Local News
New WSO Principal Tuba Player Justin Gruber a multi-talented musician
By MYRON LOVE Justin Gruber, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s relatively new principal tuba player, is a multi-talented musician – a young man still in his early 20s – who seems to have a bright future ahead of him.” I started playing the tuba in school when I was 9,” recounts Gruber, who spent his early years first in Manhattan and, later, Westchester, New York, where he celebrated his bar-mitzvah. “I adopted the tuba because it is one of the largest instruments, and I was always the biggest kid in my class.”
In 2012, the family moved to Parkland in southern Florida. This community made the news for all the wrong reasons on February 14, 2018. Gruber is a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School graduate in Parkland, Florida. If this school name seems familiar, that is because Marjory Stoneman Douglas was the high school that made the news on Valentine’s Day when a shooter entered the school and killed 17 people and wounded more while local police hid behind their cars. “I was in Grade 10 at the time,” Gruber recalls. “I was playing tuba in a band class at the time. Two fellow members of our school band were among those murdered.” A couple of years later, Gruber was among the few students invited to visit then-President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence in the Oval Office to recount their experiences on that horrendous day.
While in high school, Gruber participated in his school’s award-winning marching band. The young tuba player’s talents were recognized early on. While still in junior high, he won the Principal Tuba position in the Florida Youth Orchestra. This led to performances with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2018 and the Midwest Clinic in 2019 with his prestigious high school wind symphony. Before leaving high school, Justin was a finalist in the New World Symphony Concerto Competition, a National Young Arts winner – and he also received the Kovner Fellowship from Juilliard.
He subsequently was awarded the President’s Music Scholarship to attend the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he studied with Dr. Aaron Tindall to pursue a bachelor’s degree in music performance. He reports that he is still working on his BA in Music Professional Studies online – which he anticipates he will complete next spring.In his first year at Frost, he won third prize in the Leonard Falcone International Tuba Artist Solo Competition and became an Associate Member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. Shortly after a summer spent in Greensboro, North Carolina, as a Fellow of the Eastern Music Festival Orchestral, he was appointed to the Principal Tuba position with the New Mexico Philharmonic for their 2021-22 season.
After his debut season, Justin attended the Brevard Music Festival as an Orchestral Fellow, where he was a finalist in the Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition. Shortly after his time at Brevard, he was Principal Tuba with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra for the remainder of their 2022 season. Earlier this year, he was chosen as a 2023 Yamaha Young Performing Artist. He was also awarded a fellowship to the prestigious Aspen Music Festival, where, over the summer, he studied with Warren Deck.
Gruber joined the WSO last January. Playing tuba – a significant part of his musical life – is not his only musical talent. He is continuing to grow musically in different areas. He has been composing music since he was 11. As a composer, according to his webpage, he is self-taught. He has written various solo, chamber, and large ensemble works. He describes most of his compositions as inspired by the Neo-Romantic – with particular affection for the music of Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Strauss. He has won a Special Prize in the 2nd ISAC International Popular Music Composition Competition. He was also selected by the Pacific Chamber Orchestra for their Dream American 2023 workshop and performance of his piece, “This Road Alone.”
Still to come are his contributions to an album released by his mentor, Dr. Tindall, entitled “At the Ballet.” The album will feature Gruber’s arrangements of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and music from Prokofiev’s “Cinderella”. Next fall, the world premiere of his piece “Beneath the Crypt” will be performed by the prestigious Frost Wind Ensemble.
He further has ambitions to be a conductor. “I have conducted small ensembles,” he reports. “I am looking forward to conducting large ensembles in the future.”
He says that, so far, he is enjoying Winnipeg – despite a couple of unpleasant incidents downtown where he is living. “I appreciate the open terrain,” he comments. “I like being outdoors, and I find the landscape here inspiring.”
In recent months, he has also dedicated himself to getting fit. “In the past 18 months, I have taken off 175 pounds,” says the now svelte Gruber proudly. “I did it through a strict regimen of local eating and working out as much as possible. I fell in love with fitness.”
Where Justin Gruber’s life story goes remains to be written. Suffice it to say that he is a rare talent whom local symphony supporters should appreciate while he is here.
Local News
First year medical student Tim Rozovsky founds new association for local Jewish medical students
By MYRON LOVE In the face of a concerning surge in antisemitism over the past nearly three years, I am happy to report a good news story in that regard. Tim Rozovsky, the founder of the new Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba, reports that he and his fellow Jewish students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Max Rady College of Medicine are not experiencing any significant issues involving antisemitism.
Hopefully, the matter of the notorious Med school Valedictorian who used his podium to attack Israel was a one-off.
“My goal in forming the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba,” says the first year medical student, “was to create a safe, supportive environment for my fellow Jewish medical students.”
He reports that the current first year class at the school has eight Jewish students – an increase over more recent years – with maybe a dozen more in the other years.
For a new medical student, Rozovsky already has an impressive resume. He was born in Russia and grew up in Israel. After the completion of his army service in 2018, the then-22-year-old rejoined his parents, Dr. Katya and Alexander, who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before.
Prior to coming to Winnipeg, Rozovsky had completed a personal trainer program out of The Academic College at Wingate in Jerusalem. Some readers may know the young man from his work as a Master Personal Trainer at the Rady JCC.
Shortly after arriving here, he enrolled in a kinesiology program at the University of Winnipeg. He graduated with a BKin Honours in 2023 and did post graduate work at the University of Manitoba. Last fall, he received his MSc in Physiology and Pathophysiology – earning two gold medals, along with 32 awards and scholarships in the process.
Rozovsky says that it was his mother who inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. Dr. Katya Rozovsky is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba and an attending radiologist, specializing in pediatric diagnostic imaging.
(Tim also adds that his wife, Irina Gelzin, whom he married about a year ago, is training to be a nurse.)
Insofar as the Jewish Medical Students’ Association of Manitoba is concerned, Rozovky reports that the group gets together multiple times a year. One of its programs was a joint Chanukah celebration with the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
There was also a joint program with the Christian Medical and Dental Students’ Association of Manitoba.
“More recently, we have been helping prospective Jewish medical students with their applications,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to get together over the summer with the incoming Jewish students.”
As to his own future plans, Rozovsky notes that it is too early for him to be deciding on a specialty. “My goal,” he says, “is to work hard and get good grades and become the best doctor that I can be.”
Local News
Gray Academy to Represent Manitoba at National Reach for the Top Competition
By NOAH STRAUSS Posted June 6) Gray Academy’s Reach for the Top team is headed to Moncton, New Brunswick, to represent Manitoba at the National Reach for the Top tournament.
Reach for the Top is a Canadian school league that quizzes teenagers on a variety of different topics, from science and history to pop culture. Reach started out in 1961 in Vancouver, where a local CBC station broadcasted the new show; it eventually became a national broadcast starting in 1966. Alex Trebek, who famously hosted Jeopardy!, started out by hosting Reach for the Top.
Gray Academy’s very own team, made up of Grade 7 and 8 students, will travel to Moncton, New Brunswick, to compete as Team Manitoba. By winning the provincial Reach tournament, they secured their spot in the national competition.
Faculty members at Gray Academy are very supportive of the program. The Jewish Post spoke with three different staff members at the school. Coach and high school teacher Danielle Miller says she is excited for the trip; although she will not be accompanying the team herself, shehas coached them all year.
“This year we had over 20 students come to the club to join us, they practice twice a cycle at lunch,” Miller said. Due to the large turnout this year, two teams had to be formed. At lunch practices, students split into two teams of four where each player has a buzzer. The two teams compete to see who can answer the most questions correctly.
One of the two teams did exceptionally well at various tournaments throughout the year and will be traveling to nationals as the sole team representing Manitoba.
Co-coach Micah Doerksen described Reach as a great academic competition where young minds are tested on various topics through quick,fast-paced questions.
High school guidance counselor Lindsey Leipsic said, “We have athletes, non-athletes, we have students who are really involved and students who are not as involved at school, and we have quiet leaders, and we’ve seen friendships be built in Reach.” Some of her favorite memories of Reach involve seeing students from across Winnipeg come to Gray Academy and bond with one another. Lev Chisick, who is competing at nationals, agreed, saying, “Moncton is going to strengthen our school spirit and make us a better team.”
As the junior team makes their way to Moncton, the senior team will head to provincials. Later this week, students from the senior team will travel to Virden, Manitoba, to compete at the provincial level. The team qualified after placing high enough at their most recent tournament, which took place at St. Paul’s.
Confidence is high as the school heads into these final tournaments. When Nath Goldenberg, who is also competing at nationals, was asked what he is most looking forward to, his answer was short and sweet:“Winning.”
Local News
Team Schvesters teammates Benji Harvey, Kim Gray once again among top ten fundraisers in this year’s CancerCare Manitoba Foundation Challenge for Life event
By MYRON LOVE This year’s annual CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s Challenge for Life walk at Assiniboine Park is scheduled for Sunday, June 13 – and, once again, in terms of fundraising, Team Schvesters is sitting in second place overall – having raised just over $30,500 as of May 26 – which is $5,000 more than the team members had raised by the same time last year.
As well, team members Benji Harvey and Kim Gray are once again in the top ten among individual fundraisers. Harvey this year sits in fifth place, having raised a little over $16,000 as of May 17 – while Gray has raised just above $8,000 – putting her in seventh place.
Harvey reports that, -over the past 18, years participating in CancerCare Manitoba Foundation’s Challenge for Life, she has personally raised $180,000 for cancer research, while her team as a whole has brought in $367,000. In discussing her success as a fundraiser, Harvey says that she has made a lot of friends over the years and believes in giving back to the community.
The “Schvesters” are the Greenfeld sisters: Harvey and sisters Lesly Katz and Debra Lewis – the daughters of Lil and the late Ike Greenfeld. Two of the sisters are cancer survivors.
There is one other team member – in addition to Kim Gray. Judge Rocky Pollack first joined Team Schvesters in 2023. After a year away in 2024, he returned last year. Pollack lost his wife, Sharon, to cancer in 2014 after a multi-year struggle.
Nancy’s Nightingales has been a top 10 community fundraising team for Cancercare Manitoba and the Challenge for Life since its inception in 2008. As a team, they have walked together since 2006 when they walked 60 km in two days in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.
Last year, the team – including Louise Raber, Joanne Katz, Rhonda Youell, Connie Botelho and Harriet Lyons – finished fifth in fundraising. So far this year, the team is again sitting in fifth place –having raised just under $12,500 (as of May 26) – a couple of thousand dollars more than last year, and just about $300 behind the fourth place team.
The Nightingales are named after a nurse who is a cancer survivor- and a friend of Louise Raber, Nancy’s Nightingales team leader.
“Our goal, as always, is to raise at least one dollar more than last year,” says Raber.
Team Jason’s Journey team leader Jason Gisser has experienced a more intimate and longer-lasting relationship with cancer than many of the other Challenge for Life participants. He was first diagnosed with cancer when he was 18. “I am a proud cancer fighter, having lived and battled a chronic cancer diagnosis for the last 23 years,” he said in an earlier interview. “I participate in the Challenge for Life not only to give back for the care and treatment which I have and continue to receive through CancerCare Manitoba, but to ensure that others do not have to endure the journey which I have endured.”
This is the ninth year that Gisser has taken up the Challenge for Life. His teammates are returnee Nora Fien, as well as friends Danial Sprintz, Wendy Martin White and Jason Roberts, also his mother, Judge Freda Steele. He has personally raised about $5,500 this year, while the team as a whole has raised just over $7,000.
“The Challenge for Life is great opportunity to raise valuable dollars for cancer research and treatment,” Gisser notes.
Readers can make donations to their preferred team by going online to CancerCarefdn.mb.ca and click on Challengeforlife.ca.
