Arts and Culture

Paula Fass Comes Out of Retirement to Become The Magnes’ New Faculty Director

Published

5 years ago

June 13, 2019

When the powers that be came to Paula Fass to ask her to take over as the faculty director at UC Berkeley’s The Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Art, it was a bit of a tough sell.

She’d retired in 2010 after 36 years teaching history at UC Berkeley, and while helping to steer the course at the campus’s Jewish archive, library and museum was tempting for the daughter of Holocaust survivors, she was looking forward to writing more books and spending much more time seeing her daughter and son and their families, all on the East Coast.

“Being retired, it was much easier to find the time to see my kids more, so that was a consideration,” Fass says. “And if I took the job, it was likely I wouldn’t be able to write any books for a while. I thought about it very hard.”

And Fass, who has published three books since retiring, thought maybe the job at The Magnes would be better off in someone else’s hands.

“That (outgoing faculty director) George Breslauer even approached me was a bit of a surprise. I thought there were others more qualified,” she says, “But after I was approached, the job seemed more and more appetizing. I wouldn’t have come out of retirement to do this if I didn’t think it was so important.”

Since taking over on May 3, she’s wound her way through a major conference — In Global Transit: Forced Migration of Jews and Other Refugees (1940s-1960s) — while learning the inner workings of the place from the curatorial staff. She’s met with donors and viewed the collection’s photos, paintings, writings, music and more.

“I won’t say I’m overwhelmed, but this is a very different experience from the retirement I had been experiencing,” Fass says. “This is a lush and spectacular collection, and trying to take it in all at once has been breathtaking.”

In taking over for Breslauer, Fass is facing some new challenges. Much of the job is about fundraising. She’s never done that, “But I’m ready to learn on the job,” she says.

“Paula has a great personal story to tell and a passion for our story,” Breslauer says. “I think she has a devotion to the mission. I have great confidence in her. I’m passing the reins, but I’m still here as an advisor if she needs that.”

Fass is the daughter of Holocaust survivors Bluma and Harry Fass. Both entered concentration camps with families; both emerged as sole survivors. Born in West Germany in a displaced person’s camp, Fass grew up in New York and taught at Rutgers before making her way to Berkeley four decades ago. Her 2009 book, Inheriting the Holocaust: a Second-Generation Memoir, is an exploration of how the daughter of concentration camp survivors came to understand her world.

She hasn’t spent her entire career in Judaica, however. She’s written about education, immigration and globalization and spent much of her career working on children’s history and children’s policy.

“Being the daughter of Holocaust survivors is a part of me, but not in any overt way,” Fass says. “Coming to The Magnes now gives me the opportunity to join in at a very important moment, when the resurgence of overt anti-Semitic voices is out there.

“The Magnes can become a very important instrument of counteraction to give a better, fuller picture of Jewish life. Judaism is a multiethnic community. There are Jews in India, South America and North Africa. There is a multiculturalism about the Jewish population that the U.S. should know more about. I’d like to give the public a better sense of Jewish life, the vitality and the continuity. Jews have been highly successful in the United States, but wrongfully have been seen as a symbol of colonialism.”

Francesco Spagnolo, curator at The Magnes, says “the time is right” for Fass to be making this move.

“Paula has a fantastic profile as a scholar and as a member of the UC Berkeley community,” Spagnolo, who collaborated with Fass on a lecture at The Magnes in 2017, says. “Because of her passions and her interest, she has a formidable record as a scholar, and her expectations are very good.”

“I’m genuinely looking forward to working with Francesco and with George,” Fass says. “I’m expecting to put a lot of effort and time into learning the ropes, and I know I’ll be able to depend on both of them a lot.”

And she expects to work closely with Chancellor Carol Christ, who was one of the first people Fass met at Berkeley in the mid-1970s.

Fass, with her history in children’s education, says she’d like to see The Magnes become “a spearhead for education.”

“I’d like to take The Magnes out into the schools,” Fass says. “When my son (Charles) was in second grade, he brought me and my family menorah in to (class for me to) explain what it meant in my life. Kids are fascinated with objects. When I passed it around, they were rapt.

“Holding it and hearing the personal stories and seeing the artifacts opened these kids’ eyes. I believe we can reach out and work with others at local museums. I’d like to see a joint effort with the Oakland Museum, say for Black History Month, because there are black Jews.”

John Hickey

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Arts and Culture

Kedrick Armstrong: New Music Director for the Oakland Symphony

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Published

5 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Kedrick Armstrong is the new music director for the Oakland Symphony. Photo credit Scott Chernis.

By Post Staff

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director.
In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Armstrong is the successor to previous music director and Conductor Michael Morgan, who passed away in 2021 after a 30-year tenure at the Symphony.

Armstrong will open the Oakland Symphony 2024-2025 season on October 18.

Armstrong, who is 29 and hails from Georgetown, South Carolina, is currently the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.

The Chicago Tribune has praised Armstrong for his ability to “simply let the score speak for itself.” He enjoys a wide range of repertoire, spanning early music to premiering new works, using his joy and curiosity for all music to cultivate understanding and collaboration within diverse communities.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new music director of the Oakland Symphony,” Armstrong said. “As a Black conductor, I find it humbling to stand on the shoulders of both Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons,” the most recent and the first African American music directors of the Symphony, respectively.

Armstrong led three programs at the Symphony between 2022 and early 2024, which showcased his broad knowledge of the classical repertoire and enthusiasm for spotlighting diverse voices.
On his Oakland Symphony subscription debut on Feb. 16, Armstrong led the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson,” an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.

Armstrong was selected unanimously by the Oakland Symphony’s board of directors and musicians after an extensive two-year search. “The search committee was overwhelmed by Kedrick’s scholarship and curiosity about all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to gospel and hip-hop,” said. Dr. Mieko Hatano, executive director of the Oakland Symphony. “We are thrilled to have him join us at the Oakland Symphony.”

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

Faces Around the Bay Dr. Carl Blake, Pianist

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999. One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Dr. Carl Blake

By Barbara Fluhrer

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999.

One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Blake obtained a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and continued post-baccalaureate studies in Jamaica before earning a Master of Arts in Music at San Jose State University. He was the recipient of two Fulbright residencies in Honduras and completed a third residency at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Cornell University.

At age 19, Blake, then an undergraduate piano major at Boston University, was “discovered” by Impresario Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams, who is the Founder and Director of Today’s Artists/Four Seasons Arts.

Williams honored Blake by awarding him the first Marian Anderson Young Artist Award. Anderson personally presented the award at the Masonic Auditorium in S.F. Subsequently, Blake was presented by Dr. Williams in his San Francisco debut at The Herbst Theatre. Williams subsidized a year of study abroad for Blake at the Paris Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Williams sponsored Blake’s New York Weill Hall debut, where he has performed twice since. Blake performed several times at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon.

Blake continues to perform nationally and abroad. His hobbies are reading, baking and travel. He says, “I’m still pumping ivories, as Belgian pianist Jeanne Stark described the disciplined practice of concert piano.”

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

Oakland Jazz Great Offers Master Class as City Declares “John Handy Day”

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city. Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

(L-R) Del Handy, John Handy, Roger Glenn, and Joe Warner celebrate John Handy Day at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Oakland. Photo by Lady Bianca.

By Conway Jones

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city.

Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

“John Handy is a jazz icon and an inspiration to musicians everywhere,” said Ayo Brame, a 16-year-old Oakland tenor saxophone player who is enrolled at the Oakland School for the Arts.

In celebration of this day, the reception in downtown Oakland at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle was a gathering of artists, young and old, coming together in his honor and celebrating his 91st birthday.

Handy presented a Saxophone Colossus free masterclass for musicians. This class afforded a rare opportunity to learn about the saxophone from an aficionado. The class was free and open to all – saxophonists, vocalists, aficionados, students, and casual listeners.

“As a longtime friend for over 60 years, and fellow musician who has had numerous opportunities to share the stage with John, it has always been a pleasure performing with him and hearing his creative interpretations of the music and his gift of ease inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians,” said Roger Glenn, a multi-instrumentalist.