May, Pellera led a group of NOCCA instructors and students on a New Orleans Music Educators Exchange to Israel, with then-Partnership2Gether chairs Lis Kahn and Stacey Weinreb. They visited the Rosh Ha’Ayin Conservatory and learned about music in Israel.

The trip was partly to consolidate a long-term relationship between the Rosh Ha’Ayin music center and the jazz department at NOCCA, and to generate ties between the arts and dance departments at Begin High School and the corresponding departments at NOCCA.

The packed week included master classes, sessions with the students, teachers and heads of the education system.

A visit to the mayor’s office included an overview of the music education system and the music city’s vision. They then met with students from the Eshkol and Rambam schools who attend the “Menagen (Playing Music) school” program.

In 2012, teachers from Rosh Ha’Ayin visited NOCCA.

In September, NOCCA musicians from the exchange performed at the Federation’s centennial celebration.

At the event, Kathy Shepard will receive the annual Roger Bissinger Memorial Award.

The 7 p.m. program is open to all members of the community who make a gift of at least $18 to the 2014 Annual Campaign. Admission is $25, $10 for students.