Tuning up for next year

On September 11, young and fiery Israeli maestro Omer Meir Wellber will lead his Ra’anana Symphonette in the orchestra’s opening concert, which features Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by recent Rubinstein Competition second prize winner Boris Giltburg. In addition, Four Minutes in Jerusalem, a piece by Zohar Sharon, will be accompanied by the screening of special animation created by Israeli artist Tal Anmut. The concert will take place at the Ra’anana Arts and Music Center (2A Palmah Street) and will be repeated on September 12 and 13.

Wellber, who is one of Israel’s most talented conductors of his generation, has an impressive international career and divides his time between conducting symphonies and operas.

“My schedule as a symphony conductor is full, and every week I find myself in a new place – Florence, Ra’anana, Valencia (where he is the music director of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia for 2011-2014) to name a few,” says Wellber in a phone interview. “My operatic career is no less challenging and includes a three-year project of conducting new productions of Mozart’s operas in Germany, as well as those by Richard Strauss.”

But he never misses an opportunity to work with his Ra’anana orchestra. In fact, the more his international career advances, the better are his chances of bringing leading soloists to perform with this Israeli orchestra. Some of them will perform with the Symphonette for the first time, while others, such as violinist Sergej Krylov, who captivated the local audience with his virtuosity, will return to perform with the orchestra. This time, Krylov will play Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, as well as emerge as a conductor and lead the orchestra in Schubert’s timeless Unfinished Symphony.

Among other conductors of the 2012–13 season are young Italian conductor Carlo Goldstein, Salvador Brotons of Spain and Israeli Eyal Ein Habar, who will bring young Israeli soloists to Ra’anana, and the multi-talented Israeli conductor/pianist/singer David Sebba.

The latter will lead the festive New Year’s program, featuring the best of musical theater hits such as My Fair Lady, West Side Story, South Pacific, The Sound of Music and Les Misérables, performed by the soloists of the Israeli Opera’s Meitar Opera Studio.

Among the season’s soloists are trumpet and flugelhorn player Sergei Nakariakov, who will appear with his pianist sister Vera Okhotnikova in the Blast of the Brass program; Italian classical guitarist Emanuele Segre; twin brother clarinet players Alexander and Daniel Gurfinkel, as well as Ra’anana Symphonette violinist Nitai Zori and cellist Konstantin Sokolov..

This is just part of the Ra’anana Symphonette’s diverse programs.

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