Picking up the tempo again

Things weren’t looking too good financially for the venerable Israel Kibbbutz Chamber Orchestra – until the Netanya municipality stepped in.

By SARAH HERSHENSON
Israel Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra 521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Israel Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra 521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
It is a Jewish belief that adding to or changing one’s name can change one’s luck. The Israel Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra has added “Netanya” to the beginning of its name, and is looking forward to a new chapter in music-making, with Netanya as its home base.
Starting this season, it will be supported by the Netanya municipality and, through concerts and workshops, will share a special closeness with its citizens.
“We found great people here,” said Yaron Gottfried, principal conductor of Netanya Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra since 2002.
“The city’s mayor, Miriam Feierberg and Haimon Goldberg, the manager of Netanya’s Heichal Hatarbut, are enthusiastic about us and our future in the city,” Gottfried went on. “We recently signed a contract that will guarantee the orchestra’s future viability.”
Last year, the orchestra’s situation didn’t look so good.
In the past, its main financial support came from contributions shared by the kibbutzim. However, due to financial difficulties within the kibbutz movement and the worldwide economic downturn, the movement’s governing body decided last year that they had to tighten their belts and could no longer assume sole financial responsibility for the orchestra.
Gottfried was told that if the orchestra wanted to survive, it had to look elsewhere for additional funding.
“It was sink or swim,” he recalled. “After much discussion, we came to the conclusion that the orchestra needed to find municipal support rather than private funding. So I began my rounds, approaching various cities to see which one would take us under its wing.
“I came up empty-handed – until Amos Eran, a friend of the orchestra, approached Netanya Mayor Miriam Feierberg.”
KNOWN FOR her “sharp elbows” and dynamic way of getting things done, Feierberg was enthusiastic about incorporating the orchestra in the city plan. Her primary goal, she told Gottfried, was to benefit the citizens of Netanya. And making the Kibbutz Orchestra Netanya’s own would benefit not only those citizens but people in the surrounding areas as well.
“Man does not live by bread alone,” Feierberg said.
“We have absorbed a very large population from the former Soviet Union, as well as from other countries. I believe that an important way of building pride and unity among our diversified public is through an approach that emphasizes both sports and music.
“By choosing these two important components, I believe we can build a more unified and stronger society. They will raise our standard of living and be of tremendous benefit to all.”
THE QUALITY and professionalism of the Kibbutz Orchestra also influenced her decision. Formed in the early days of the state, it became a professional ensemble in 1970. And during the near-decade that Gottfried has been conductor, the orchestra has, according to critics and audiences, taken a huge leap forward.
“How to say it,” Gottfried interjected quietly, but with obvious pride, “the audiences started to notice that something different was happening. Our concert schedule increased to 120 concerts per year, both in cities and kibbutzim, playing in the center of the country as well as in outlying areas.
“In addition, we perform concerts and provide classroom instruction to over 10,000 schoolchildren from first to fourth grades throughout the country in about 140 concerts. This is our contribution to building audiences of the future.”
Gottfried, composer and pianist as well as conductor, bridges the vast space between classical and contemporary music. A prominent musician of Israel’s younger generation, he is regularly invited to perform with top ensembles in Israel and abroad. Repeatedly cited by the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation, he is also a member of the United States MacDowell Foundation, a prestigious center for artists.
Under Gottfried’s direction, the orchestra has been highly ranked by the Ministry of Culture as one of the country’s leading orchestras for its outstanding quality and innovative programs.
Asked what draws people to live concerts, he replied: “Today’s audiences demand new experiences, and part of my agenda is to give it to them.
“We cannot play programs that went over well 100 years ago. If I am interested in new technologies and video art forms, I have to appreciate the fact that so are the members of the audience. I therefore incorporate new techniques and art forms in our programing.
“Nevertheless,” he stressed, “the core of our repertoire remains classical. It is a big world of artistic disciplines.
Dance, opera, folklore, jazz and choral music can be incorporated into an orchestral program or season to make it interesting and unique.”
The one component that cannot be sacrificed is artistic integrity. Whatever Gottfried chooses to perform, he knows the orchestra must play well and at a high level – without compromise – at the same time, pleasing the audience.
Standing before the orchestra, Gottfried is laid back and genial, yet demanding. He knows how to inspire the musicians so they give their best. He pays great attention to detail.
There is explicit communication flowing between him and the orchestra, and he encourages the musicians to make eye contact and communicate with their body language.
“It is the rhythm that Beethoven wrote, not me,” he points out to the musicians. “Play the ornamentation right, and it gives the music ‘swing.’” The musicians respond accordingly, and the result is an authentic, energetic and delightful interpretation.
THE ISRAEL Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra was founded in the early days of the state, at the behest and with the financial support of the kibbutzim.
“One should not think that the people in the kibbutzim are interested only in agriculture and socialism,” says Sarah Bernstein, now aged 85 and a member of Kibbutz Ma’abarot. Born in Bulgaria, she made aliya after the Second World War and is a former member of the orchestra.
“The people in our new homeland were hungry for music, and we would give concerts all over the country – sometimes in two different places in one day. We would travel around in buses and play in the center of the country as well as on the periphery, as long as there was a hall for the audience. I think that the people in this country are still hungry for music.”
Gottfried explains that even though the orchestra is now based in Netanya, its agenda of giving concerts for subscribers and the broad public in venues located in outlying regions of the country will remain the same. Netanya will take over the major part of its financial support and the kibbutzim will share in the arrangement, though to a lesser extent.
Much appreciated by the orchestra was that the city of Netanya has made them feel welcomed. They did not make excessive demands or ask for a change in the orchestra’s personnel, who are a mix of fine musicians: young and older, sabras, kibbutzniks and recent olim.
Gottfried points out that the feeling of respect which the city of Netanya has shown the orchestra has made the transition pleasant and easier.
“It is a new combination for us,” he says with a smile.
“Just like playing classical pieces alongside folklore and jazz, it becomes more natural with time.
It is part of our dream that when the people of Netanya walk out of their homes, they know that the orchestra is part of their city, and that interesting music and concerts are more available.
Their lives will be enriched and they will feel a new connection to music and the orchestra.
“A change is definitely in the air.”
Further information about the orchestra can be found at: www.kibbutz-orch.co.il