When Vavi Toran first saw the Israeli solo percussionist Chen Zimbalista perform on television, she was amazed.
When she saw him live in San Francisco, she was in awe.
Now Toran, the director of the Israel Education Initiative, is hoping that those who see Zimbalista perform live at “Israel in the Gardens” will be just as thrilled with his talent as she is.
He’s got two gigs, actually. He’ll be on the main stage at 11:30 a.m., orchestrating a performance with a 100-200 Bay Area kids, plus he’ll be opening for Rami Kleinstein in the late afternoon.
What better way to celebrate Israel’s 58th anniversary, than with a bang?
Zimbalista is a marimba and percussion soloist known to command the stage by tackling instruments such as the drums and vibraphone.
The recipient of several music awards, including the Young Artists Performing Israeli Music Prize and first prize from the National Council for Culture and Arts in Israel, Zimbalista is one of few — if not the only — solo percussionists in the Jewish state.
Normally, percussionists compliment other musicians, Toran pointed out. But Zimbalista certainly breaks that mold.
And while he will go solo as the opener to Kleinstein, in his morning performance he will be joined by up to 200 students from five Jewish day schools.
“This is a way to draw the children and schools in and have them participate,” said Toran. “The schools really like that there is ownership in some part of the program.”
The Israel Education Initiative is a joint program of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation’s Israel Center, Bureau of Jewish Education, and Jafi, Jewish Agency for Israel. It seeks to broaden an understanding of and closer ties to Israel, largely through cultural exchange.
After seeing for herself how well Zimbalista worked with children, Toran decided that they could benefit by having instruction from him.
“I saw how amazing he was with kids. He is a natural educator and has such a great personality,” she said. “He really gets them to catch on to things right away, and the idea developed to bring him over as an educator.”
The percussion-based recital replaces the communitywide chorus that similarly came together for last year’s “Israel in the Gardens.” Tovan envisioned a similar gathering of talent — this time, under Zimbalista’s direction. The percussionist was contacted and quickly agreed to do it.
Last month, Zimbalista traveled to Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto, Tehiyah Day School in El Cerrito, Shalom Day School in Sacramento and Brandeis-Hillel Day School in San Francisco. He spent two hours at each campus, performing and teaching kids how to participate in his rhythmic interactive style.
“He recognized some of the potential [soloist] students, and asked them to participate in the performance,” Toran said. He then returned to each of the schools, working with the children and their music teachers, fine-tuning their performances.
After Zimbalista returned to Israel, Katja Cooper, a Bay Area percussionist and Israeli native, continued to work with the soloists.
When the children and Zimbalista all come together on June 4, it will be their first time on stage as one.
“Since the kids from other schools never met each other or performed with another, they will have just hour on stage together before the performance starts,” Toran said.
Zimbalista, based in Tel Aviv, has toured internationally, with concerts throughout the United States, Portugal, Italy, Africa, Colombia, Brazil and Canada. He is considered by some to be a leading percussion soloist.
His broad experience, Toran said, helps students become exposed to different musical and global philosophies.
“They learn that there is more to Israel than some of the things they study,” she said. “And it’s this cool guy from Israel teaching them, and that just offers to them another perspective on Israel.”