The Israel Festival 2012 in Jerusalem: Classical Music

For more information about the festival and to order tickets visit the festival’s official website.

Classical Music Performances:Brahms Marathon/ conductor- Gil Shohat25.5.2012 | 10:30 | The Henry Crown Concert Hall

No special reason is needed to celebrate the chamber-music masterpieces composed by Johannes Brahms. These pieces were written at the height of the Romantic period in music, and stand out as exemplary chamber-music pieces in the entire history of music. The Marathon will feature a range of vocal and instrument ensembles, which will perform pieces composed through Brahms’ musical career.

This marathon is the sixth in a series of annual musical marathons performed at the Israel Festival: these marathons, which combine performances and explanations, go on for 5-6 hours, are broadcast live on Israel’s classical music station. They are devoted to a single musical theme, and usually to a single composer, and feature Israel’s most important performers. This year, the marathon is hosting four of our best-known opera singers, the country’s best chamber-music players, and piano soloists who have received international recognition and lead promising careers.

Sharon Rostorf-Zamir – Soprano

Bracha Kol – Mezzo Soprano

Joseph Aridan – Tenor

Alexei Knonicob – Baritone

Nitai Zori – Violin

Asi Matathias – Violin

Matan Gilitchensky – Viola

Hillel Zori – Cello

Alexander Gurfinkel – Clarinet

Victor Stanislavsky­­- Piano

Tami Kanazawa and Yuval Admoni – Piano duo

Michal Tal – Piano

Gil Shohat – Piano

Duration of performance: four-and-a-half hours, with two intermissions

“Opera Studio” of The Israel Opera

Bach – Handel: Arias

Dialogue for Flute & Harpsichord

Noam Buchman – flute

Netta Ladar – harpsichord

Bach: Sonatas for Flute and Keyboard and works by Mozart, Varese and Gronich ‎

Festival of Winds

Workshop for wind instruments, directed by Mauricio Paez

of the Jerusalem Academy of ‎Music and Dance

Bach:‎ Trio sonata ‎

Mozart:‎ Divertim enti on themes from “Figaro” and “Cosi fan tutte”‎

Serenade for winds K. 375‎‎

‎& works by Beethoven, Telemann, Francaix, Tcherepnin and Dubois

The workshop for wind instruments is a project of the outstanding young players of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. The workshop is directed by bassoonist Mauricio Paez, one of Israel’s leading pedagogues.

The programme comprises a wide variety of styles, ranging from works by Bach arranged by bassoonist Mordechai Rechtman, to new music of the 20th century.

Double Concerti

With Ensemble Millennium, Ensemble in residence

The Millennium Ensemble was founded, as its name suggests, in the year 2000 by graduates of ‎the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance as the Ensemble in Residence of the Ein Kerem ‎Music Centre. Today most of the musicians are members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, ‎and Millennium has gained a reputation as one of Israel’s leading chamber ensembles.‎

The programme comprises double concerti by Bach and Vivaldi:‎

J.S. Bach- Concerto for Two Cembalos in C Major, ‎BWV 1061‎

‎ Concerto for Two Violins in d minor, BWV ‎‎1043‎

‎ Concerto for Oboe and Violin (Version for ‎Violin and Viola) in c minor, BWV 1060‎

A. Vivaldi- Concerto for Violin and Cello in B flat Major, RV 547‎

The Cluj Philharmonic Choir has been performing for over four decades throughout Europe, as well as in Israel, with great success.

Its current musical director, Cornel Groza who was appointed in 1986, enriched the choir’s variegated repertoire, and specifically its Romanian repertoire. The acapella program is to be performed in Jerusalem and will include a stylistically and historically wide range of works, from Purcell and Gluck to Mendelssohn and Rachmaninov, with an emphasis on Romanian composers such as Gheorge Danga, Vasile Herman, and Ludovicus Bárdos.

Program:

Jacobson/Joel(arr.A.Pop) – Vihuda l’olam teshev

Christoph Willibald Gluck – De profundis

Henry Purcell – In these delightful, pleasant groves

Serghei Rachmaninov – Bogoroditze Dievo

Ludovicus Bárdos – Libera me

Vasile Herman – Viersuri de dor (p. 1,3)

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy – Richte mich, Gott

Dariu Pop – Suit? coral? din ?ara Oa?ului

Randall Thompson- Ye shall have a song

Tudor Jarda – Cântecul ?i jocul miresei

Shermer/Waldman(arr.A.Pop)- Jerusalem of Gold

Sigismund Todu?? – Arhaisme

Orbán György – Daemon

Gheorghe Danga – Sârba pe loc

Jester Hairston – Elijah Rock

Walter Donaldson – My Blue Heaven

William L.Dawson – Soon Ah Will Be Done

Duration of performance: one hour, without intermission

The unique Columbian ensemble Musica Ficta, which has been performing for the past 25 years at major international venues, is perhaps the most important representative of one of the most astounding and least familiar traditions in musical history: the Baroque music of South America. This unique program features music by 17th and 18th-century Peruvian and Bolivian composers, which offer an introduction to this unique and remarkable tradition.

Participants:

Jairo Serrano percussion, baroque guitarJulian Navarro Baroque guitar, xaranaCarlos Serrano Recorders, pipe and taborSebastian Vega Theorbo

Program:

AnaustiaBolivian anonymous (18th)

Caballero de armas blancasPedro Ximénez (fl. 1646-1668)

De la alta ProvidenciaJuan de Herrera (c. 1665-1738)

GaitasSantiago de Murcia (c.1682-c.1740)

Qué dulcemente que cantaJosé Cascante (c.1625-1702)

Desengañémonos yaJosé Marín (1618-1699)

Pasacalles de primer tonoFrancisco Guerau (1649-1722)

Romance a Cristo crucificadoSebastián Durón (1660-1716)

ChaconasLucas Ruiz de Ribayaz (c.1626-c.1680)

Un juguetico de fuegoPeruvian anonymous (c.1700)

Sólo es quererJuan Hidalgo (1614-1685)

Diferencias sobre la gaytaMartín y Coll (17th c.)

Morenas gitanasColombian anonymous (17th c.)

Esa noche yo bailáBolivian anonymous (18th c.)

From the Reviews:

“Listeners with a taste for the lively and exotic will find this music irresistible.”)American Records Guide , USA)

“… an extremely coherent and specialized ensemble… One of the best sounds heard among the vast number of recent productions.” )Pizzicato Classics, Luxemburg)

“This is a first class production all around…”(Audiophile Audition , USA , Steven Ritter)

Duration of performance: two hours, without intermission

This year, the Israel Festival presents an outstanding project: the production of a major oratorio by the composer Franz Liszt, which is being performed for the first time in Israel. Liszt worked on this oratorio for over ten years, and considered it to be his greatest work. Despite the great success it garnered at its premier in Weimar and its romantic, melodic and highly communicative character, this Oratorio is hardly ever performed in concert halls.

The oratorio is in fact a version of Christ’s Passion, and touches upon large parts of the story of his life, crucifixion, and death. It includes Latin texts from the New Testament as well as various religious texts, hymns, and songs.endowing the entire oratorio with a melodramatic quality. The Oratorio is conducted by the Israeli conductor Meir Minsky, who recently performed at the European premier of this production.

Particpants:

Conductor – Meir MinskyThe Transylvania State Philharmonic of ClujThe Jerusalem Synphony Orchestra, IBASoloists:Roman TrekelTalia OrIris VermillionGeorge Oniani

Duration of performance: two-and-a-half hours

“The New Generation” of talented young pianists – a project of the Aldwell Centre

J.S.Bach – Preludes and Fugues, and works by Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninov

The Aldwell Centre was founded by the Conservatory of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, with the aim of promoting and nurturing the future generation of young Israeli pianists through workshops, masterclasses and inspirational encounters with the great pianists of today.

Bach- Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 ‎

Irina Berkovich – piano