March 2013 Student Announcements

          According to the newsletter of Congregation Cnesses Israel in Green Bay, Alaric Coussons, a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, recently won two music composition competitions at the university.

          He took first prize in the school’s Student Orchestral Competition with a five-minute orchestral work, “Excursion,” which was scheduled to be performed Feb. 27 by the UWSP Symphony Orchestra. The newsletter states that Coussons was the first freshman to win a competition for an orchestral work at UWSP.

          The second competition involved creating a score for an eight-minute documentary slideshow about Wisconsin’s lakes and their preservation, created by the UWSP College of Natural Resources. Coussons’ work was chosen and he received a $500 cash prize.

          Coussons’ parents, Anna and Herb, are members of Cnesses Israel.

          Torah Academy of Milwaukee graduate and former Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle intern Talia Lakritz, now a freshman at Barnard College of Columbia University, recently helped to create a program called “New Moon: A Festival of the Arts” that was scheduled to take place Feb. 17.

          The Columbia Spectator college daily newspaper interviewed Lakritz and her collaborators, Deborah Pollack and Chana Tolchin, about this event in the issue of Feb. 14. The group explained that this event was designed to highlight women in the arts, particularly, but not only, religious Jewish women.

          Lakritz was quoted in the article saying, “There are a ton of amazing opportunities to perform — lots of different kinds of people, lots of different demographics that are catered to. I thought one that needed some pumping up was religious women who, for whatever reason, would feel uncomfortable performing in front of men, or with men, or wouldn’t perform on Friday nights if they’re Sabbath-observing.

          “There’s so much talent in the religious community in general that really needs to be a part of this. And also I just wanted to create a really awesome event about women in the arts. … I really wanted to do an event that celebrated women in the arts and particularly provide a safe space for religious women who would have a harder time finding outlets.”