Accademia Daniel celebrates its 10th anniversary Tel-Aviv Museum of Art December 31, 2005.
By OMER SHOMRONY
This festive one-time concert celebrated 10 years since the foundation of "Accademia Daniel" - a group of excellent Israeli musicians who perform at home and abroad. Since the ensemble's foundation in 1995, most of its members have developed tremendous solo careers - evidenced by their top-rate music-making.
Led by harpsichordist and director Shalev Ad-El, currently a resident of Berlin, the ensemble presented an unusual Baroque program. Of the five pieces played, only the first one was wellknown. The others spanned from "hardly known" to "an Israeli premiere," thus creating a variety of beautiful, tangible music totally new to the ear. Of the soloists, especially notable was soprano Keren Motsery, who's made enormous progress in the last few years. With her clear, sonorous voice and her charming stage performance, she was probably the concert's most memorable figure.
For this reviewer, it was especially gratifying to know this fine performance was almost entirely Israeli-generated. True, most of the ensemble's members live abroad for understandable career reasons; but they consider themselves proud Israelis. With such a warm, receptive audience, one can easily understand why they enjoy calling Israel home.