Founding Artistic Director

Dr. Noreen Green is the Founding Artistic Director and Conductor of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (LAJS), which she created in 1994. A trailblazing, inspirational conductor, educator and lecturer known worldwide for her knowledge and skill in presenting music with Jewish themes, she has served as guest conductor and lecturer in the United States, Israel, South Africa, Spain, Australia, Canada and the Caribbean. Wherever she appears, Green exudes a spirit of joy and harmony – bringing people together through the universal language of music through a Jewish lens.

Under Green’s direction, the LAJS has also performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Soraya, The Greek Theatre, the Ford Theatres, Royce Hall at UCLA, the Gindi Auditorium at American Jewish University and other venues. Collaborators have included such personalities as Grammy- and Emmy Award-winner Emily Bear; Grammy Award-winners Randy Newman, Dave Koz, Melissa Manchester and Sharon Farber; Tony-nominated Tovah Feldshuh; Emmy Award-winner Inon Zur, and many others.

Guest conducting appearances include the Johannesburg Philharmonic, The Jerusalem Symphony, the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, The World Doctors Orchestra, performances at The Wallis (Beverly Hills), the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center (CA), Sally Fields Performing Arts Center (Lake Balboa, CA), Bondi Beach Theatre (Sydney, Australia) and Palm Springs Jewish Film Festival. As a choral conductor, Green also has served in past years as music director for several synagogue programs, the American Jewish University Choir and the Pierce Encore Singers.

Also In great demand as a lecturer and educator, Green has spoken at numerous national and international symposia, including lectures in Sydney, Australia; the International Conductors Guild in Valencia, Spain, and in New York City; the United Nations (New York City); the Magnus Museum in Berkeley, CA; as well as many synagogues, Jewish community centers and other venues.

In June of 2023, Green served as artist-in-residence, dramaturge, musical director and pianist for a three-week run of the play “Stories from the Violins of Hope” in Sydney, Australia, where she was also honored by a member of the Parliament of New South Wales for her participation in Jewish Arts’ “Melodies of Memories” at North Shore Temple.

After a 21-month pandemic delay, on December 12, 2021, Green and the LAJS gave their long-awaited concert as part of the International Violins of Hope Project at The Soraya on the California State University, Northridge campus. The soloists and several orchestra members played instruments from the Violins of Hope collection that had been rescued from the Holocaust. The powerful performance garnered three standing ovations from the capacity crowd and had more than 4,000 online views. On November 20, 2022, Green and the LAJS returned to The Soraya for The Music of Inon Zur, which included the World Premiere of the Suite From Syberia: The World Before. The concert was enthusiastically received by audience members, who raved about the “unique and exceptionally brilliant” program of music that made the “complexity and appeal” of video games accessible to classical music lovers.

Green is a firm advocate of music education for the next generation. Since 2007, she and the LAJS’s Teaching Artists have annually served over 1,200 elementary students with an innovative outreach education program, A Patchwork of Cultures: Exploring the Sephardic-Latino Connection, using the international language of music to increase understanding and respect for diversity. In April 2023, she presented a Holocaust education program at The Soraya entitled Triumph of the Spirit: Music of the Holocaust for over 2,000 high school students.

Due to her noteworthy accomplishments and prominence in her field, Green was recently inducted into the prestigious Marquis Who’s Who Biographical Registry.  She also has been honored by Musical America, the oldest and most prestigious American magazine on classical music, as one of the Top 30 Musical America Professionals of the Year, which hailed her as “the most energetic advocate for Jewish music and music-making in the Los Angeles area.”  Her life and career has been the subject of a Spotlight Series documentary by the Milken Archive of Jewish Music.

Additional recognition for Green includes honors from the National Foundation of Jewish Culture, the State of Israel Bonds, and California Legislature Assembly Member Bob Blumenfield for creating the Interfaith Tribute Choir and Orchestra Concert for Remembering 9/11. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has awarded her a Commendation for her contribution to the Los Angeles arts scene.

Deeply committed to new works as well as traditional repertoire, Green has earned accolades from critics and colleagues alike.  Grammy Award-winning conductor/composer Lucas Richman says, “Noreen has done me the honor of commissioning and conducting several of my own compositions over the years and I am ever grateful for the inspiring and moving performances she has rendered at the helm.”

Green and the LAJS have two CDs on the prestigious Albany Records label: contemporary Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield’s oratorio Women of Valor and Holocaust survivor Eric Zeisl’s ballet “Jacob and Rachel” and “Variations on a Slovakian Theme” on The Music of Eric Zeisl. 

Green holds a Master of Music degree from California State University, Northridge, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California.