Temple Emanu-El pianist has music in his blood

Claudio Waisgluss, new pianist for Temple Emanu-El, first started playing the piano at age 4.

By John Nelander, Special to the Daily News

The man behind the keyboards at Temple Emanu-El is a pop and jazz music master who is as comfortable with riffs from Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea as he is with the traditional songs of the synagogue.

Claudio Waisgluss grew up in Buenos Aries, Argentina, where his childhood playground turned out to be the piano his father bought for him at 7. He was playing bar mitzvahs and other religious-oriented gigs by age 9 with a pal who played drums.

“I’ve been lucky because I knew what I wanted to do with my life since I was a kid,” said Waisgluss, talking about his early life while planted in his favorite spot – a piano bench. His father, a chemist, was skeptical at first and asked him: “What kind of life will that be?”
It turned out to be a pretty good one, as Waisgluss went on to do international gigs, including lots of work in both Argentina and the United States.

He composed and/or performed the scores for 17 Argentine movies. His specialty was comedies because economic and political circumstances have been so dire in Argentina, he said. “People aren’t in a good mood.”

He has two brothers in Canada who are pharmacists, and his sister is a dentist. Waisgluss was trained as a chemical technician in Argentina, but music is in his blood. He has other relatives throughout Europe and Australia who are musicians. His father’s second cousin is Lalo Schifrin, who wrote the iconic theme song for the TV show and film series, Mission Impossible, and the theme song for the 1970s detective series, Mannix.

He arrived in the States on Jan. 6, 2013 with a permanent visa after years of social unrest in his native country.

In Argentina, he had known and worked with Hazzan David Feuer, now the cantor at Temple Emanu-El. After Waisgluss arrived in Miami, he did what every American does – he went on Facebook. That’s where he got reconnected with Feuer.

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