Dr. Noreen Green
Dr. Green was a speaker at the initial retreat of the Max Helfman Institute for Jewish Music in April, 2010. AS music direct of at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA., as well as the artistic director of the LA Jewish Symphony, she is vitally interested in seeing that new Jewish music be composed to enrich synagogue experience and for presentation to audiences of symphonic performances.
Dr. Noreen Green is currently conductor and artistic director of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, music director at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California, a renowned lecturer on Jewish Music, and an accomplished educator. In addition, she is a devoted wife and mother to her husband, Dr. Ian Drew and their two children, Aaron and Hannah. Since the orchestra's founding in 1994, she has brought neglected as well as new and familiar orchestral works on Jewish themes to the stage. She is now known world wide for her knowledge and skill in presenting this material.
Articles have appeared about Dr. Green in the LA Times, Daily News, and the Jewish Journal; feature profiles in Lifestyles Magazine and in the Hadassah National Magazine, and a National Public Radio interview. In addition she received the Hall of Fame Award from NAWBO and the Women of Significance Award from Adat Ari El Sisterhood in April, 2000. She has also been a featured speaker for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Upbeat Live series and conducted the opening ceremonies of the 2001 Maccabi Games in Philadelphia in addition to recent concerts in South Africa and Israel.
Dr. Green received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Choral Music from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting at California State University, Northridge under the well-known conductor John Alexander. From 1981 to 1990, Dr. Green was the conductor of the American Jewish Choral Society. As West Coast Music Director of the David Nowakowsky Foundation from1992-1998, Dr. Green presented an annual concert series of the Nowakowsky Chorale. She wrote her doctoral treatise on the music of Nowakowsky, and went on to edit many of his works, ten of which have been published by Laurendale.
From 1986 to 1992, Dr. Green was an Assistant Professor at CSUN and in the summer of 1993, Noreen worked with conductor Murry Sidlin at the Aspen Music School. With his support and encouragement, Noreen developed the concept for and then founded the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony.