Palomar College Adjunct Instructor Ruth Weber created her documentary about the San Diego Jewish Men\u2019s Choir in order to preserve its legacy. The film portraying the camaraderie of the choir members recently received three awards in an international film competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ale Brider (All My Brothers), the film created by Weber and her husband, John, received awards of recognition from the Accolade Global Film Competition in the categories of Documentary Short, Jewish Film, and Woman Filmmaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weber has been artistic director\/conductor of the San Diego Jewish Men\u2019s Choir for 13 years. The film was made as part of an effort to recruit new singers to the group, whose members are an average age of about 65 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted to have some kind of memory, a documentary that people can watch and find out more about what they\u2019ve done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an acclaimed composer and performer, Weber has made several short music videos, and worked as the choral arranger for the award-winning feature film, \u201cOne Little Finger,\u201d which can be viewed on Netflix. This was her first effort at making a documentary. Weber said she plans to submit the film to other festivals in hopes of finding a distributor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really like how excited the singers were about the fact that we were doing the project,\u201d Weber said. \u201cWe caught so many moments that were humorous and came up naturally. It is uplifting and funny. It is a portrait of the group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weber said her interest in making a documentary developed when a friend was creating a film while a student at Palomar College. Weber was asked to write music for the film, which won a student Emmy Award. The moviemaking spark was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weber has worked at Palomar College for 26 years, teaching piano classes and offering private piano lessons along with serving as the applied music coordinator. She also has taught piano at San Diego Miramar College for 17 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really like working in the applied music program,\u201d Weber said. \u201cThose are students who want to go on and make music. It is rewarding to get assigned a private piano student and you can help them achieve their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said she has had a lifelong love of music that started when her mother had her sit beside her as she played piano. She initially played the piano, and then branched off to study voice and guitar as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEverything I wanted to do in music, my parents supported me,\u201d Weber said. \u201cI was so fortunate in that! I always wanted to be a singer\/songwriter. That was my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in music from San Diego State University and a master\u2019s degree in music from CSU Northridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduate school, Weber married her first husband, international opera singer Jorge Lopez-Ya\u00f1ez, and they traveled all over the world and did many performances together. Back home, she became the artistic director for Jean Wills Presents, a concert series that included one fully staged opera event each year at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her music has won countless awards, including the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, the Jewish American Songwriting Competition, and the Music City Song Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2018, Weber formed a duo with her daughter to create children\u2019s music. Weber\u2019s daughter, Emilia Lopez-Ya\u00f1ez, is a Palomar College adjunct faculty member teaching the oboe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mother-and-daughter duo will be performing at the Concert Hour at 1 p.m. on April 18 in the Brubeck Theatre on the Palomar College campus. Included in the performance will be the premiere of four songs from a song-cycle entitled \u201cCarole\u2019s Gallery,\u201d which Weber wrote to honor her mother, who suffers from dementia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"